US anti-fascism expert blocked from flying to Spain at airport

[neohippie]

Source: The Gaurdian

Mark Bray, an historian who published the 2017 book Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, and has taught courses on anti-fascism at the New Jersey university, was attempting to board a plane at Newark airport bound for Europe when he was informed at the boarding gate that the reservations for him and his family had been cancelled.

The professor, nicknamed “Dr Antifa” by a group of students, had said he was moving to Europe after receiving death threats. Turning Point USA activists have claimed he 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 social media. “We got our boarding passes. We checked our bags. Went through security. Then at our gate our reservation ‘disappeared.’”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/09/anti-fascism-mark-bray-rutgers-university

---

Chilling, our rights and freedoms are rapidly disappearing This man has death threats and he is being stopped from leaving the country This administration is at war with everything that we were taught that America stood for

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Cancelled by WHOM?

[reACTIONary]

56. From reading the article, this appears to be vigilante harassment.....

From reading the article, this appears to be vigilante harassment..... like doxing, ordering a pizza, or, worse, SWATing.

Some turning point Charlie Kurk thug vigilante

[Blackjackdavey]

2. He did it wrong.

Unfortunately, i don't wish to give anyone a head's up and start work on stopping "the way."

But I'm confused, for years it's about "if you don't like it get the hell out of the country." Now it's, "if you don't like it we'll make you stay?" What in the world is the point of that? What if he fits their demographic profile? Does he get to leave, is he made to stay, is he made to stay so he can be forced to leave? Clowns.

[hadEnuf]

20. Everything the right has said is BS.

Interpret it in the opposite and go by their actions.

[IronLionZion]

33. Freedom isn't free

MAGA is going to cost us our freedoms. Whatever a person wants, it will be denied. So if you want to leave, you can't. If you want to stay, they'll send you to Afghanistan or Somalia or even Gaza.

[Leghorn21]

3. Here he is a couple hours ago via Bluesky

Spoke with cnn while sitting on the floor of my hotel room hallway bc my family were asleep in the other room.

— Mark Bray (@mark-bray.bsky.social) 2025-10-09T11:22:43.098Z

[chouchou]

4. Son of a bitch. This pisses me off way more than I thought it might.

After reading the Guardian story, my husband asked me why the sweet me is nasty this morning.
He read the article, and we both want to pick up knives at those Hitler bastards....

[JohnnyRingo]

5. I'd like to be shocked....

...but I figured I'm on the no-fly list just for stuff I've said here and Facebook. It's outrageous, but not shocking that this administration would seek to punish him for targeting fascists.

He can fight it in court if he has the money and he might be flying again in a year or two.

[mdbl]

8. I won't fly because the airlplane builders and air traffic control system sucks so bad..

[kimbutgar]

10. Me also

I was supposed to visit my mother in law in Arizona in June and insisted on driving there. My husband had to visit her because she has new health issues and he flew yesterday and I was so nervous I tracked his flight on flight watch to make sure his plane landed. But I have said negative things about the orange turd on Facebook and other social media so I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m on a list. Luckily my husband is not on social media so he had no problems.

[soldierant]

44. I'm not a big fan of air travel either.

But you can't drive to Spain. And I wouldn't know how to find a passenger watercraft.

[Ilsa]

53. I wouldn't want to try to fly right now, either.

I don't like multi-hour delays and cancellations. I also don't like worrying about tired or sleepy or distracted ATC.

[Gimpyknee]

35. Do you know that commercial airline travel is the safest means of travel?

[Cirsium]

40. Yes

Commercial airline travel is the safest means of travel per miles traveled. Lots and lots of miles are logged between take off and landing. Lots of miles. Very safe miles. Getting into the air and getting back down? That's a different story.

[EX500rider]

42. "Getting into the air and getting back down? That's a different story." Is it?

1st, 100% of planes that get into the air come back down.

2nd: Globally, there are approximately 100,000 commercial flights daily, though this number fluctuates based on factors like seasonality and global events. The U.S. alone accounts for a significant portion, with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) serving over 45,000 flights daily within U.S. airspace.

[Cirsium]

46. lol

Yes, what goes up must come down.

[VMA131Marine]

61. Aviation has a perfect record ...

We’ve never left one up there.

