Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"Antifascism is something which only happens when fascists are not only open and active, but have the tacit support of authorities. [...]

"Antifascism is a case of the public arming itself because the state monopoly on violence has failed to provide the protection and justice which is its justification for existing--and like any similar case, is a symptom of something very, very, serious. In this sense, antifascism is like a fever: a dangerous symptom which may nonetheless be the thing keeping you alive. (Your body heats up because it's hoping the heat will kill the infection faster than it kills you.) It's an immune response to Fascism replicating beyond safe levels.

"The second problem is something much simpler: The fever may not be enough to save you. Punching Nazis has an effect when the 1-2% of weakly-affiliated Nazis--what they're currently calling the "alt-light"--can be scared off. Once Nazism reaches a larger threshold, around 15% of the population, things begin to happen catastrophically. [...]

"If antifascism is the fever that fights the infection, and journalism is the antibiotic, we apply them rapidly and in the hope that they will stop before it is too late. Because once those have failed, the further treatments have horrible costs and consequences for the patient. After all, there is only one thing that has ever stopped Nazism once it crossed such a threshold, and it did not come cheaply."

-- Yonatan Zunger, "Nazism: what it is, why we fight it, and how", 2017-10-24 [bold emphasis added -- DGA]

[A blessed All Hallows Day (All Saints Day), and a blessed Samhain, to folks who celebrate either!]