Antifascist Guide Promoted on Montreal Website Calls for Physical and Structural Resistance Against “Rising Fascism”
Executive Summary
A recent publication on the radical Montreal Counter-Information site frames a global rise in fascism—including in the U.S., Canada, and Palestine—as justification for decentralized, collective resistance, including physical confrontation and sabotage. Drawing on leftist and abolitionist thought, the guide does not merely advocate ideological opposition but outlines tactics intended to directly disrupt what it calls “fascist consolidation,” prompting concern about the normalization of violent resistance as political praxis.
Analysis
Framed as a conceptual roadmap for responding to what it calls the consolidation of fascist regimes in the West, a new text published by Montréal Antifasciste explicitly urges resistance that ranges from grassroots organizing to physically confronting perceived fascist actors and infrastructures. The essay, titled A Few Basics About Fascism and How to Deal With It, blends political education with a call to action, rooted in a framework that views fascism as not a historical anomaly but a logical extension of liberal democratic failure.
The article begins by redefining fascism through a broad and inclusive lens. It includes systemic racism, transphobia, Islamophobia, the carceral state, and colonial structures as central features of an evolving fascist order. These, it claims, have been supercharged by events such as U.S. support for Israel, anti-trans legislation, and border militarization. Drawing on a constellation of radical thinkers—from Kelly Hayes to Mark Bray—the authors assert that fascism is already here, and so too must be resistance.
What sets this publication apart is its unapologetic embrace of “direct confrontation.” It urges readers to physically prevent fascists from spreading their hatred, a phrase that condones and encourages the use of physical force in protest contexts. Additionally, it explicitly criticizes liberal democratic responses to fascism as inadequate or complicit, asserting that state structures will either enable fascism outright or capitulate to it for economic survival.
The document also advocates for preemptive community organization that includes sabotage of bureaucratic systems, refusal to cooperate with state mechanisms, and disruption of capitalist logistics. Such “diversity of tactics” includes general strikes, alternative care networks, and “industrial sabotage.” These are framed not as extreme options, but as necessary tools in what is presented as an existential struggle.
Critically, the text distinguishes itself by treating noncooperation and sabotage not just as protest but as survival strategies. It warns against “anticipatory obedience”—a psychological tendency of the public to preemptively comply with authoritarian norms—and promotes instead an ethic of friction and interruption. This includes subverting processes at every level: slowing construction, falsifying compliance, or simply making music in defiance of curfews.
Importantly, the publication also stresses solidarity, especially among vulnerable and marginalized communities. It argues that isolation makes populations more governable and repression more effective. Therefore, it urges unity among anarchists, anti-colonial activists, union organizers, and disability rights advocates.
While the piece maintains an overall tone of defensive resistance, its normalizing of physical disruption and direct interference walks a line that could easily cross into justification for unlawful or violent action. The authors explicitly reject dialogue with their ideological opponents, asserting that fascists are not to be debated but obstructed.
The guide reflects a growing convergence of abolitionist, anti-colonial, and radical anarchist thought into a cohesive counter-ideological framework that treats violent resistance as both necessary and moral. This convergence is increasingly documented on independent radical media platforms like Montréal Counter-Information, which are emerging as strategic nodes for far-left coordination and messaging in Canada.
