"What's with those three arrows?" -- The Iron Front Explained

There's a lot of questions that can be asked about the fight against racism, but it seems that at every ARA Calgary event, the most common one is "what the heck are those three arrows."

The short answer is that three parallel arrows on a downward angle is the universal symbol of anti-fascism, although it's much more popular in Europe than in North America. The longer answer is, well, longer... and requires delving into a little history.

Hitler didn't rise to power unopposed. In the early 1930's, when the Nazis were first starting to gain political traction, there was a significant anti-fascist resistance movement in Germany. Although the anti-fascists came from all walks of life, classes and political tendency, they unified under a common coalition group that was known as the "Iron Front".

For their logo the Iron Front adopted the three arrows. The reason behind the design was mostly pragmatic. Before the Nazis took power, Hitler's goons would often intimidate opponents with massive graffiti campaigns, covering a neighbourhood with swastikas.

One of the Iron Front's earliest campaigns was to cover up this swastika graffiti, and it didn't take long before they realized the fastest way to do this was with three bold arrows.

Graffiti that looked like this...

Could be covered with this...

To look like this...

It didn't take long before the three arrows became recognized as the Iron Front's symbol and today the symbol itself is often called the "Iron Front".