US anti-fascism expert leaves country day after being blocked from flying to Spain

From The Guardian UK by Edward Helmore, 9 Oct 2025 22.20 EDT

Rutgers University professor who published book on antifa was told at gate his trip was cancelled after Trump threats

A Rutgers University professor who taught a course on anti-fascism has left the US, a day after he was blocked from boarding a flight to Spain, following a White House event where Donald Trump promised “very threatening” steps against antifa activists.

Mark Bray, a historian who has taught courses on anti-fascism at the New Jersey university, was attempting to board a plane at Newark airport late on Wednesday when he was informed at the boarding gate that reservations for him and his family had been cancelled.

The professor, nicknamed “Dr Antifa” by students, had said he was moving to Europe after receiving death threats. Turning Point USA activists have claimed that Bray, author of the 2017 book Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, is a “financier” for the leftwing movement.

“‘Someone’ cancelled my family’s flight out of the country at the last second,” Bray posted on Bluesky. “We got our boarding passes. We checked our bags. Went through security. Then at our gate our reservation ‘disappeared’.”

Bray told the New York Times earlier on Wednesday: “My role in this is as a professor. I’ve never been part of an antifa group, and I’m not currently.” He added: “There’s an effort under way to paint me as someone who is doing the things that I’ve researched, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Bray told the outlet that his family was rebooked for Thursday evening but was in the dark about why the earlier booking had been cancelled. “I may sound conspiratorial, but I don’t think it is a coincidence,” he said. “We’re at a hotel and we’re just going to try again.”

Late on Thursday, Bray posted on the social media platform Bluesky: “Our plane to Spain is in the air!”

He added: “Thank you so much to the countless people supporting us in every way and in particular all of the Rutgers students and faculty who have supported us every step of the way.”

A petition calling for his removal from the university had been launched in the weeks following the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. Bray’s home address was revealed on social media.

One threat included a vow to kill him in front of his students, according to the Washington Post. The threats led to Bray’s decision to relocate to Spain with his wife and two children and to continue to teach his students remotely.

“Since my family and I do not feel safe in our home at the moment, we are moving for the year to Europe,” Bray said in an email to students on Sunday. “Truly I am so bummed about not being able to spend time with you all in the classroom.”

After Kirk’s assassination, the rightwing influencer Jack Posobiec called Bray a “domestic terrorist professor” on X. The Rutgers chapter of Turning Point USA then circulated a petition that accused the professor of being an “outspoken, well-known antifa member” and called for his dismissal.

The Rutgers chapter of Turning Point USA has said it does not support harassment or doxing, but Bray is on a list of academics the group identifies as advancing left-leaning classroom propaganda.

“Do you want to become a socialist? If so, make sure to pay this professor a visit!!!! All jokes aside help us report this professor who has ties to Antifa which now is designated as a domestic terrorist organization,” the Rutgers chapter posted on Instagram several days ago.

In a statement, Rutgers said it did not comment on personnel or student conduct matters.

“Rutgers University is committed to providing a secure environment – to learn, teach, work and research – where all members of our community can share their opinions without fear of intimidation or harassment,” it added.

Comments

anon (not verified) Tue, 10/14/2025 - 16:30

Help us leave safely
https://www.freefunder.com/campaign/help-us-leave-safely

As of this writing $42k USD has been raised. On top of Bray and family being doxxed, threatened and harassed, there is something else about this story that is upsetting to me. To each their own, but it feels like running away and then asking for people to help pay for it. Asking for 100k to move to a new country after getting doxxed and harassed seems really absurd and running away to Spain - sounds exactly like what they want all the other antifa anarchsits to do and "move to Canada."

God King Tue, 10/14/2025 - 20:44

In reply to by anon (not verified)

Why are people donating a bunch of money to a guy that makes over $100,000 a year? And why are you on here encouraging people to donate to a guy that makes $100,000+ a year?

He was doxxed and given shit? Scary stuff. Meet 95% of all other academics that are professors at a university. Someone cancelled his reservation? Very scary stuff. Sooo scary. I gotta tell my papa and brother of all the easy money they're missing out on.

CalvinSmith Tue, 10/14/2025 - 22:16

In reply to by God King

is that a lot of the links don't clarify anything about the article: for example, "Spain" and "Donald Trump" just lead back to random guardian articles about Spain and Donald Trump. It's funny how anarchist news let this extremely manipulative and clickbaity stuff get posted on here: they certainly would not have done that 5 years ago. There's also no mention whatsoever about anarchism, and the article even admits the professor is only a researcher, not a participant "in anti-fa".

As far as the professor, whelp! I guess he needs an extremely expensive vacation. It's kinda hard to buy that a professor of this age would worry that someone was going to carry out these threats, but times are a changin'....

anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/15/2025 - 10:41

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

Imagine when MAGA billionaires do fundraisings over the murders of nonviolent protesters... and morons actually sending them money for it.

anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/15/2025 - 10:49

In reply to by anon (not verified)

What is your beef in here? The guy's a normie academic with a family, not some lone InCel moron whose daily diet consists of Burger King and Cheetos. And he's getting 42k$ to restart a living abroad with his family, which is a rather a small budget. If people wanna support them in this, it's their thing.... as long as they aren't supporting racist mass-murderers or billionaires, I don't see the issue.

