The problem with calling anti-fascism violent is that it ignores the fact that fascism is, in itself, a conspiracy to murder.
"A good fascist is a dead one" simply states that there are no good fascists.
I don't have comprehensive knowledge of fascism, but I'm pretty sure that its not as simple as being "a conspiracy to murder". However, in pretty much all of its manifestations it has ended up violently supressing opposition and furthering its nationalistic aims through violence. It shares that with pretty much all totalitarian political ideologies, right and left.
I'm not really calling anti-fascism violent by default (although, let's face it, it usually is). I just don't think urging violence to fascists really benefits anyone or furthers the discussions we have here. It just seems unreasonable and thuggish and more of the same.
I'm not talking about beating people up, i'm talking about standing up to systems and ideologies that exist to repress, enslave and kill us.
I am not, and have never been a violent person.
But i'm grateful to those who smashed the Hitler, Mussolini and the Japanese Imperial Army - and i applaud those of us who reject fascism in its modern forms - at the ballot box and in the streets (such as people who stand up to fascist thugs like Golden Dawn in Greece).
You've certainly advocated a support for violent opposition to fascism in the past. I'm not attacking you for that, I understand it- these cunts make me angry too- but I do not think it is effective. I support those who oppose groups like the Golden Dawn who are dangerous neo-Nazi's. I would not support someone randomly bashing or killing fascists because its pretty easy to say anyone who you disagree with is a fascist and there really is no jury deliberating on this shit. And that is my point, if you really want the support of people and wish to avoid imposing your ideals, its always going to be better to use peaceful methods. For me, rabid antifascism is pretty damn similar to fascism because it furthers its aims through violence and fuck that.
The world is full of people who think violence is justified. I think it sometimes certainly is, but I also think we won't really advance until we focus on changing minds in different ways.
For me, nationalism is a fucking joke. Its ridiculously easy to induce a state of group-loyalty in human beings, regardless of what constitutes the commonalities of the group. You can make people bash and kill each other based on their support of different sporting teams. We evolved to form groups to protect ourselves in a dangerous and violent world, its a brilliant evolutionary strategy for a species as diverse, large and disparate as humans. How to bind people together who are strangers-
create a common heritage, imagine a threat to that and watch the claws come out. Its something that fascists and antifascists do too and in that sense I see very little difference between the two. Consider someone like Socrates who just died rather than compromise. Its possible for humans to transcend our bullshit, and we need to because our true nature is a thing of strife and violence. Anything we can do to move away from that is worthwhile. I try to have as little to do with other people as possible, because I think humans in groups are the greatest threat Earth has vomited forth thus far. These pretend 'nations' we have; are they really worth killing and dying over? They are an invented abstraction.
Fascism is a bit of a red herring at this stage. Despite the increasing power of the right, not all right wing politics is fascist politics.