Resisting fascism: Fifty years of anti-fascism ‘from below’, 1974-2024

British Academy/Wellcome Trust Conferences bring together scholars and specialists from around the world to explore themes related to health and wellbeing.

On 15 June 1974, during a violent counterdemonstration against the far-right National Front, Kevin Gately, a mathematics student from University of Warwick was killed in London’s Red Lion Square. This was the first death of an anti-fascist at a counter-protest in British political history. Fifty years on, this landmark conference will examine the ideas, articulations, and practices of anti-fascism from the perspective and experience of militant grassroots activists. Yet the contemporary context is not one limited to Britain. For the far right has become resurgent across the globe and constitutes one of the most significant political trends of past decades. The scope of this conference is therefore international. From the vantage point of a range of disciplines, including history, politics, sociology and social movement studies, media and communication studies, and human geography, this conference offers an unparalleled view of grassroots anti-fascist resistance in both the recent past and in the present.

A programme for this three-day conference will be added closer to date.

Conference convenors:

• Professor Nigel Copsey, Teesside University
• Dr David Featherstone, University of Glasgow
• Dr Ali Jones, Coventry University
• Dr Sam Merrill, Umeå University

Speakers across the three-day conference include:

• Dr Tina Askinius, Malmo University
• Professor Joel Busher, Coventry University
• Professor Nigel Copsey, Teesside University
• Ms Julia Ebner, Institute of Strategic Dialogue, London
• Dr David Featherstone, University of Glasgow
• Dr Benjamin Franks, Glasgow University
• Dr Günter Gassner, Glasgow University
• Mr Cameron Huggett, Teesside University
• Dr Anthony Ince, Cardiff University
• Dr Ali Jones, Coventry University
• Dr Daniel Jones, University of Northampton
• Ms Natasha Lennard, New School of Social Research, New York
• Professor Dr Ewa Majewski, Warsaw University of Social Sciences and Humanities
• Dr Samuel Merrill, Umea University
• Dr Tanner Mirlees, University of Ontario Tech
• Dr Christina Neumayer, Copenhagen University
• Mr Rhys Partridge, Coventry University
• Dr Massimo Perinelli, Rosa Luxembourg Foundation
• Dr Grzegorz Piotrowski, University of Gdansk
• Dr Nils Schuhmacher, University of Hamburg
• Dr Stefanie Snider, Ohio
• Dr Jacco Visser, Aarhus University
• Dr Stanislav Vysotsky, University of the Fraser Valley
• Professor Yiannis Zaimakis, University of Crete

• In-person: admission £20 per day (£40 for both days).
• In-person: concessions £10 per day (£20 for both days).
• Online admission: Free

Funded by the Wellcome Trust

If you have any questions about this event please refer to our events FAQs or email [email protected].

Image: Photograph of the mural commemorating Kevin Gately, which hangs in the Student Union building at the University of Warwick. The photograph is sourced from Meeting Room 2, renamed 'The Kevin Gately Room' (warwicksu.com).