Black Neofascism? The Economic Freedom Fighters in South Africa

This article argues that twenty-first century fascism is variegated and shaped by complex socioecological conditions. While enabled by the specific conditions of contemporary capitalist crisis, it is actually different from its antecedents. This requires actual in situ case studies. Hence, this article focuses on the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in South Africa and explores its emergence in the conjuncture of hegemonic crisis faced by the ruling African National Congress. Moreover, the article challenges current liberal classificatory discourses that seek to define the EFF in South Africa's democratic order and also revisits the history of fascism from a decolonial perspective. It is argued there where two moments of fascism in the twentieth century, interwar fascism, and militarized fascism in the peripheries supported by U.S. imperialism. The EFF does not share anything in common with these twentieth century fascisms and therefore has to be analyzed and explained on its own terms.