PERMANENT ANTI-FASCIST STRUGGLE ON THE STREETS OF RUSSIAN CITIES

Moscow anarchist anti-fascist action 16th of March 2004

Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI) is a new attempt by Moscow fascists to set up a respectable facade behind which to spread hate. It has had some success in its organising efforts lately, and in three regions of Moscow they have militias which cooperate with police in "search of illegal immigrants". Their second attempt to organise a rally this year was succesfull (20th of February their action was banned), in 16th of March they met in front of Gorki's park with pretext of "commemoration of victims of bomb attack" of 6th of February, in a shameful attempt to score politically from a massacre in metro committed by persons unknown. Orthodox christians commemorate dead 40 days after death, but fascist filth is weak in arithmetics and this was really only 39th day. Some 150- 200 nazis gathered behind police encirclement, half of whom were boneheads and other street fighters, spitting hate under banners such as "Ermolov instead of Kadirov" (Ermolov was Czar's brutal general in Siberia and Caucasus, Kadirov is current Putin's goon in Chechnya) and demanding cleansing Moscow from Chechnyans. Only 15 persons gathered to go against fascists in open air, these sorry numbers reflect current balance of power between anti-fascists and nazis in streets Moscow. Anti-fascists included anarchists from Rainbow Keepers and Autonomous Action. Radical wing of liberal anti-fascism from Sabotage-group and antifa.ru website was observing the nazi meeting, and some of them joined action. Some 5 persons from wacko Revolutionary Worker's Party (RRP) also appeared, although no-one had invited them. Soon after arrival to square, anarchist anti-fascists raised banner "FSB is blowing us up" with crossed swastika and crossed sickle and hammer, scanning slogans "Fascism won't trespass!" and "Fascist scum, get out from Moscow!". For a moment author of these lines wondered if this would become the last action of his life. However slow ass nazi scum missed their opportunity to organise massacre of the month, police encircled counter-demonstrators and arrested some 5 persons and teared their banner to pieces. Right when cops had withdrawn, anti-fascists raised another banner "No-one is illegal", and continued scanning slogans. Another 5 persons got arrested by OMON which came up running, one Rainbow Keeper got smacked to ground but seemingly no-one was tortured after arrest. Few people who were not arrested managed to withdraw without nazis jumping on them. When writing this, most of the arrested anti-fascists have been released with irrelevant misdemeanour charges. This action may be regarded as an important step - although it is shameful that anti-fascist have to count on good luck or cops hitting faster than nazis, it is still important to prove that we are not afraid, and we will go even if it was 1 to 10 or even 1 to 100. We are not asking authorities to shut down nazi meetings - we will do it ourselves! No Pasaran!

Anti-fascist demonstration in Rostov-na-Donu, 4 April

On 4th April 2004 in the Rostov-on-the-Don there was an anti-fascist demonstration, organized by the Federation of Anarcho-Communists (FAK). The action saw the participation of 25 anarchists from Rostov-on-the-Don, Azov and Taganrog. The demo was carried out under six red-and-black flags. Passers-by were given leaflets and the ideological principles of anarchism were explained. Interviews with a local television network and newspaper were also given. Participants in the demonstration tried to focus the attention of the press and community on the Russian government's policy of discrimination against national minorities and migrants. In the leaflets, it was emphasized that the political course of the Putin regime has much in common with the dreams of radical-nationalists. Many passers-by agreed with the anarchists, and two young people expressed the desire to join our work and left their contact addresses. In parallel with the anti-fascist agitation funds were collected for the support of the anarchist political prisoner Dmitriy Ryabinin. The action ended with a procession along one of the central streets of Rostov, under the red-and-black flags and with anti-fascist and pacifist slogans.

Vicious attack on anarchists in Rostov

On 17th April in Rostov-on-the-Don at approximately 7.00pm on one of the central streets of city, there was an attack by an unknown group of people (approximately 15-20 young people of 15-20 years) on three members of the Federation of Anarcho-Communists (FAK) - two from Rostov and one from Taganrog - as they were returning home from a meeting. The attackers appeared completely by surprise and started to beat up the three anarchist comrades. In spite of effective resistance, their numerical superiority was too much. The most badly-beaten was comrade "Polpot", who was attacked by 10 people who kicked him as he was on the ground, smashing his face and splitting open his forehead. He also received serious bruising to the head, with concussion and internal lesions. The 2 other anarchists ended up with lighter injuries. Subsequently one of the attackers was identified as a guy who was seen lurking near the anti-fascist demonstration on 4th April. The attack was possibly in retaliation for this demo by some fascist group. Revenge is inevitable!

Nizhny Novgorod,
20th April, antifa actions

On 20th April (Hitlers birthday) came in Nizhny Novgorod to clashes with the nazis. Expecting facist presence in the center of the city, autonomous antifas divided themselves into groups and searched streets and backyards. While 8-strong commando entered area around Prokrovskaya Street they encountered concentration of 20-25 nazis. Concerning unequal numbers antifas retreated, yet nazis followed them,so in front of cinema October fight started. Strong resistance caused that nazis been forced to retreat already after 2 minutes ! On our side nobody had serious injuries,only one comrade got his eyebrow smashed, as it goes for nazis hard to say because all went too fast but we had been later ensured that 2-3 nazis got brain concussion! Antifas are members of Autonomous Action, and street-patrol on 20th April was their first direct antifacist action in Nizhny Novgorod.

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The death in a Moscow hospital last week of an Afghan man, a week after he was beaten into a coma by a group of skinheads, made headlines. But the foreigner's murder was not an isolated occurrence. In March, a 21-year-old Syrian student died in St. Petersburg after being pushed by football fans in front of an oncoming metro train. In February, assailants knifed to death a student from Guinea-Bissau in the city of Voronezh. That same month, police blamed skinheads for the murder of a 9-year-old Tajik girl in St. Petersburg as she walked with her father and cousin, who were also injured in the attack. Non-fatal beatings of foreigners in large cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg are reported almost every week, prompting ambassadors from several African countries to lodge an official appeal with the Russian Foreign Ministry for better protection of their citizens. Are large segments of Russia's population tilting towards aggressive xenophobia as some human rights activists are warning? The author of the latest nationwide survey of attitudes among Russia's youth says no.

Anti-fascist banner drop in Moscow

19th of April, in eve of Hitler's birthday Moscow union of radical artists with support of Autonomous action and Autonomous Action dropped 20x8 meter banner with text "No to fascist laws!", "No to fascist power" over an advertisement in beginning of the Tverskaya street of Moscow, in front of state duma and near Kreml. This way anarchists reminded that it is governement policy and "anti-terrorist operations" which are breeding ground for fascism. Banner stayed in place about 10-15 minutes. Only one participator of action was arrested, but she was soon released. Another one was kicked to head by a pig, but he escaped succesfully.