Monday, March 10, 2014

March 22nd 2014, INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST RACISM AND FASCISM


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:
AKNY – Greece Solidarity Movement www.akny.org
SYRIZA NY, syriza-ny.org, syriza.nyc@gmail.com
ANT.AR.SY.A US www.antarsyaaus.blogspot.com
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

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