Now, the Trump regime is on a rampage to viciously suppress opposition and resistance to its fascist rule—including by declaring that any forces that are “anti-capitalist” or “anti-American” or “anti-Christian,” and generally anyone that the Trump regime designates as “enemies” (including by using the vague and “catch-all” term “Antifa”) can be labeled “domestic terrorists” and subjected to severe government repression.

 – Bob Avakian: Humanity on the Brink: A Forced March Into the Abyss, or Forging a Way Out of the Madness?

On March 13, a Fort Worth, Texas federal court jury convicted nine local activists on felony charges stemming from a July 4 demonstration. Eight of them face sentences ranging from 10 to 60 years in prison; one faces a life sentence. (Sentencing is in June.)

This is completely unjust and represents a dangerous leap in political repression. And it is a green light for the regime to go all-out and nationwide with this fascist rampage.

The head of the Department of Justice (DOJ), Pam Bondi, spelled this out: “Today’s verdict on terrorism charges will not be the last as the Trump administration systematically dismantles Antifa...” [Italics added] And FBI director Kash Patel chimed in: “We will continue dismantling violent extremist networks...”

Again, this talk about “violent extremist networks” is bullshit, but the threat to dismantle all political opposition is very real.

When the Regime Says “Antifa Terrorists,” It Means Opponents of the Regime

On September 22, 2025, Trump issued an executive order titled “Designating Antifa As A Domestic Terrorist Organization.” Three days later he signed the “National Security Presidential Memorandum/NSPM-7: Countering Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” which aimed at pulling the whole government into the repressive campaign. 

The NSPM-7 made clear that this “counter-terrorism” effort included going after ideas that the regime says fuel terrorism, including “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.”(!!)

Also very important, these two orders singled out “Antifa” as the supposed source of terrorism that needed to be uprooted and destroyed. As the DOJ claimed (lied) this week: Antifa is a “militant enterprise made up of networks of individuals and small groups primarily ascribing to an ideology that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and the system of law."

“Antifa” is not an organization or even an organized network! It has no “members,” no offices, no leaders, no unified ideology, program, strategy or tactics. Antifa is short for "anti-fascist" and reflects an orientation towards taking on fascists, racists, and various forms of injustice. 

For the Trump regime though, the fact that Antifa is amorphous is a feature not a bug, because it enables the regime to attribute any act of violence in society to “Antifa.” AND, because it has no formal membership, the regime can also accuse anyone with ideas or practices the regime does not like of being “Antifa.”

To put it simply, when the regime says “Antifa,” it means the political opponents of the regime. And Trump’s executive order and the NSPM-7 aimed to establish the legal basis and the practical tools to “dismantle” exactly this political opposition. It is singling out those opponents of the regime who indict the regime as “fascist,” and/or who call for resistance, and/or who engage in anything from street demonstrations and nonviolent civil disobedience and other forms of nonviolent resistance and self-defense (which is, in fact, legal). In a city like Minneapolis at this point, you are talking about literally thousands and thousands of people who would fit this sweeping, false and profoundly fascistic definition of “Antifa.”

The Prairieland Trial

The trial and conviction of the nine defendants stemmed from a July 4, 2025 protest at the Prairieland ICE Detention Center. The government alleges that cars and buildings in the parking lot were spray-painted, tires slashed and fireworks were set off. And it claims that one of the protesters shot a correctional officer. (Actual events surrounding the shooting remain somewhat unclear, and the officer was treated and released from the hospital that same night.) 

But the DOJ did not home in on the person they accused of shooting the officer—the one and only serious alleged act committed that night. Nor did DOJ prosecute individuals it suspected of the other alleged criminal acts (spray-painting, for example), which at most are pretty minor crimes. 

Instead, the DOJ claimed that all of this was a “conspiracy” on the part of all the demonstrators, who, DOJ claimed, were all members of an “Antifa Cell,” acting together. The DOJ’s claim was that different people at this demonstration did different things, from shooting off firecrackers, to spray-painting cars, chanting slogans… or shooting someone!... but they were all essentially responsible for everything anyone did because they were all part of this "Antifa Cell.”

