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The rise of right-wing populism over the past decade, and the presidency of Donald Trump in particular, have prompted renewed reflection on the question of fascism’s incarnations after the Second World War. This paper speaks to such debates about the definition and operations of fascism beyond Benito Mussolini's Italy and Adolf Hitler's Germany by exploring visual representations of (anti-)fascism during the late 1960s and early 1970s, at the peak of protests against the escalating war in Vietnam, the violent suppression of student activism, and Black Panther organizing. It considers how the iconography of European fascism was regularly invoked by radicals, artists and activists during the 1960s and early 1970s to label and denounce what were perceived to be adjacent regimes of white supremacy, imperialism and state violence. The paper takes a spatial approach to the constructions and contestations of (anti)-fascism in these decades, focussing on ‘the campus’ and ‘the courthouse’ as examples of what Nikhal Singh describes as potential ‘zones of internal exclusion’ – spaces in which fascism might co-exist within liberal democracies. It critically reflects on how the visual languages of artists and activists drew comparisons between Nazi Germany and state violence focussing on the trial of the Chicago 8 (1969-70) and the People’s Park protest (Berkeley 1969).

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Last updated: Thursday, 21 March 2024