I wonder if it's possible to find out when that design was uploaded to Spreadshirt. It's possible it was only uploaded after the campaigner tweeted it.

@F1Krazy Wayback's earliest cache is yesterday, probably in response to searches for it.

@LаngLаngС But all of their designs - including the antifa one - are marked as "new" in the shop, so who knows (I don't think the shop shows when a member registered or when items where added, and wayback isn't helpful here).

Great answer. +100 if I could.

@WernerCD You can by offering a bounty.

Is that a hammer and sickle on one of the helmets?

@user76284 Some people taking the Antifa name have use the hammer and sickle symbology. As mentioned here in a few places, Antifa is more of a movement than an organization. There's no official anything, so people taking the name can do whatever they want.

The 1984 Ingsoc might be an interesting addition to your usages list here, though that's not Antifa, but certainly a "boogeyman" of sorts.

I think the t-shirt is the weakest argument here. I'd suggest removing it, or at the very least relegating it below your other evidence. I think it likely that this t-shirt was made in response. Your argument that the artists appears to be anti-fascist doesn't hold much water - Twitter has erupted with people using the symbol in their names.

I am sure there are many people who make a living by being the first to produce t-shirt and sticker designs in response to the news.

Excellent examples @LаngLаngС, I have found another one of a Dutch Antifa Organization called Antifa Utrecht. afanl.wordpress.com/lokale-groepen

"The usual historical explanation first: 'Antifa' means primarily 'anti-fascist', a thing the US was proud to be, officially – not that long ago." Two things: 1) Virtually everyone is still anti-fascist. 2) That Antifa is only "anti-fascist" is ostensible.

I am not sure if your description of VVN-BdA is entirely correct. When rrading stuff like this vvn-bda.de/… (already 10 years old), my impression is they are indeed trying to appeal to a fairly moderate audience, while at the same time not shying away from confrontation with the police.

@Jan On that, I am sure. They just stood violently passive in the way of those 'court-approved-to be called that' fascists like Höcke to oppose those fascists that until 2009 marched alongside the moderate citizens for their own ends, and in exactly 2011 the fascists used that occasion to show their more peaceful side by attacking a housing project. Note that the 2nd search hit for this on YouTube shows a fascist video apologising the violence as justified.

@LangLangC Not sure if your point re. moderate citizens is supposed to be ironic or just mistaken. The rally where Höcke was filmed in 2010 (as well as similar demonstrations in the years before and since, including the one in 2011) was very clearly a Neo-Nazi event. In any case, you described VVN as far from militant, but I would argue that mobilizing to a rally in the expectation that protestors get some bruises or getting wet by a watercannon might not be that far from militancy.

@LangLangC: Btw snd since you have brought up youtube, if you search for "zsk antifascista" there is a video clip with footage from the February 2011 rally in Dresden which includes two scenes with VVN flags, or maybe two scenes with one and the same VVN flag. (much of the footage in the video is not from Dresden, and some may be from Dresden in 2010. The footage with the VVN flag(s) is from Dresden in 2011.)

The three arrows I believe is for the Iron Front, which was a pre-WWII militant group against the Nazis, Communists, and Monarchists. Basically against anyone attacking Democracy. If you're someone who believes there's a distinction between being anti-fascist and Antifa, then the Iron Front is also distinct.

So, in short, the answer is "Yes, but mostly by Antifa groups in Europe"?

It's very hard to source and prove but I have seen many uses of the 🔻 emoji in tweeter usernames, before this ad campaign, by people who claim to be "antifascists" (and not specifically "antifa"). Mostly emerging during the BLM movement, by people strongly anti-police. You can still search for "🔻 twitter" and you'll find some.

@TeleportingGoat That might be quite an important angle to check, and which I currently don't know squat about how to do for either usernames or tweets. If you know a way to check for these before this incident, then I'd be more then interested to see that in an additional answer of yours here. (Although I wonder why the warroomers wouldn't have pointed that out either.)

Also note that Antifa is a decentralized, communist organization, and as such is essentially fascism on steroids. Their anti-fascist declaration is nothing but deception to insinuate they are the opposite, and that their enemies are evil - but they are even worse. They protest and riot against conservatives and moderates even, and threaten and cause destruction against people over even benign speech they oppose. Advocating free speech is fascism to them apparently, which should be more than revealing about their true intent.

@LаngLаngС I need to add that I meant "display name" (sometimes "twitter name") and not "username". Apprently "username" is another name for the handle or "@", which doesn't support emoji. The display name can be changed at any time, and I don't think there's any reliable way to find someone's previous usernames. Maybe that's why it wasn't that talked about, it's extremely volatile and it can even be hard to search for current ones if they were changed recently. They can take a while to change on search engines, especially on small accounts.

VVN-BdA was founded by mostly communist survivors of concentration camps, Their name and logo is meant to reference that. I've seen quite a few posters etc. with the red triangle during my time in the movement (many comrades who do graphics design like russian constructivism), but hardly or never as a symbol you put on yourself.

it is frankly disrespectful to associate the modern day antifa movement with D-Day.

Most self-declared "antifa" people, if met face-to-face with the actual soldiers that stormed the Normandy beaches, would call those very same soldiers "nazis" or "fascists" for their outdated beliefs on LGBT folks and PoC. The "antifa" label has been thoroughly sullied by violent and other bad-faith actors. I think it's time to acknowledge that calling yourself "the good guy squad" does not mean all your actions are automatically "good".

The line " 'Antifa' means primarily 'anti-fascist', a thing the US was proud to be, officially – not that long ago." is gratuitous. The US, then and now, actually opposed fascism. Antifa calls itself anti-fascism in name — but if we took names to be dispositive, then the Nazis were socialists.