Online battles between far right groups and anti-fascists – or “Antifa” – are now regularly spilling out onto the streets of America. But who are Antifa and what do they represent? Anisa Subedar and Mike Wendling went to the West coast of America to find out for Seriously… podcast Political Violence in America. Here are seven facts you need to know.

1. How long have Antifa been around?

Some Antifa groups date the origins of their movement to fights against European fascists in the 1920s and 1930s. Mark Bray, author of Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, says the modern American Antifa movement began in the 1980s with a group called Anti-Racist Action. Its members confronted neo-Nazi skinheads at punk gigs in the American Midwest and elsewhere. By the early 2000s the Antifa movement was mostly dormant – until the rise of Donald Trump and the alt-right.

BBC Radio 4 – Seriously…, Seriously… – Seven things you need to know about Antifa

Antifa could also be defined as anyone who fights fascism. Anyone who joined the military and went over to fight fascist Hitler troops was ANTIFA. ANTIFA is pro US, pro freedom, pro democracy, and anti dictatorship.

Only a Hitler type dictator would call ANTIFA a terrorist group.