Online battles between far right groups and anti-fascists – or "Antifa" – are now regularly spilling out onto the streets of America. But who are Antifa and what do they represent? Anisa Subedar and Mike Wendling went to the West coast of America to find out for Seriously... podcast Political Violence in America. Here are seven facts you need to know.

1. How long have Antifa been around?

Some Antifa groups date the origins of their movement to fights against European fascists in the 1920s and 1930s. Mark Bray, author of Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, says the modern American Antifa movement began in the 1980s with a group called Anti-Racist Action. Its members confronted neo-Nazi skinheads at punk gigs in the American Midwest and elsewhere. By the early 2000s the Antifa movement was mostly dormant - until the rise of Donald Trump and the alt-right.

2. How do you pronounce Antifa?

According to Bray, there are multiple different pronunciations. In the United States most people say an-tee-fa. In Europe it’s sometimes referred to as anti-far, which Bray believes has been influenced by the Italian word antifascismo. He says an-tee-fa but doesn’t correct people who pronounce it differently.

3. What are they opposed to?

Neo-Nazis, Neo-fascism, white supremacists and racism, and these days the movement that encapsulates some of those ideas: the alt-right.

We spoke to secret Antifa groups in Oregon. They said they come from a variety of political backgrounds but they were united in their opposition to fascism, and they have an anti-government streak. They said they see creeping authoritarianism in the current American administration that they are looking to build "a movement that really insulates us from the policies of Donald Trump".

"It's not just resisting the federal administration but also resisting moves that can lead to fascism," one member told us, "and those happen locally whether from local officials or from local alt-right movements."