r/AntifascistsofReddit • u/fubuvsfitch Viva La Resistance • May 10 '23
Direct Action - Best Practices Policy On Sharing Fascist Propaganda to Raise Awareness
I'll keep this as short as possible.
We understand that it is important to be aware of existing fascist threats. Monitoring the formation and growth of fascist units is a vital part of antifascism. Sharing with the community to raise awareness is encouraged
Unfortunately, this inadvertently leads to platforming fascistic content (eg the recent post of the boot on the trans flag) and a more recent post that was removed before it was available to the community (a threatening video from a fascist militia in Texas). There have been countless examples of this in the past.
What to do?
If you want to share information for raising awareness in the future, please refrain from doing so without first:
Obscuring any URL, addresses, phone numbers, insignia that would essentially advertise for the fascists.
Obscuring or altering the image or video as to make it unusable for fascistic outreach. Anti-fascist watermarks, distortion, red lines across image, etc.
Special request: include in the alteration process links to anti-fascist or otherwise benevolent groups and resources for the targeted community.
Anti-unhoused persons propaganda? Overlay the food not bombs url.
Anti-trans? Anti-immigrant? Anti-POC? Think about the targeted group. What resources could they find helpful? Include a link.
Please share any ideas and technical resources below. Thank you.
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u/l_rufus_californicus May 10 '23
It’s probably redundant to most, but just in case: If you’re in need of a good image program to redact the Fascist fuckery, GIMP is free, and just as robust as Photoshop.
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u/Straight_Blueberry_7 Antifa Jun 23 '24
GIMP is! I started using it in like 2005 and it just got exponentially better. Same with KDEnlive for video and Audacity.
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u/KayleeOnTheInside May 10 '23
Kdenlive is a good (and free) video editor.
GIMP (as mentioned by /u/l_rufus_californicus earlier) is great freeware for image editing.
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u/RaiseRuntimeError May 10 '23
Instead of GIMP I recommend Photopea https://www.photopea.com/
It runs in the browser and the UI is soooo much better than GIMP
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u/KayleeOnTheInside May 11 '23
TIL. Also Canva, though the free version is pretty limited. The interface is very user friendly.
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u/Nevr0s May 10 '23
Wow, this is a very practical policy and very helpful information. Thank you mods
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u/fubuvsfitch Viva La Resistance May 10 '23
Thanks. My end was pretty easy. It's our users who have the hard work ahead. Sharing resources and knowledge, and applying the policy is the real heavy lifting!
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u/SisterStiffer May 10 '23
Unpopular opinion, but i think this is a poor policy. No one on anti-fascists of reddit is going to see fascist propaghanda and be converted. This is a tiny sub and knowing further details about area specific fascist groups, action, and propaghanda spreading helps us know what and who to target/trust in various ways. If it weren't for seeing WLM propaghanda, and searching for that specifically in telegram, and seeing the vile shit they say first hand, I wouldn't have had my "oh shit the nazis are back!!" Moment. I would still be head in the sand.
Many people are skeptical of the true nature of these fascist groups, showing these people un-altered genuine propaghanda helps wake people up to the real threat. Showing them doctored nazi propaghanda with antifa links, slogans, or branding on it is going to provoke three responses
Skepticism about authenticity - "antifa is creating fake fasc propaghanda"
Acceptance - "this is real, and i can see why you doctored the original"
Confusion - "there's anti-fa slogans all over this nazi propaghanda, antifa must be the nazis!"
Its a gamble that 2 will be the result, and a massive risk that fascists deliberately start doing 3.
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u/fubuvsfitch Viva La Resistance May 10 '23
Thanks for your input. We will consider it.
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u/classyraven May 11 '23
At the very least, we can trial this new policy and see what the results are. If there's too much 1 and 3, we can change the policy again.
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u/ProductOfAbandoment Jun 02 '23
100% agree. This standard makes it very hard for people to share knowledge and information about fascist groups poping up in local communities and what symbolism they are using. The only people who are coming to such a small subreddit are going to be well aware of what they are searching for. Aka either other Antifascist antiracists, feds, or fascists. We need to know what to look for. Most tof the time I see a tattoo or a sticker and it just seems suspect to me and I have to scour the web to find it only to confirm its a nazi logo. Mind you I've been antifascist openly for about 17 years now and I've been socially aware of symbolism used by different fascists. There's alot of new symbolism popping up and we need to share it undoctored to A. Spread awareness. B. not have people doubting the authenticity. C. Not conflating Antifascist as fascist.
