A-Infos (en) Brazil, OSL: In Defense of Popular Organization: The Persecution of Mark Bray and the Attack on Antifascism (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Collective organization against the far-right is not an option, but a 
historical necessity. Professor Mark Bray's decision to leave his own 
country due to threats is a grave warning. His case transcends the 
defense of academic freedom: it is the practical result of a state 
policy that produces this kind of frontal attack on our fundamental 
right to organize politically against the rise of repression and 
authoritarianism. ---- The petition by Turning Point USA (a conservative 
political organization founded by Charlie Kirk, with a strong presence 
on university campuses in the US) demanding Mark Bray's dismissal from 
Rutgers University is an act of pure political censorship, designed to 
erase from classrooms and academic research any analysis other than the 
distorted version of the far-right and the ruling classes.

The accusation against Mark Bray is a dangerous farce. They're not 
targeting an Antifa "leader" because they know as well as we do that 
Antifa is a broad movement, a practice of resistance, not a structured 
organization. What they're really targeting is workers' knowledge and 
right to political organization. Mark Bray is dangerous to them because 
he documents, explains, and legitimizes the long history of anti-fascist 
resistance.

This attack was only possible thanks to the witch-hunt environment 
sanctioned by Donald Trump's executive order, which criminalizes a 
spectrum of ideology. This is not a security policy; it is a declaration 
of political war, with a twofold objective.

First, by labeling anti-fascism "terrorism," the state and the far right 
seek to justify repression against any form of direct action, militant 
protest, or organization of the oppressed classes that rises up against 
them. It is an attempt to transform legitimate political and physical 
defense against the repression of the ruling classes and their armed 
defenders into a criminal act. They want us to peacefully accept their 
hateful rhetoric and violence, under threat of being treated as terrorists.

Second, they destroy solidarity and isolate individuals. The narrative 
that "left-wing rhetoric" led to Charlie Kirk's murder is a trap. It's 
an attempt to collectively hold a movement responsible for the actions 
of one individual, a principle they never apply to themselves. 
Meanwhile, when a neo-Nazi murdered Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, 
Virginia, in 2017, blame was assigned to individuals. This selective 
logic aims to divide us, make us fearful of each other, and silence us 
through panic.

The petition organizer's claim that Mark Bray is a "threat to 
conservative students" is the most cynical of all. The real "threat" he 
poses is intellectual: he arms his students with the understanding that 
fascism and the ruling classes can be fought and that ordinary people 
have always organized to do so.

When Megyn Doyle's group (treasurer of the Rutgers chapter of Turning 
Point USA) cites "freedom of expression" and then demands her dismissal, 
they reveal their true agenda: freedom of expression for themselves 
alone. Its "consequence" for dissenting thought is unemployment, exile, 
and intimidation.

Mark Bray's forced exile is not exclusive to the United States: it is an 
international tactic, as are some similar episodes in our Brazilian 
reality. It is not difficult to see the same mechanisms of persecution 
in actions such as the "School Without Parties" movement, which, under 
the false guise of "neutrality," sought to criminalize teachers who 
dared to promote critical thinking in the classroom, or in the 
systematic attacks by far-right groups on humanities courses at public 
universities. Just as Mark Bray is accused of "indoctrination" for 
studying anti-fascism, our educators are threatened and prosecuted for 
teaching about the military dictatorship, gender issues, evolutionary 
theory, or the nefarious legacy of slavery. The narrative is the same: 
transforming knowledge into a threat, historical analysis into an 
apology, and legitimate political organization into a case of police 
action. What's happening in the US is a version of the same ideological 
war that seeks, here and around the world, to silence any voice that 
rises against the hegemony of reactionism.

The persecution of Mark Bray is a chapter in a broader offensive against 
the left and the oppressed classes. It's a warning that the state and 
reactionary forces are willing to use the tool of repression to 
eliminate opposition. Defending Mark Bray is defending the right to 
study and teach about liberation movements. It's defending the right to 
donate to solidarity funds that pay lawyers for activists. It is, above 
all, defending our right to organize collectively to confront and defeat 
the advance of capitalist domination, wherever and whenever it arises. 
Bray's exile is the prelude to what they desire for our entire movement. 
We cannot allow it!

Full solidarity with Mark Bray and the social movements of the oppressed 
classes in the US against the rise of the far right.

Libertarian Socialist Organization
October 2025

https://socialismolibertario.net/2025/10/11/a-perseguicao-a-mark-bray-antifascismo/
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