Mark Bray (historian)

Mark Bray
CitizenshipAmerican
OccupationAssociate professor
Academic background
Alma materRutgers University
ThesisThe anarchist inquisition: Terrorism and the Ethics of Modernity in Spain, 1893-1909 (2016)
Doctoral advisorTemma Kaplan
Academic work
DisciplineHistory
Sub-disciplineAnti-fascism
InstitutionsRutgers University

Mark Bray is an American historian and scholar of anti-fascism. He has been a professor of history at Rutgers University since 2019 and previously taught at Dartmouth College.[1][2][3] He is the author of The Anarchist Inquisition,[4] Translating Anarchy,[5][6] and Antifa: the Anti-Fascist Handbook.[7]

Biography

Bray has organized for the Occupy Wall Street movement.[8] In wake of the 2017 Unite the Right rally, Bray was hosted on a number of news outlets, including NBC and NPR, to comment on the topic of political radicalism. In one instance, he stated that "when pushed, self-defense is a legitimate response to white supremacist and neo-Nazi violence". After he was accused by conservative groups of endorsing violence, Dartmouth College, his employer at the time, disavowed his statement. 100 faculty members came to Bray's defense, writing that Dartmouth officials had allowed his critics to distort his remarks and that Bray had received death threats as a result.[9]

After President Donald Trump labeled Antifa a terrorist organization in an Executive Order, the Rutgers University chapter of the conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA (TPUSA) launched a petition on October 2, 2025, calling for the university to fire Rutgers professor Bray, who had published a 2017 book entitled Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook. The petition referred to him as "Dr. Antifa" and called him an "outspoken, well-known antifa member" and financier of Antifa. His home address was published on social media.[10] After receiving death threats, he and his family fled to Spain on October 8.[10] Their booking for a flight on October 7 was cancelled by unknown persons after they had received their boarding passes and checked their bags.[10][11][1][12] On October 5, a petition calling for the dissolution of the Rutgers TPUSA chapter was launched on Change.org which, as of October 9, has collected 4,000 signatures.[12]

Publications

  • Opinion published in The Washington Post: "Antifa isn't the problem. Trump's bluster is a distraction from police violence" (June 2020)[13]

Books

As author

  • Translating Anarchy: The Anarchism of Occupy Wall Street (by Mark Bray; Zero Books, 2013)
  • Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook (by Mark Bray; Melville House, 2017) ISBN 978-1-61219-703-6
  • The Anarchist Inquisition: Assassins, Activists, and Martyrs in Spain and France (by Mark Bray; Cornell University Press, 2022)

As editor

  • Anarchist Education and the Modern School: A Francisco Ferrer Reader (edited by Mark Bray and Robert H. Haworth; PM Press, 2018)

References

  1. ^ a b Helmore, Edward (October 10, 2025). "US anti-fascism expert leaves country day after being blocked from flying to Spain". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  2. ^ "Rutgers professor flees U.S. for Spain, claims he received death threats - CBS New York". www.cbsnews.com. October 11, 2025. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  3. ^ Shipkowski, Bruce (October 9, 2025). "Antifa expert at Rutgers University says he is moving to Spain because of death threats". AP News. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  4. ^ Moyn, Samuel (December 1, 2024). "The Anarchist Inquisition: Assassins, Activists, and Martyrs in Spain and France". The Journal of Modern History. 96 (4): 942–943. doi:10.1086/732711. ISSN 0022-2801.
  5. ^ Buhle, Paul (January 2, 2014). "Legacy of Occupy: A Review of Mark Bray's "Translating Anarchy"". Truthout. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  6. ^ Buier, N. (2013). "With insight and a raised fist: Translating Anarchy on Occupy Wall Street in context" (PDF). Journal of Social Justice. 3.
  7. ^ Flood, Alison (August 22, 2017). "Antifa: the Anti-fascist Handbook – 'What Trump said made the book seem even more urgent'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  8. ^ Singh, Divyadeep (September 18, 2025). "Who is Mark Bray? American historian who wrote Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook; here's what we know about him after Trump labelled the movement a terror organization". The Economic Times. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  9. ^ Hawkins, Derek (August 29, 2017). "A Dartmouth antifa expert was disavowed by his college president for 'supporting violent protest,' angering many faculty". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
  10. ^ a b c Viudes, Anne-Toscane (October 15, 2025). "Mark Bray, historien américain menacé de mort pour ses travaux sur l'antifascisme, s'exile en Europe". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved October 15, 2025.
  11. ^ Kaur, Anumita (October 8, 2025). "Professor who teaches about antifascism moves to Europe after death threats". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 10, 2025.
  12. ^ a b Otterman, Sharon (October 9, 2025). "Rutgers Expert on Antifa Flees to Spain After Death Threats". The New York Times. Retrieved October 10, 2025.
  13. ^ Bray, Mark (June 1, 2020). "Antifa isn't the problem. Trump's bluster is a distraction from police violence". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
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