Liberté? Egalité? Fraternité?

“We must rely on the state to contend with fascists!” liberals will tell you. “To fight bigotry and fascism, we have to give the authorities the legal powers to combat them for us!” they say. So what happens when a state has the legal authority to decide whether a political group has the right to exist in society? Who will the state wield that power against?

If you’re an anarchist or if you live in Lyon then you already know the answer.

The French state reserves for itself the right to ban or “dissolve” any group it deems to be “extremist.” The dissolution laws have been criticized by radical, extremist organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for their incompatibility with French republican values like freedom of association.

The city of Lyon has been a hotbed of fascist violence as of late. Last year, les fachos mobbed up to attack a pro-choice/pro-LGBTQ+ march; destroy a Kurdish community centre, injuring the volunteers working there; and wreck a left-wing bookstore (something the International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund stepped in to assist with afterwards). So it would stand to reason that those would be the groups the French state would target for dissolution, not the groups opposed to them.

Wrong. Last month Groupe Antifasciste Lyon et Environs (GALE) were informed that the state had dissolved them. Their rationale? GALE had been involved in a concert months before where a hiphop artist performed got the crowd to join in chanting “toute le monde detestes les flics!” (“everybody hates the police!”). That was literally all it took for the state to target GALE and ultimately declare them dissolved. This is the first time we have heard of an anti-fascist group being “dissolved” by the state.

GALE plan to appeal this draconian crackdown via the French courts and have set up a crowdfunder to help pay for that appeal; the International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund unanimously decided to make a sizeable contribution to that appeal. If you support the values upon which the French republic was established, you should do likewise.

Backing Belarussian Antifascists

Kita, one of twelve Belrussian antifascists targeted by the dicatorship for opposing the fascist invasion of Ukraine.

If you think being an antifascist is tough where you live, try doing it in the country that’s been called “Europe’s last dictatorship.” Recently, a dozen antifascists in Mozyr, Belarus found out just how tough that is when police raided their homes and arrested them. Two – Kita and Xvedia – remain locked up, while the others were released pending trial, after having their phones seized by the state. Their alleged “crimes?” Advocating against the Ukraine invasion, being against the Belrussian police, sharing links and videos from anarchist groups, and (of course) criticizing Lukashenko’s brutal regime. Now they face up to five years in prison!

The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund was asked for emergency aid to help replace the confiscated phones as well as assistance paying the mounting legal bills for the arrestees so of course we responded as quickly as possible. We are fortunate in that most of the people who operate the Defence Fund do not live in a dictatorship – this privilege both allows and compels us to do what we can to support antifascists who are not as fortunate. You can help our friends in Belarus, too – one of their support groups is running an Instagram account that has information on how to help. And as always, if you want to make sure antifascists are able to receive emergency support when they need it the most same way, you can make a contribution to the Defence Fund here!

Your Borders Kill

“Your borders kill” is a slogan tailor-made for the lethal border policies of Fortress Europe. As of 2018, over 34,000 refugees have lost their lives trying to make their way through Europe’s militarized borders; today the number of dead migrants has exceeded the 40,000 mark.

Refugees feeling dangerous conditions at home shouldn’t be forced to risk their lives during their journey to safety, but that is precisely the situation Frontex’s miliarization of Europe’s borders has created. This deadly arrangement is precisely what activists from Stop The War On Migrants were demonstrating against when they blocked the entrance to a Frontex training facility on a military police base in Schipol, Netherlands by chaining themselves to the main gate in December 2021.

Apparently in Fortress Europe, establishing blockades that effectively become death traps that kill tens of thousands of refugees is not a crime, but protesting this atrocity is a crime, which is why ten of the Stop The War On Migrants activists were charged and now have to defend themselves in court after defending the lives of migrants. They need help with their legal costs and the International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund was able to send some support to them. If you’d like to also help these activists who are now bearing the costs of defending the very lives of migrants, you can also contribute to their legal defence here.

Playing For Keeps In Greece

antifascist graffiti in West Attica, Greece

During the rise and fall of the fascist Golden Dawn party in Greece, the stakes were very high for antifascists. This was made clear for the whole country when Golden Dawn thugs murdered antifascist MC Pavlos “Killah P” Fyssas – an act that ultimately led to the downfall of Golden Dawn itself.

Even though most Greeks came to understand the necessity and urgency of resisting Golden Dawn’s fascist violence, doing so came with consequences, including legal consequences (which was to be expected, given the high level of support for Golden Dawn among Greek police). Recently, friends in West Attica asked for some help paying off the legal fines and costs of ten antifascists who have been on the frontlines of the fight against Golden Dawn. We were happy to provide them with direct support with this, for which our friends there expressed their gratitude, telling us that “the money was a huge relief for our comrades who are financially struggle to cover their legal expenses.”

You can help them pay off the legal expenses by contributing to this crowdfunder; likewise, you can help make sure the International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund is always there for antifascists wherever they may be by making a contribution to the Fund.