12 Jan 2021 - Weaning off Facebook, Day 1 (Los Lobos and Antifa)
Apparently like many people during this Covid pandemic and election year, I developed anxiety and depression to the point of panic attacks and, as part of my recovery, decided I needed less silence and more music in my life. So each morning I listen to a "theme song" that generally sticks with me throughout the day, and the internal soundtrack helps to settle my mind. Given the amount of rain we've had here in Durham, NC, the last few weeks, Los Lobos's Can't Stop the Rain is my theme song today:
As for the nagging thoughts I'd have posted to Facebook or Twitter today if I were not weaning myself off those platforms, one of the first regards Antifa. Merriam-Webster presents a great history of the word that is worth a skim. Turns out that, though the English word antifa may borrow from the German language, its origin is decidedly Italian.
The word fascio (fascisti) was an Italian word meaning "a bundle/sheaf" or "a league" in the figurative sense. By at least 1914, Italians used a derivative of the word, fascisti, to refer to members of a political fascio who had adopted as their insignia the fasces, a symbol from ancient Rome depicting an ax head projecting from a bundle of rods. In 1919, the word fascisti was associated with Benito Mussolini's combat groups.
Fascisti was adopted into the English language, along with its opposite, anti-Fascisti, and the first recorded English use of the word was in 1921:
"After some minutes the negotiations were resumed, and the Fascisti promised to leave the town by a special train, but while waiting for the train to be drawn up the majority set out on a punitive expedition against neighbouring peasants who were known to belong to the Arditi del Popolo [the anti-Fascisti]."
—The Times (London), 23 Jul. 1921
"I beg to inform you, that on March 18, 1923, we held an anti-Fascisti meeting at the Amalgamated Temple in Brooklyn. This meeting was filled with 2,000 Italian trade unionists. We took up a voluntary contribution to relieve the victims of the Fascisti outrages."
— letter to the editor, The Nation, 25 Apr. 1923
Before WWII, Germany adopted the words fascistico/fascista to the words faschistisch, Faschist, and then antifaschistisch and Antifaschist, which were shortened to antifa/Antifa. The earliest known use of the actual word antifa in the English language was apparently in 1930:
"Military practice by the local Communist Antifascist Society was broken up last night by police near the suburb of Heidemuehle. All members of the society, which is known as Antifa, were arrested and police are investigating purposes of the military practice, which they had suspected for a long time was taking place."
— The Daily Boston Globe, 20 Oct. 1930
I find all this to be wildly (and sadly) ironic. The word's not even Amercan, y'all! And it doesn't refer to a faction of the Democratic party but to a guerrilla organization of the sort the name-callers have historically supported. But what I find most disturbing is the Fascist and Nazi history of the word and what its resurgence here in American could mean for the World.
Note: I'm already missing the plethora of Facebook likes and comments (even the ones that piss me off) - so, if you feel so inclined, please leave a comment below. And if you want to know more about me, you can check out my homepage at www.melissarooneywriting.com
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