Thank You For Your Service

Our man in Rojava.

Hopefully, most of you will have heard about the courageous anti-fascists from around the world that have travelled far from home to volunteer as fighters against the fascist scum of Daesh (aka ISIS aka ISIL aka the Islamic State).  All of them have recognized the importance of defending the Rojava revolution and the people struggling to replace Daesh’s brand of fascist theocractic fundamentalism with a truly egalitarian, feminist form of anarchism called “democratic confederalism.”

International antifascist fighting units like  Tabûra Enteransyonal, the International Freedom Battalion, and the countless number of antifa who have joined the YPG and YPJ are literally putting their lives on the line to defend the people of Rojava and to liberate tens of thousands of others suffering under the fascist rule of Daesh.

So it was with our man Dev (nom de guerre), who exhausted his life savings to travel from his home country and join the YPG.  Dev has spent nearly two years fighting with the YPG.  Now Dev is trying to get back to his home country but the closing of regional airports and the fact that he’s in a war zone has complicated matters.

Dev needed $2000USD to get his ass out of there and get back home.  But after months and months of fighting as a volunteer, our guy didn’t have two cents to rub together.

Happily, through the magic of crowdfunding, Dev managed to raise up $1600 on his own in about a week.  The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund was proud to be able to put him over his goal and help bring him home.

Dev: if you’re reading this, first drink’s on us when you get back home.  Thank you for your service.

Biji Berxwedana Rojava!

 

 

Charlottesville – Leave No Antifa Behind!

Charlottesville: site of the racist terror attack that took the life of Heather Heyer and injured B. and 18 others.

In the wake of the racist terror attack in Charlotteville this past summer that left Heather Heyer dead and severely injured 19 others, lots of crowdfunding pages went up to help defray the costs of being attacked by the murderous fascist pig.  With close to one million dollars being raised, one would hope that the nineteen survivors of the attack would have nothing to worry about and could concentrate of recovering from the injuries they sustained, knowing their financial costs would be taken care of.

But here’s the problem: none of the Charlottesville crowdfunding campaigns had clear oversight or accountability structures built-in to their efforts, so the well-meaning people that made donations didn’t actually have any say in how the funds would be dispersed.  And it’s starting to come out that some of these campaigns have not been operating in a way that most of their donors would approve of.

Case in point: B. is one of the anti-fascists severely injured in the same attack that claimed the life of Heather Heyer.  Since August 12th, B. has been unable to work as he awaits surgery for the injuries he sustained that day.  He’s also been the subject of an intense doxxing campaign by his attacker’s racist associates, who are keen to harass and further endanger those whom their fellow scumbag failed to murder.

B. requested help paying his rent and putting food on his table from one crowdfunding campaign, which had raised $200,000 allegedly to support the survivors of the Charlottesville attack.  Imagine his shock when the powers controlling that fund told him they would not release a penny to him or anyone else until they could prove that they had applied for assistance from government programs like the Virginia Victims Fund first.  To do so, B. would have to provide identification, which would in turn make his full name and address a matter of public record, further endangering him.  He would also have to agree to “cooperate” with the state, without any explanation of what sort of “cooperation” he would be compelled to furnish.

Contrast this with The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund: when we received B’s request for help, we had a discussion among the 500+ members of the Fund’s decisions crew about what to do.  Through that discussion, we were able to reach consensus about helping him pay his living costs while we recovers and send him the money.  That took us all of a week to do.  And now we’re blogging about our decision so everyone can see what our decision was.  At no time did we require B. to reveal information that could put him in further danger or compromise his personal security.

These are some of the reasons why we established the Defence Fund in the first place.  When a horrific attack like what happened in Charlottesville goes down, lots of well-meaning people will put out calls for donations to help the victims.  Some of these will, however, have no clue how to actually contact the people they’re claiming to support, much less get the money to them.  And some people will put out similar calls but with no intention of ever delivering the money to where it’s needed, putting up unnecessary barriers and hoops for victims to jump through.

Unlike one-shot crowdfunders, the Defence Fund:

•  has a proven track record going back over two years, during which it’s helped out 140 anti-fascists and anti-racists in seventeen different countries;
• has been endorsed by three different anti-fascist networks;
• is up-front about how decisions are arrived at;
• publishes quarterly and annual reports, as well as posting about every decision it makes, to ensure total accountability and transperancy.

To be honest, it’s frustrating for us to continue to operate in this fashion but see the bulk of donations to go fly-by-night crowdfunding pages that have no real accountability or transparency.  For example (and not to toot our own horn too loudly!), it is quite clear that everyone would have been better off if the DSA had turned the $200,000 it raised over to us for dispersal instead of deferring to ever-more-remote authorities and Byzantine councils, steering committees, and liberal intermediaries – none of whom have the experience with antifa support that we do.

All of which is to say that if you truly want to support people like B., it’s best to put your money into the Defence Fund, where we’re up-front about the decisions we make and can move fast.  You can start by making a contribution today, even!

The Battle Of Richmond

On September 16th the good people of Richmond, Virginia descended upon the town statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, rightly demanding that this monument to the defenders of slavery and affront to humanity be taken down.  Naturally, this attracted bigots of all kinds, who attempt to disguise their own racism as an interest in preserving statues to the losing side of the Civil War for “historical” reasons (funny how these people never propose to erect monuments to the victims of slavery for “historical” reasons, but we digress!).

There were some clashes and confrontations throughout the day and the Richmond police, perhaps thinking their role was to re-enact the role of their predecessors as the enforcers of slavery, chose to “keep the peace” by arresting several anti-fascists and supporters of Black Lives Matter.  Now seven people are facing an array of fictitious charges dreamed up by the RPD and need help paying for their legal defence.

The good news is that local organizers were able to obtain pro-bono legal counsel, which significantly reduced the costs involved.  Better news still: The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund was able to pony up the cash required to pay for more than half of the remaining legal bill!  Now our friends in Richmond have one less thing to worry about and can concentrate on defending themselves just as they defended their community that Saturday.

Of course, we would not have been able to do what we did without the generous contributions to the Defence Fund made by hundreds and hundreds of people that believe in showing real solidarity with the anti-racists who put themselves on the line.  Please make a donation of any amount to the Defence Fund today, so we can keep backing up anti-fascists and anti-racists wherever and whenever they need backing up.