Antifa argues that violence is necessary, but a rigorous democracy is a far stronger weapon

At the same time, the antifa movement’s failed approach to the problem of fascism is not itself the problem. We should reject the antifa conceptualization of fascism as an ineradicable evil that exists outside of history and context, while also rejecting the fraudulent conservative canard that the antifa movement is the moral equivalent of Nazism. We can celebrate the specific, justifiable instances of anti-fascist violence—such as the defence of Cornel West and other black clergy members who gathered in Charlottesville—while also acknowledging that the antifa movement’s general tendency toward unreflective violence is neither morally justified nor strategically effective.

Above all, we must broaden our view of fascism to recognize that the most insidious incarnations of fascist ideology today won’t arrive accompanied by swastikas and torches—they will be found in government policy that seeks actively to subjugate minorities (through the expansion of militarized police forces and racist incarceration regimes), suppress voting rights (through gerrymandering and voter-ID laws), and bar immigration or expel people from particular backgrounds. The solution to these problems lies not in street fights against torch-bearing goons but in increased activism and political engagement within the system itself. Victory against contemporary fascism involves the expulsion of hate-mongering politicians and the dissolution of their agenda, and that can only be achieved through anti-fascist policy, not extrajudicial anti-fascist violence.