And "anti anarchists" (that's an oxymoron btw) are welcome to Canada!

anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/15/2025 - 14:48

ah, poor guy. maybe i can do some work trade for him, oh wait, no, i gotta work full time to support myself and family....wish i had his problems....maybe a go fund me for daily expenses?

anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/15/2025 - 16:15

Rutgers student government demands university defend Antifa-aligned professor who fled country

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/rutgers-student-government-demands-university-090011590.html

by Rachel del Guidice October 14, 2025

Students at Rutgers are asking the university president, William F. Tate IV, to publicly support an Antifa-aligned professor who recently fled the country after students in the school’s Turning Point USA chapter raised concerns about him.

The "Resolution in Support of professor Mark Bray’s Academic Freedom and Free Expression," is slated for consideration and vote Friday by the Rutgers University Senate, according to a document obtained by Fox News Digital.

The document asks Rutgers president William F. Tate and his leadership to "Publicly reaffirm its commitment to Dr. Bray’s academic freedom and free expression, and make clear to the Rutgers community and the public that disagreement with the political content of faculty scholarship and speech, absent violations of law or University policy, does not constitute grounds for discipline or institutional distancing."

It also requests that Tate "Provide Dr. Bray with appropriate legal, safety and logistical support as needed."

Recently, the Turning Point USA chapter at Rutgers launched a petition to remove Mark Bray, a Rutgers University professor, citing concerns over his past statements supporting Antifa.

Subsequently, a technology developer launched a Change.org petition to remove the Rutgers TPUSA chapter, accusing the group of promoting "hate speech" and creating a "toxic environment."

 

Bray, who is the author of "Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook," "The Anarchist Inquisition: Assassins, Activists, and Martyrs in Spain and France," and "Translating Anarchy: The Anarchism of Occupy Wall Street," said that he would be moving his family to Europe due to safety concerns. On Friday, he announced on Bluesky, the social media platform popular with progressives, "Our plane to Spain is in the air!"

In "Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook," Bray noted that "at the very least 50 percent of author proceeds will go to the International Anti-Fascist Defense Fund which is administered by more than three hundred antifa from eighteen countries."

In a Sept. 12 post on Bluesky, Bray promoted a Sept. 13 event he was presenting at in New York City entitled, "Another War Is Possible: Experiences in the fight against deportation, fascism, & capitalist globalization."

In an Oct. 4 post on Bluesky, Bray wrote, "It’s true that sometimes the law holds back Trump and affords us some semblance of safety. But the more we lean into the law as our shield, the more powerful it will become as a sword when Trump changes it in his favor and wields it against us. Only mass antifascism, legal or not, can save us."

In the past, Bray has also identified himself as a member of the ​​Black Rose Anarchist Federation and a participant in the G20 protests in Hamburg, Germany.

During a podcast interview on the "Final Straw Podcast," Bray said, "I've been a political activist for a number of years, involved in a number of different projects and campaigns. I was involved with Occupy Wall Street in New York, I am a member of the Black Rose Anarchist Federation, and the Industrial Workers of the World."

Megyn Doyle, a student at Rutgers and the treasurer for the Turning Point USA chapter who started the Change.org petition to remove Bray, told Fox News Digital in a statement that she is concerned about what is to come.

 

"The Rutgers Legislation and Faculty Union seeking to condemn TPUSA over false allegations shows a pattern of silencing conservatives on campus," Doyle said.

"Instead of encouraging open dialogue and the right to petition, the actions from the legislation and union seem to protect Mark Bray — known for his alignment with a now-named terrorist organization, antifa," she added. "This double standard should not be tolerated and reveals a disturbing bias within the university."

Ava Kwan, outreach coordinator for the Turning Point USA chapter at Rutgers, told Fox News Digital in a statement that, "I believe the groups coming forward to condemn our Rutgers Turning Point chapter must be willfully ignorant. While we chose to do things the right way, by creating a petition and presenting the facts about Dr. Antifa to the public, these organizations are choosing to deliberately ignore the truth and peddle the lie that his domestic terrorist affiliation and advocacy for political violence are justified in a public education setting."

Kwan added, "The Senate’s decision to add in his alleged doxxing and death threats further insinuates the lie that our chapter is somehow linked to those threats, which Doyle and I have publicly stated have nothing to do with Turning Point, and have continued to strongly condemn anyone threatening Bray. Unfortunately, I am not surprised. The slander and lies perpetrated by organizations like this, along with Dr. Antifa himself, are the go-to for the far left, a cowardly symptom of a movement that will do anything but face the truth."

 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a Rutgers spokesperson said: "The University Senate is a university-wide deliberative body consisting of representatives of Rutgers faculty, students, staff, administrators, and alumni that considers matters of general university interest and makes recommendations to the university administration."

some aspects of what is going on to me. Of course, the main thing people are talking about on here is if the flight was an over-reaction, or if we should be giving thousands of dollars to someone who makes more money than we do, but that's a little less interesting than the dynamics unfolding here. TPUSA is going for emotional gut reaction, with the word "terrorist" being used so much.

anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/16/2025 - 08:23

In reply to by CalvinSmith

There's also a sharp reminiscence to what the Nazi party has been doing in their first years across German universities, using academic henchmen of the party to conduct witch hunts on Leftists and Jews in the milieu. I get this guy's not my type of "antifa" and is above the pay scale of most readers here, but there appears to be a "First They Came" situation going on. But that doesn't mean piss-poor people should send him funds, of course. There's plenty of ways to exert solidarity response.

CalvinSmith Thu, 10/16/2025 - 14:58

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

To that guy, im still not giving him money. There's just so much weird stuff going on...why do you think DT needs to persecute 24/7? Do you believe his bit about wanting to get into heaven?

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