I must confess I am not even sure it is a good tactic to punch people like Spencer. Its hard to see its political efficacy behind its spectacular effects. I think standing one's ground is very different from actively deciding who is a 'fascist' and smacking them on camera, or whatever. A woman meeting up to attend a meetin to discuss changes to legislation around sex was punched a while ago - was she a 'fascist' who deserved such action? These individual acts cannot but be spectacular and counter-productive to the cause. And since when has anyone's mind been changed from having been punched? If anything it would surely confirm that there are 'enemies' and 'friends' and deepen existing positions. The slow work of discussion and understanding is a different matter enitrely. People do not agree - how can we use reason and understanding to come to a different way of seeing the world together? It makes no sense to simply dismiss people as irredeemably unsalvagable ('evil fascists') as if this is simply who people are on some deep level and not positions adopted because they are trying to make sense of things (however badly). I am not sure the left has a good way of explaining where 'hate' comes from. But this is what we need to understand the most, lest we end up hating those we suspect of hating.
People get involved with far right politics for all sorts of reasons, some social, some psychological and some ideological. It is undeniable that part of the fun is being a bully. Being the badman with a swastika who can walk around menacingly. One of the first tasks of militant anti-fascism is to spoil this fun and thereby separate the hardcore ideologues from the weekend Nazis.
Most people don't like being hit. Some people don't mind it so much if it is part of an adrenaline rush where they get to hit people too. Some people think it's a price worth paying as part of a political process.
So being hit might not change someone's mind in terms of ideology but certainly can and does change their mind about whether they should be a bully. If you remove those people from the pool that Nazis swim in, you are left with the hardcore - violence junkies and dyed in the wool Hitler-worshippers.
People get involved with far left politics for all sorts of reasons, some social, some psychological and some ideological. There is generally less emphasis on being a bully, but we're not immune from that either - albeit more about intellectual superiority than fisticuffs.
Wilhelm Reich is still a decent enough place to look for why people hate.
After Darren Osborne was jailed for life for attempting to kill Muslims in Finsbury Park by driving his van into them, two things emerged:
Firstly, he had been a big fan of Tommy Robinson and had exchanged DMs with him.
Secondly, there was a revealing piece on his background in one of the papers where a neighbour stated “He had lived on the estate for a few years. He's always been a complete cunt but this is really surprising,”
There will be all kinds of academic studies into Osborne and the wider movement he was part of. I can't help feeling that the outcomes will be of little practical value for anti-fascists. You don't counter someone who wants to drive a van all the way from Wales and kill Muslims with a nice chat. Some people are just cunts.
Where we need to be is talking to his neighbours.