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u/zlforster May 10 '23
I agree. It's important to me to see stuff as is- if we get to the point that fascists are regularly surfing here for content, I'd rather them get it here than elsewhere. They might find something to change their mind.
I'm much more worried about giving moderates ammo saying that we're faking the propaganda or that we're the real Nazis.
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u/Cpt_Wolf_Lynn May 11 '23
In terms of passing around unfiltered fascist materials, the concern isn't about antifascists visiting the sub becoming swayed somehow, but the countless fash-lite and outright fascist lurkers getting to reuse it easily, further boosting the lifetime and efficacy of the content showcased.
This subreddit sees a lot of those, which is unsurprising considering its obvious name and the boogeyman status of "Antifa Inc." in modern "discourse". Up to a dozen get banned each week and who knows how many more have the most elementary wits to keep quiet or maintain a facade of innocence or plausible deniability.
Aside from that, fash propaganda is typically hatred and vitriol made manifest and that's less than pleasant of a thing to stare at, and a plain old "TW" flair only goes so far. Defacing, destroying and overriding the worst of the messaging can be viewed as extending common courtesy to fellow users.
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u/Truefkk May 11 '23
I think censoring links and things like exact dates and meeting places is fine, so facists can't use this sub as a front for communication, everything else is meh.
Add links to counterprotests, organisations, etc. in the description, not on the image/quote, other wise it's just confusing.
Definitely add a nsfw spoiler requirement!!! I thought about unsubbing so often, because I couldn't use reddit at work without risking my coworkers thinking I am a facist.
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u/ResplendentShade May 10 '23
This is smart, I've been messaging mods of related subreddits to implement this change and so glad to see y'all do it. Imo it's important that lurking fascists/racists (which exist and we'd be delusional to think they don't) can't immediately and effortlessly copy+paste content on here to promote fascist/racist stuff elsewhere.
I had an idea, although I'm not a programmer so I lack the way to implement it, but it seems like it'd be fairly simple to make a website in which you submit an image and the program puts a red 3-lines symbols on top of it and gives you that altered output image, for cases like these. Wouldn't help with watermarks, phone numbers, and other material fascists use to promote, but it could useful for a lot of content and it'd at least save people that one step.
Anyway, fuck fascists, thanks for modding this sub.
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u/ProductOfAbandoment Jun 01 '23
I've noticed a local pizza shop is infested with neo nazis. I've taken pictures of their vehicle stickers, tattoos ect. Some of the insignia I don't know. Want to raise awareness locally. How should go about it.
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u/BigRobCommunistDog Jul 31 '23
Make a layout like this explaining the symbols you see. Print and wheatpaste. https://images.app.goo.gl/3uhArT8YkjLxb63a7
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Dec 14 '23
We can create new ways and medias to combat them, such as:
https://podcasts.apple.com/tr/podcast/lavoro/id1715123677
https://open.spotify.com/show/5Ieiri7th1vYoePjRG83az?si=B-nVV7VDQFOj8SK_L_pJtA
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u/FriendshipHelpful655 Feb 27 '24
Actually, maybe we could have a (possibly periodic) megathread going specifically for this purpose? It could be useful for people to check in specifically to educate themselves, and things wouldn't get picked up by the reddit algorithm.
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Dec 28 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Tobidas05 Antifaschistische Aktion Dec 28 '23
This is a public, world wide Subreddit. The chances, that you actually live in the area are very low, so more harm is done by platforming for them. If you really want the information, ask privately.
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u/Agent_Pierce_ May 10 '23
This group is useless.
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u/fubuvsfitch Viva La Resistance May 10 '23
Is someone salty their meme post got removed?
Read the rules. Memes on Monday only.
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u/CommieSammie May 10 '23
Posting online is largely useless, yes. If you want to stop fascism, get organized and get your boots on the ground with your local comrades.
Posting online is fun and a great way to vent and regain some energy for the real fight. The real fight is out in the streets where the actual fascists are. They're out there every single day. We need to be too.
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u/RaiseRuntimeError May 10 '23
Ha ironic you say posting online is useless then continue to post something useful.
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u/mended_arrows May 10 '23
Then why participate? Your comment is useless, unless it is meant to be harmful somehow.
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u/fubuvsfitch Viva La Resistance May 10 '23
We're receiving some good engagement here, including helpful resources and constructive criticism.
See this comment outlining the possible downside of this policy:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AntifascistsofReddit/comments/13duiyj/policy_on_sharing_fascist_propaganda_to_raise/jjnwnb7/
Please reply to this comment with your thoughts. We can figure this out together.