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NEWS & LETTERS, March-April 2010
German youth fight neo-fascism
The anti-fascist movement in Germany is a radical militant movement also opposing capitalism. It is 95% young people under 30. Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) is a network comprised of youth from Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, Spain, even South America. There are anti-fascist groups in Sao Paolo and Rio, for example.
The goal is to smash fascism in all its forms. It is a heterogeneous group of communists and anarchists who wish to replace capitalism with a stateless non-capitalist society. As with the Black Panthers in the U.S., the state is trying to break this movement, infiltrate it as well as attack our demonstrations.
When neo-Nazis try to march, we try to stop them. We block roads. If the police set up barriers, we break through police lines. If the Nazis are marching in the street, we attack them on the street. Neo-Nazis and fascists kill people in Germany every week, every year. They have killed hundreds. We don't believe we should accept them and let them present their opinions. We need to prevent them by any means possible. Our activities include organizing large demonstrations, reading Marx's Capital, etc. The idea is to have organizing and education of young people mostly by young people.
Berlin alone has over 30 independent anti-fascist groups with 10 to 140 members per group. In Germany there are well over 200 groups. The decentralized anarchist structure makes it hard to count. But it helps in resisting infiltration: there are not many police agents under 18. The secret service publishes the number of "radicals" every year, people whom they consider to be against our Constitution. They say there are 35,000. I think that number is low. In the two suburbs of Berlin I know, I would estimate 10,000-15,000 people in the radical Left who participate in marches and anti-fascist actions.
Neo-Nazis and fascists gathered at Cologne in 2008, attempting a unified anti-Muslim attack. The anti-fascist movement decided to block the entire city.The Nazis couldn't enter or exit the airport, couldn't exit the train stations and could not enter the city. All the streets around their meeting place were full of anti-fascist people. Around 15,000 participated in this non-violent action. The police were beating the demonstrators, in effect supporting the Nazis and the fascists. We had to defend ourselves against the police with their water cannons, tanks, and cordons of 500 policemen in riot gear. We blocked the entire convention center for the day, starting at 5 AM and keeping it up until about 7 PM. The Nazis from Italy and Spain, Belgium and Holland had to leave. They could not hold their unity meeting. We all wear black, so if there is a problem, the police can't pick us out by our clothing.
The concept of collective militancy was used in Cologne, but also to block the G8 summit in 2008. It is not "normal" for a student or young teacher or young professional to one day be a student and the next day dress in black and fight the state. There has to be a space in between. That is the space for collective militancy. We hold collective action trainings all over Germany. Once people are trained, they are more successful in their mass blockades. When we blocked the airport, not the airport buildings, but actual runways, the police were shocked, they didn't know what to do. The penalty for being out there was at most $50, which is not much risk.
It is important to involve the youth in the anti-fascist movement, to get them aware of the political theory and political action. It enables people to participate in political processes and actions. The radical Left is able to establish a whole subculture in Berlin, with parties, concerts, discussions, silk-screening. We have about ten events every day, more on weekends.
How do young people get involved in the anti-fascist movement? First they come to discussion groups where they teach themselves about the issues, learn democratic processes and decision-making. They read Marx, talk about sexism, capitalism, developing radical democracy within the groups. We hold camps to talk about border issues, others to talk about climate issues. If there are Nazis within our suburb, we "out" the Nazis. We make flyers and hand them out to neighbors alerting them that they are living next to a Nazi. We put up posters. The group decides what is an appropriate action.
--German youth activist
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