Move Your Feet to the Cable Street Beat: The Cultural Praxis of Anti-Fascist Action, 1988 – 2000

Abstract

The historiography of antifascism has grown substantially recently. However, scholarly attention has been disproportionally focused on the street-based and violent strategies of the movement. High-profile conflicts between antifascists and their far-right opponents have stimulated a high volume of research regarding the causes and results of their radicalization. Yet antifascism is a vast and complex movement that employs a wide variety of different strategies, the majority of which are non-violent. To address this gap in the literature, and begin to reveal the multifaceted nature of antifascist organizing, this article will explore the movement's 'cultural praxis'. That is, the way that antifascists use culture to construct a space in which they can effectively engage with the public as well as their efforts to prevent the far right from constructing such a space. Specifically, the efforts of the British militant antifascist organization Anti-Fascist Action to strategically use music and music scenes in their conflict with the far right between 1988 and 2000 shall be examined.