US Designates European Leftwing groups as terrorists,Drawing Condemnation and Fears of Crackdown
Berlin/Rome/Athens – The United States has designated several European leftwing groups as terrorist organizations,a move hailed by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) but condemned by historians and security experts who fear it will be used to suppress legitimate opposition. The designations, announced Monday, include groups from Italy and Greece, sparking concerns about a broader anti-fascist crackdown.
AfD spokesperson René Springer celebrated the decision, stating it confirmed the partyS long-held warnings about the threat posed by “leftwing extremism.”
The move has drawn criticism from observers who argue it misrepresents the nature of these groups and could legitimize repression. “Trump is pursuing a perfidious tactic,” said German Green party politician Jürgen Trittin in an interview with Der Spiegel. “By labelling groups as ‘antifa’, he can ban leftwing groups and demonstrations and crack down on opposition figures as soon as someone is seen wearing an antifa sweatshirt or carrying an antifa flag.” He warned this could be used to justify action against “anyone who is, in a broader sense, to his left, or opposed to him.”
Among the groups designated is Italy’s Informal Anarchist Federation/International Revolutionary Front (Fai/Fri),founded in December 2003.The group claimed responsibility for the explosion of two bins near the home of then-European Commission President Romano Prodi in Bologna that same year, followed weeks later by a parcel bomb that exploded in Prodi’s hands, leaving him uninjured. Italian security services describe Fai/Fri as a “horizontal” movement utilizing armed direct action. Other actions attributed to the group include letter bomb attacks in 2010 on the Swiss and Chilean embassies in Rome and the 2021 kneecapping of Roberto Adinolfi, then chief executive of Ansaldo nucleare.
Mary Bossis, an emeritus professor of international security at the University of Piraeus in Athens, cautioned against equating participation in broad social movements with support for terrorism. “but that does not mean, as in the case of antifa, that the whole movement is either violent or supportive of terrorism. In fact it is very much not the case … Standing against fascism does not make someone a terrorist.”
in Greece, media reports characterized the US move as ”a dangerous development” given the rising threat from rightwing extremism. Following the dismantlement of the neo-Nazi golden Dawn party, which reached the position of Greece’s third largest party during the country’s debt crisis, new ultra-nationalist, far-right parties have gained depiction in parliament.