[BannonsLiver]

45. DU has always had a fuddy duddy get off my lawn vibe with air travel.

And even more bizarrely, movie theaters and grocery stores.

[Gimpyknee]

36. Statistically speaking, commercial airlines travel is the safest means of travel.

[littlemissmartypants]

39. The feeling of safety is individually specific. What feels safe to me, may not feel that way to you or someone else. ❤️

[Cirsium]

47. Right

Last edited Fri Oct 10, 2025, 01:18 AM - Edit history (1)

But the airline industry promoters don't care about that. They ignore or dismiss the lack of control people experience, unlike when they drive, and the nature of the experience in an airline crash, no matter how rare the event is.

[littlemissmartypants]

58. Equating safety with crash rates is definitely deceptive. ❤️

[ret5hd]

6. and STILL people think...

that fence is to keep people out.

[slightlv]

49. ret, that's what I've been saying since he started pushing that damn wall

in the beginning. It's not to just keep people out... it will be to keep people IN, too. What other dictatorial, totalitarian government allows the people to move from one autocratic zone to a free zone and back again? What other travel restrictions are there in those countries? In many states, women of a certain age can't travel across state borders with hassle and problems. We were yelling in the very beginning, and everyone told us we were being hysterical. But I saw us then, and still see us now, as the canaries in the coal mine. What they will take away from us... what they will do to us... they WILL do to everyone, given enough time and rope.

[IronLionZion]

7. Why stop Americans from leaving?

Maybe they have some punishment in mind for such people who teach these topics. Sounds pretty fascist.

[ancianita]

16. Why have a shutdown? The whole thing is a big ugly punishment of Americans, just like the big ugly bill before it.

[IronLionZion]

31. Presidency of Pain and Punishment

As Tom Cruise's character said in Valkyrie, "no one will be spared".

[hadEnuf]

21. Hitler stopped the Jews from leaving Germany after a while too.

n/t

[ihaveaquestion]

24. No good reason... the point of terrorizing their "enemies" is to instill fear.

[3Hotdogs]

30. The new American Express tagline: "American Express,

Don't leave home."

[brakester]

34. Punishment and control are driving

motives behind this batch of broken souls.
Maybe some autocracies worry about brain-drain, but with this administration's fervent anti-intellectualism, that probably never occurred to them.

[reACTIONary]

55. From reading the article, this appears to be vigilante harassment..

From reading the article, this appears to be vigilante harassment..... like doxing, ordering a pizza, or, worse, SWATing.

Some turning point Charlie Kurk thug vigilante

[highplainsdem]

9. Possibly they want to keep him here for Trump's lackeys in Congress to grill him.

Thugs.

[GiqueCee]

11. Has anyone bothered...

... to tell the Orange Asshole and the brain-dead skidmarks that worship him, that ANTIFA is short for Anti Fascist? Do these fuckwits need to be reminded that more than 400,000 Americans DIED fighting fascism during WWII? Do they even care? Apparently not. And they dare to call themselves patriots? HOT TIP: If you support a traitor, you ARE a traitor. And Trump is a traitor of the lowest and most repulsive sort. He is also the very definition of a fascist.

[flashman13]

12. Well said!

[3825-87867]

13. Big Mother is watching.

George was right.

[niyad]

59. Mother has nothing to do with this insane bunch of scum.

[ancianita]

14. It's likely more about the shutdown than about Bray himself. About 200 flights were cancelled from Mon to early Wed.

https://archive.ph/fsxsz

Nearly 12,000 flight delays were in part tied to Federal Aviation Administration slowdowns due to controller absences, while about 200 flights were canceled...

Air traffic control staffing issues have emerged sooner in this shutdown than the last major halt to government funding in 2019, leading to unexpected shortages in cities around the country. If it continues, travelers will see "erosion of service" as frustrated air traffic controllers and TSA officers get tired and call in sick, said Sheldon Jacobson, a University of Illinois professor who helped design TSA Pre-Check.

"The largest shutdown in history was 35 days in the first President Trump term. Are we going to see 35 days again? Right now, there's no evidence of it being reconciled and ended, but these things will change very, very quickly and unpredictably," he said.
Arizona-based travel agent Sonia Bhagwan said two clients have asked if they should cancel their Thanksgiving and Christmas vacations to Hawaii.

