INTERNATIONAL DAY
AGAINST RACISM AND FASCISM
Saturday, March 22nd, 2014, Greek consulate, 69 e 79th st, nyc,
1-3pm
On March 22nd we join thousands of
people around the world in Greece, Britain, France, Spain, Poland, Denmark,
Belgium, Austria, Cyprus, Australia and elsewhere, in protest against the rise
of fascism and racism, state authoritarianism and police violence. In their
efforts to suppress any form of opposition, disobedience, and dissent,
governments, including the government of Greece, systematically identify and
target as terrorists and enemies of the state leftists, anarchist, or
immigrants – to mention only a few of the groups of undesirables. In one of his
recent infamous statements, Nikos Dendias the Greek Minister of Public Order
and Citizen Protection went so far as to connect terrorism with illegal
immigration suggesting that though no systemic connection exists between the
two, terrorism can benefit from illegal immigration, killing this way two birds
with one stone.
Death in Greece these days is far
from being a figure of speech. In January, during an illegal push-back
operation near Farmakonisi, a small island in the southern Aegean not far off
the coast of Turkey, twelve people fleeing Syria and Afghanistan drowned after
their boat capsized. The survivors’ testimonies about the troublesome role of
the Greek coastguard in this most recent tragedy are harrowing. From
concentration camps for immigrants to physical violence and death, targeting
immigrants and other vulnerable social groups is clearly a government policy in
the context of creating a EU-Fortress with the help of Frontex and Dublin II,
among other.
Anti-crime hysteria, fuelled by
government policies and media propaganda, ferments racism and has led to a
dangerous resurgence of fascism in Greece. The neo-Nazi Golden Dawn – a
self-fashioned popular nationalist organization – which received almost 7% of
the national vote in the elections of 2012, is responsible for scores of
violent attacks on immigrants, gays and leftists, all documented by Greek
anti-racist groups and international organizations such as Doctors of the
World. Last year, on September 18, in the working class neighborhood of Keratsini,
neo-Nazis ambushed and assassinated Pavlos Fyssas, an anti-fascist rapper and
activist who lived and worked in the area. Subject to pressures by the EU and
in light of the Greek presidency of the Council of the European Union, Greek
police proceeded to arrest the leadership of Golden Dawn. Since then, the
government has launched a campaign against ‘terrorism’ and ‘violence’
preemptively arresting protesters and raiding indiscriminately anarchists’
houses while systematically blaming the parties of the Left for instigating
violence and civil unrest.
As the economic crisis deepens,
ultranationalist, anti-immigrant or openly fascist groups and parties such as
the GD will flourish. As we are heading for the EU elections in May, polls
predict a victory for the center left. Nevertheless, many observers also expect
radical nationalist parties to win unprecedented support. Fascism has returned
in Europe. Faced with the rising
threat of neo-Nazism, a new resistance movement is unfolding and fights with
resolve and determination.
Join us in PROTEST AGAINST RACISM and
FASCISM. On March 22nd at the Greek Consulate, 69 East 79th
St, New York. 1 – 3pm.
SPONSORED BY:
ANT.AR.SY.A US www.antarsyaaus.blogspot.com
International Socialist Organization www.socialistworker.org
International Socialist Organization www.socialistworker.org
Campaign for Peace and Democracy www.cpdweb.org
Freedom Socialist Party www.socialism.com
Radical Women www.radicalwomen.org
Balkan Queer Initiative www.twitter.com?BalkanQueers
GEZIniyoruz NYC http://www.geziniyoruz.org/
THEY SHALL NOT PASS!
NO PASARAN!
"Whoever does not
want to speak of capitalism should be equally silent on fascism."
-Max
Horkheimer
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.