This comes out in the language of the charges themselves. Eight defendants were charged with “Conspiracy to use and carry an explosive” (meaning fireworks) and “Using and carrying an explosive during a riot.” So setting off fireworks is¹ transformed from being maybe a violation into a major felony because the DOJ claimed this happened “during a riot” which consisted of other people who are also alleged to have committed minor crimes. 

But, as a fact sheet from the Prairieland Defendants Support Committee says, "The state has provided no evidence that there was coordination to fire at police. Most of the individuals were actually arrested a few blocks from the alleged incident and the evidence presented by the federal prosecutors is heavily politicized and nearly entirely circumstantial."

Eight people were charged with “providing material support for terrorists.” But the "material support” included entirely legal things like “transportation” and “communication equipment." So now these perfectly normal activities like giving someone a ride become major crimes because… it’s all “Antifa”!

And how did the government establish that everyone was in “Antifa” (given, as we noted before, that there is no such thing as being an Antifa “member”)? Well, one form of “evidence” for this was that the FBI seized a bunch of zines from people’s homes, and then walked the jury through their contents, which included anti-fascism, anarchy, calls for the abolition of ICE and police, opposition to Israel, noise demonstrations, direct action and animal rights. 

These are supposed to be politically protected speech, but under Trump MAGA fascism, you can be criminalized for being at a protest and also having these views. 

All this is first and foremost about establishing “legal” tools for crushing political dissent, right at this moment when the regime is closing in on locking down power and implementing its agenda in the face of the anger of millions of people. 

But this is also giving us a real taste of the kind of society they are moving to lock down. And the “thought crimes” and “guilt-by-association” that led to these convictions tell us that what they are constructing is far worse than most people think. In fact, the constant fear that not only something you’ve done, but something you’ve said or thought, some book or piece of art or work of music in your home, something a friend said, something that someone else does at a protest you are attending... that any of these things might get you in big trouble because the regime doesn’t like it… that pervasive fear is a hallmark of fascist regimes. And the Trump regime is establishing the legal architecture for this right in the here-and-now.

On the Urgent Need—and Correct Approach—to Meeting and Defeating This Repression

This move by the Trump regime to enforce even more severe repression must be taken extremely seriously by all who hate and oppose this fascism, and yearn for a whole different world. Everyone should speak out against this outrageous prosecution. Go to instagram.com/dfwsupportcommittee or prairielanddefendants.com for resources and for more on how to support the defendants.

In his new work Humanity on the Brink: A Forced March Into the Abyss, or Forging a Way Out of the Madness?, Bob Avakian speaks of what is needed at this moment in the face of this threat of increased repression:

In relation to all this, there is the importance of confronting and moving to not only oppose but actually defeat the severe repression the Trump regime is threatening, and is moving rapidly to enforce—for example, with its targeting of so-called “antifa” as a dragnet and broad framework in which to go after anybody who is (as they say) “anti-capitalist,” “anti-Christian,” “anti-American,” taking supposedly “extreme positions” against deporting immigrants, and so on and so forth. It is only realistic and scientific to expect this repression to take leaps, and very likely in the near future. So it is necessary to be prepared, actively as well as ideologically in terms of orientation, to meet and defeat this repression, broadly mobilizing people in opposition to it, including people who have political disagreements with those targeted at any given time.

And through this fight, it is necessary to win more people, building up more organized forces, for the fight against Trump/MAGA fascism, in terms of the immediate situation, and for the fundamental goal of revolution—giving life to what we describe as the R/CR/More R phenomenon (that is, revolution and resistance against the system, met by the counter-revolution of the repression of the regime, and met in turn by calling forth more powerful resistance and building for revolution). This is going to be an extremely acute focus and front of the struggle against the Trump regime and for the possibility of something even more fundamental to change. So it is necessary, as I said, to be prepared both ideologically and practically, and to make this a mass question, and give life to the orientation of uniting all who can be united against this repression, regardless of even significant differences among those so united—but, at the same time, not allowing this, even as serious as it is likely to become, to cause people to panic and to backtrack on struggling against the regime and for more fundamental change.