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By Joshua Rhett Miller
Senior Reporter
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An anti-fascism expert is relocating to Spain amid death threats and calls for his ouster from Rutgers University – a real-life consequence of being “out of favor” in a political climate stoked by the Trump administration, he told Newsweek.
Mark Bray, an author and assistant teaching professor in the history department at Rutgers’ New Brunswick campus, said he’s uprooting his family immediately from New Jersey to Europe after an online petition accused him of being “antifa aligned” while calling for his termination.
“It’s kind of a sign-of-the-times thing that’s happening,” Bray told Newsweek in an interview ahead of their move. “This is reflective of the broader trend in the country. The Trump administration, I believe, is moving the country in a markedly authoritarian direction and that takes a number of forms — but one of those forms is an attack on academic freedom and higher education.”
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Bray, who has been teaching at Rutgers since 2019, received a barrage of threats after a petition launched last week by a student and treasurer of the school’s Turning Point USA chapter described him as a “prominent leader” of the antifa movement.
“I’m gonna burn your house down and kill you as you come running out,” one threat sent Tuesday read.
Another email sent to Bray’s university account contained his home address. He said he was still receiving intimidating messages as of early Wednesday.
“You had better run, bitch,” another email read. “WE THE PEOPLE are back and we do not approve of your ideas and teachings. You prey on the weak, turning their brains to mush. Your organization will soon be mush.”
Bray believes he’s being targeted due to his prior research and views that are “out of favor” with the Trump administration, including his 2017 best-seller, “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook,” which analyzed the history of anti-fascism.
The petition seeking Bray’s termination, which garnered more than 950 signatures as of Wednesday, noted that he pledged to donate 50 percent of proceeds from the 2017 book to the International Anti-Fascist Defense Fund, which supports legal and medical fees of activists facing charges around the world, including the United States.
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“Not because I, myself, am part of an antifa group,” Bray explained. “I’m not now, nor have I ever been. I’m a history professor, but I support anti-fascism and that was my way of signaling that.”
The petition launched by Rutgers student Megyn Doyle accused Bray of supporting “terrorist behavior” while referencing the September 10 assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, who co-founded Turning Point USA.
“Dr. Mark Bray, whom we call Dr. Antifa, wrote the antifa handbook, which is a guideline to what he refers to as ‘militant anti-fascism,’” the petition reads. “With the current trend of left-wing terrorism, having a prominent leader of the antifa movement on campus is a threat to conservative students on campus.”
Bray’s 2017 book is “heavily regarded in communist and anarchist groups” across social media and he has regularly referred to conservative figures like former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly as fascist while advocating for political violence, according to the petition penned by Doyle, who is also the treasurer for Rutgers’ Turning Point USA chapter.
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“This is the kind of rhetoric that resulted in Charlie Kirk being assassinated last month,” the petition alleged.
Doyle, for her part, believes freedom of speech is a “core value” in the United States.
“However, free speech does not protect individuals from the consequences of advocating for political violence, doxxing, or labeling others as fascists without due cause, as outlined in Mark Bray’s Antifa Handbook,” Doyle told Fox News in a statement. “While the tactics discussed in his work are commonly associated with Antifa, I want to be clear: I do not support or condone death threats, harassment, or doxxing — against anyone, including Mark Bray.”
Doyle’s statement acknowledged Bray’s “departure to Europe,” but she remains dissatisfied by his continued employment at Rutgers.
“A university professor publicly supported and helped fund a violent extremist movement, authored material advocating for political violence, and promoted tactics that suppress open debate and free expression,” Doyle said. “Our petition to have Mark Bray dismissed from Rutgers University has not changed, and we hope that Rutgers acts appropriately regarding his conduct with Antifa.”
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Bray broke the news to students in his three classes on Sunday, indicating he made the decision to leave New Jersey amid the death threats following the petition and “negative” attention on social media, including the MAGA influencer Jack Posobiec blasting him as a “domestic terrorist professor” on X late last month.
“Since my family and I do not feel safe in our home at the moment, we are moving to Europe,” Bray wrote in an email. “Truly I am so bummed about not being able to spend time with you all in the classroom.”
Bray’s wife, an associate professor of history at Rutgers, will accompany him to Spain, as well as the couple’s children. He vacillated on the decision at first but isn’t looking back, he said.
“My doubts are out the window,” Bray said.
President Trump designated antifa as a domestic terrorist organization on September 22, characterizing the loosely organized movement as a “militarist, anarchist enterprise” that seeks to overthrow the U.S. government. He is set to host a roundtable on the leaderless collective at the White House Wednesday afternoon.
Bray insisted the United States is headed on a “march toward fascism” under Trump’s administration.
“But the future is unwritten, and we have the opportunity to organize to try to change that trajectory and fight for freedom,” he said. “What’s happening is a concerted effort in a variety of spheres of American society to demonize protest, demonize the left, demonize ideas associated with ‘anti-Americanness.’”
The “litany of bogeymen” promoted by Trump includes antifa adherents, transgender people and immigrants, among others.
“All of this shows the effort to basically make it so that if you’re someone who promotes ideas outside what the Trump administration says its what real Americans think, you are someone who is not only an enemy, but even a terrorist,” he said. “And that’s what’s wrapped up in this whole campaign to talk about antifa and the more broad antifa-aligned.”
The White House did not return a message seeking comment, but Bray said he's pleased Rutgers is backing his move overseas. The university is aware of the petition and his recent message to students.
"We are gathering more information about this evolving situation," Rutgers told Newsweek in a statement Wednesday.
Bray, meanwhile, said he intends to stay in Spain for the academic year.
“Beyond there, I hope that it’ll work out to return to Rutgers," he said.
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