Wayne Milano, 44, of Monmouth County, New Jersey, said he canceled a business trip to India and will not fly until the stalemate is resolved. Citing bad luck with delays and cancellations, Milano told Reuters air travel is out of the question for now.

[WestMichRad]

18. Nope. That contradicts the report.

“… he was informed at the boarding gate that the reservations for him and his family had been cancelled.”
He wouldn’t have been at the boarding gate if the flight had been canceled.

[ancianita]

25. I see. Thanks. I think I read that his flight was cancelled, and misunderstood it as THE flight that was cancelled.

I must not have read very well. Sorry. Though it still helps to know the larger factual picture, and so my link.

So all I can conclude is that flight delays and cancellations caused by this shutdown loving administration are working in its favor, giving them time to nail those who are anti-fascist and progressive. Kick out non-whites first, then close the borders to all those who are anti-fascist or progressive, so that the whole country becomes one big concentration camp.

Now that he's been denied a flight, he probably won't be able to cross the border either. I'm surprised he hadn't thought of leaving from Canada or Mexico after just declaring at the border that he was on a family vacation.

Nothing like violating one's 1A rights to write and travel. Guess he's headed for a legal firm.

[ancianita]

32. The Guardian's report says "the family were rebooked for Thursday evening...." We'll see if they get to leave.

https://archive.ph/cvcII

[Celerity]

50. they are in the air

Our plane to Spain is in the air!

🙌🙌

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.

— Mark Bray (@mark-bray.bsky.social) 2025-10-10T00:42:14.384Z

[ancianita]

51. Great, and thanks for his post.

[Celerity]

52. yw

[ancianita]

54. I expect we'll be reading more stories that constitute the regime's unfolding narrative about antifa.

[ihaveaquestion]

22. Flight was not cancelled. They had already checked in, went through security and were at the boarding gate.

[ancianita]

28. I KNOW. I learned that I misread it. Thanks.

[Beowulf42]

15. Oh Ya!

The land of the free. Leave people alone.

[BBbats]

17. I Think They're Trying To Create Proof Of An "ANTIFA" organization.

Even though they know Damn well there's no such thing.
He's going to be made a scapegoat & an example.

[hadEnuf]

23. All who do not conform to the Reich will become Antifa and be made examples of.

[ancianita]

29. Amen. Because all they want is to publicly criminalize him as a leader of antifa.

It doesn't matter to them that no judge will buy it. Or that his 1A freedom to write an accurate history of Antifa will be criminalized.

Their goal is the right wing publicity of yet another chapter of their national "Enemy Within" playbook -- this chapter is that the "enemy within" are antifa. The other chapters were on congressional Democrats, immigrants, academics, lawyers, judges, blue cities, etc.

And of course, the stenographers of corporate media continue profitable headlines that promote trump's playbook chapters.

[JustAnotherGen]

19. The Black children zip tied last week and this?

It's when they keep you in that you've fallen under Fascism.

[moniss]

26. Exactly and the restrictions on who can leave will

keep growing.

[ihaveaquestion]

27. This is chilling!

Controlling who can leave the country is a serious escalation to a fascist state. The NAZIs did it, Franco did too. N. Korea does it now.

[Joinfortmill]

37. What The Holy Hell. This damn scary stuff.

And appears illegal, says a proud old antifa lady.

[peacebuzzard]

38. cancelled does not mean blocked

Blocked would likely refer to prevent.
Cancel could have other reasons rather than to physically block someone from traveling.
A reservation disappearing into the airline system does not prevent someone from re-booking and/or paying with an alternate source.

[SunSeeker]

41. Holy shit!

He should sue the airline.

[EX500rider]

43. No proof at all this was the govt's doing, could just be a airline glitch nt

[maxsolomon]

48. It's weird, though, right?

He says he had his boarding passes and was through security. I've never heard of such a thing - a reservation being cancelled at the gate.

Was he Stand-by?

[FakeNoose]

57. Since he lives in New Jersey, why not drive up to Canada and fly out from Montreal or Toronto?

[Martin68]

60. Authoritarianism/. Fascism.