On
January 19, 2010, a year to the day from the murders of Stanislav
Markelov and Anastasia Baburova, we, the organizers of an antifascist
march, call on you to join our campaign against neo-Nazi terrorism.
The word fascism has been utterly devalued today. It is hard to find
a political movement that avoids branding its opponents as “fascists.”
But there are also meaningful interpretations of this term. Many of
them have a direct bearing on what is taking place in contemporary
Russia.
For some people, fascism is the extreme intolerance intrinsic to
authoritarian societies. For others, it is an ideology of exploitation
and coercion. For still others, it means the use by the authorities of
covert paramilitary units for the suppression of democratic movements.
Finally, for some, fascism is a force that murders good people, people
like the lawyer Stanislav Markelov and the journalist Nastya Baburova,
the young antifascists Fyodor Filatov and Ivan Khutorskoi, the
ethnologist Nikolai Girenko, the chess player Sergei Nikolaev from
Yakutia, the programmer Bair Sambuev from Buryatia, and hundreds of
others. People who define fascism in this way do not divide their
enemies into Russians and non-Russians, grown-ups and children, priests
and punk rock fans, young activists and defenseless janitors from
Central Asia.
It is not a matter of definitions, however. All the murderers come from one and the same environment.
They can be defeated only through a combined effort, only by
overcoming the barriers that separate political activists from each
other and from people who do not trust politicians and are not involved
in the political process. For this purpose we are organizing an
antifascist initiative that will unite people of various political
persuasions with all those who consider themselves apolitical but who
are convinced that the rise of fascism in Russia demands a clear
response from society.
The neo-Nazis have changed. They now not only attack marketplaces,
they also blow them up – along with railroad tracks, concert halls,
churches, cafes, and the entryways of the buildings where their
political opponents live. The fascists now not only beat up people on
the streets, they also murder them. Neo-Nazi terrorism has become a
reality.
If this goes on much longer, Russia will turn into a country wracked
by ethnic cleansing and inter-ethnic war. We appeal to everyone who
would rather not wait to see this happen. Act now: take a public stance
using whatever means you have at your disposal.
We also call on well-known and respected people – scholars, artists,
writers, and intellectuals – to support our cause with their good
names. We believe that the struggle against the neo-Nazi scourge in
Russia must be raised to a new level. It has to become a mass campaign
of solidarity that reaches beyond youth subcultures and activist
groups. The understandable aversion people feel to politics should not
prevent them from recognizing the threat posed by neo-Nazism.
We believe that we have three main tasks today. First, we need to
deprive neo-Nazis and racists of the explicit and implicit support they
receive from bureaucrats and establishment politicians. Second, we have
to drive members of ultra-rightist organizations out of mainstream
politics. Third, we must put an end to the practice of using radical
right-wing gangs to intimidate and murder social and political
activists.
We call on people in various cities and countries to take to the
streets on January 19, 2010, and show their solidarity with our cause.
http://jan-19.livejournal.com/884.html
German version: http://jan-19.livejournal.com/581.html
Russian version: http://jan-19.livejournal.com/301.html
