JRPGfan said:
Why would a group of anti facists promote facists ways?
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Just because they call and consider themselves to be "anti-fascists" does not mean that they actually are. It's a common phenomenon that one's self-image differs sharply from their external image. The Nazis from WW2 germany for example considered themselves left-wingers and socialists - we consider them quite the opposite. The "german democratic republic" (DDR) prominently claimed itself to be democratic, when in practice they were everything but democratic. And there's many more similar examples.
And there's a general problem with "anti-whatever" groups, that they have a certain tendency of becoming very similar to what they are officially fighting against. Philosopher Nietzsche already hinted at this in one of his famous quotes:
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.
"Anti-fascism" in practice has a lot to do with psychological projection (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection):
"Psychological projection is a defense mechanism in which the human ego defends itself against unconscious impulses or qualities (both positive and negative) by denying their existence in themselves while attributing them to others."
JRPGfan said:
They basically only get violent, if the far right and white power groups do as well.
They show up to counter protest, when white power groups gather.
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I only know about the situation here in germany, but at least over here it's a bit different:
Antifa groups (also called the "black block" because of their black uniforms) turn up whenever they believe there's a chance for them to become violent, with no or little danger of facing serious consequences. They're basically people with a strong desire for violence, confrontation and destruction, who just use "anti-fascism" as a pretext to justify their violence.
Indeed, gatherings of people with different political opinions are typical cases when they will show up, looking for confrontation and trying to disrupt these meetings. In that respect, they serve a purpose very similar to that of the Nazi regime's "Stumabteilung" (SA). The Antifa's circle-A-Logo actually even closely resembles the old SA logo:
But it's far from the truth that they "only get violent, if the far right and white power groups do as well". As I said, they basically get violent whenever there's a chance to get violent with no or little danger of facing negative consequences, even if there's not a single right-winger anywhere nearby. For example, the typical day for Antifa violence in germany is the night before the first of may. Every year, they'll gather in tenthousands on the last day of april in Berlin, and once it gets dark, they start rioting, looting and vandalizing, burning down cars, looking for fights with the police etc. There's always several thousands of policemen trying to stop them, but they do not stand a real chance against a stone- and firecracker-throwing mob of several thousands. The police may be able to catch a few people, but that's about it.
