Stickers renewing antifascism symbolism from Partyzan Clothing brand. Photo by Balkan Diskurs, used with permission. This article by Aurora Pinelli was originally published on Balkan Diskurs, a project of the Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC). An edited version is republished by Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement. Seventy-six years after the struggle between Yugoslav partisans and Nazi Germany, new generations in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) are reinventing the concepts of fascism and antifascism in light of contemporary issues. Antifascism is usually defined as what it is not, or rather, in terms of the ideology it has tried to fight. Appearing first in Italy in the mid-1920s, strong opponents to the regime instituted by Benito Mussolini coined it to express their disagreement with an ideology soaked in nationalism, discrimination, hierarchy, militarism, and authoritarianism—the ideology whose violent and anti-egalitarian nature would cause the worst conflict of the 20th century. As Nazi racial theories and fascist ideologies spread throughout Europe, they influenced the Croatian Ustashas and Serbian Chetnik ideologies in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. This resulted in systematic and extensive cooperation with the Nazis in their terror campaigns in Yugoslavia and exacerbated ethnic divisions and antagonisms. In Yugoslavia, the antifascist struggle was led by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ), led by Josip Broz Tito, mainly against Chetniks, Ustashas, Nazis, and other fascists. It gave birth to the armed resistance movement composed of the well-known Yugoslav partisans. Thus, in a way, fascist ideologies have caused antifascism to exist in the first place. In highly militarized societies, sides are defined by the war, life means survival and the fight for the right to have rights. In these contexts, recognizing the manifestation of fascism and antifascism is easier and more straightforward. Today things have changed. How can we truly recognize manifestations of fascism and antifascism in societies that are free from direct physical conflict, where the definition of the “other side” is becoming progressively more blurry and more complicated to grasp? Now in BiH new generations of activists are engaged in fighting different forms of fascism and they renew antifascism accordingly. They are working to reinvent concepts that seem too intertwined with a controversial past and have lost their meanings. Antifa 2.0 Exhibition – Panel on Feminism. Photo by Balkan Diskurs, used with permission. Their strategy? Understanding the values of antifascism and the worrying features of fascism in light of contemporary issues, keeping an eye on progress and social welfare. The inspiring youth that I have interviewed come from various organizations and initiatives from across BiH, including Omladinski Pokret Revolt (Tuzla), Ostra Nula (Banjaluka), Bh. Povorka ponosa (the organizing committee of the pride march of BiH), Antifa 2.0, Citizen Against Terrorism (CAT), and Partyzan Clothing. Today fascism is manifested in BiH through nationalist and divisive narratives about the 1992-1995 war. This includes hate speech, human rights violations, and historical revisionism. The latter is defined as the reinterpretation of historically established facts, such as the denial of the Srebrenica Genocide, the glorification of war criminals, and the spread of narratives describing Chetniks and Ustashas as antifascists rather than Nazi co-operators. As mentioned by the president of Ostra Nula, Milica Pralica, these revisionist dynamics are more worrying in Republika Srpska, where generations of kids and university students are told false narratives about their 1992-1995 past and the role of the Chetniks in the Second World War. When asked about what fascism is today, all the interviewees surprisingly agreed with one another and had the same definition. According to them, fascism is the stigmatization and discrimination of minority groups and the violation of their human rights just for the sake of their alleged difference. They advocate for a non-nationalized version of this perspective, believing that the focus should not be on only Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks, but also on the rights of migrants, LGBTQ+, Romani people, people with disabilities, women, and other marginalized identities. “We just speak about the rights of Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats and we pretend that they are the only ones deserving rights, and for me this is fascism,” says Pralica. As the executive director of Antifa 2.0, Irena Petrovic discusses how the organization was moved by worrying developments in BiH, which are contributing to young people sympathizing with totalitarian, anti-democratic political solutions.