Okay, I'm gonna rant about "the fascists want violence; don't give it to them."

It is correct that they want violence, but incorrect that they will fail to find it if no one counters them. Fascists will always find violence because they will attack the targets of their hate. 1/

If you give fascists the run of city, they will assault Black people, transgender or gender nonbinary people, and other groups they hate.

To a less degree (but sometimes) they will even attack anyone the peg as "liberal." Some people got attacked in DC just for wearing masks.

While I agree they want violence, what fascists definitely do *not* want is to be humiliated by overwhelming opposition which pins them into a single location and prevents them roaming the city attacking people.

In an ideal world, anti-fascist would always have the numbers to isolate and pin fascists in. Unfortunately, we don't always have those numbers but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

If everyone who opposed fascism and was able to take the streets did so, I believe we'd always have those numbers.

The final outcome would be less violence because the fascists are trapped and/or hiding behind cops.

Additionally, fascists gain momentum from displays of force. It validates their ideology and makes newer recruits or 'normies' radicalize further so they too can gain a warped sense of strength and respect.

So when we fail to contain fascist groups, they don't disappear; they'll only come back stronger next time.

If they're defeated, yes they will play victim and portray anti-fascists as violence. But from their standpoint, that is the weaker recruiting position.

If you break fascist morale by surrounding/isolating them and screaming over them so they cannot be heard, a lot of them won't want to repeat the experience.

This is a generalization and unfortunately there are always dregs, but you can at least bust momentum.