What Is Antifa? Trump Declares Movement 'Terror Group' After Charlie Kirk Murder

US President Donald Trump on Thursday declared Antifa a "major terror organisation". The move comes amid the tense political climate in the country following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

In a post on Truth Social account on Sept. 17, Trump said, “I will also be strongly recommending that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices.”

Antifa, short for ‘anti-fascist’, is not a conventional organisation with leaders or membership lists. It operates as a loosely connected network of activists united by a shared resistance to fascism, white supremacy, racism and other far-right ideologies, as per reports.

Members often appear at rallies dressed head-to-toe in black, a tactic known as ‘black bloc’. They argue that direct action, even if it involves violent tactics, can be justified as a form of self-defence.

Though sometimes portrayed as a tightly organised force, Antifa is more accurately viewed as a collection of local cells. Many adherents lean toward left-wing politics, including anarchist and communist traditions.

The movement drew widespread attention during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that followed the killing of George Floyd in May 2020. While most of those protests were peaceful, some turned violent, leading many to blame Antifa for property damage and looting.

Antifa traces its ideological roots to anti-fascist resistance movements in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy before World War II. In the United States, activists with similar ideals began organising in the 1980s to counter racist skinheads, the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi groups, as per reports.

Antifa’s visibility in the US increased after the violent clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12, 2017, when white supremacists and counter-protesters, including Antifa supporters, clashed.

The movement has been linked to several other flashpoints. In June 2016, Antifa activists joined others in confronting a neo-Nazi rally in Sacramento, California, where at least five people were stabbed. In early 2017, its members attacked alt-right demonstrators at the University of California, Berkeley, wielding bricks, pipes and homemade incendiary devices.

In July 2019, William Van Spronsen, who described himself as an Antifa member, attempted to bomb a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centre in Tacoma, Washington, using a propane tank. He was shot dead by police.

Since his first term in office, Trump has routinely blamed Antifa for violence against law enforcement and even for the storming of the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

However, Christopher Wray, then director of the FBI, testified before Congress in 2020 that “antifa is an ideology, not an organisation,” noting that it lacks the hierarchical structure usually required for a federal terror designation.