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On 6th of February we went to the streets in different European cities. United by a common struggle for a life in solidarity and dignity beyond nation state, borders and capital. The action day against fortress Europe was a further step of transnational networking to connect our struggles and face the Europe of exploitation, exclusion and oppression. We showed our solidarity with all people trying to enter Europe to find a better life demanding freedom of movement for everyone. We faced the cynical and inhuman right-wing movements which promote racism, hate and all kinds of reactionary ideologies. For us there was a need to show that we won’t let the far right to show their power across Europe. At the same time we are as sure as death that the racist movements in the streets of Europe and the anti-migration policies of the European Union and it’s Nations are player in the same game called “war on migrants”.

Actions across and beyond Europe

Pegida’s grandiously announced „european wide actionday for Fortress Europe“ actually failed in most places all by themselves – in Copenhagen, Birmingham, Helsinki, Amsterdam and Graz between 50 and 150 protestors in favor of Pegida showed up, all of them outnumbered by counter protestors who wouldn’t allow them to have their way. However, great numbers of racists gathered in Dresden, Warsaw and Prague. Pegida in Dresden once more attracted about 7000 people, in Warsaw and Prague about 2000 racists met up. Only about 100 antifascists were heavily outnumbered in Warsaw and therefore were easy prey for being encircled by the police. In Dresden 5000 people protested against Pegida, in Prague about 800 people took a stand against Blok proti Islámu (Block against Islam) and Národní demokracie (National Democracy). Half of them participated in the demonstrations held by our alliance. As it’s common at Pegida demonstrations, among the „fearful“ in many places there were greater amounts of so called „Identitarians“, all kinds of facsists and hooligans. Angry and frustrated because a first attempt to attack one of the antifascist demonstrations failed, a group of hooligans later in the night in Prague tried to set the autonomous social center „Klinika“ on fire. The police was not of much help, but we are happy to be able to announce that no one suffered severely from this attack and that among other antifascist oriented forces we have encountered a lot of solidarity. In those place the racists had been outnumbered right from the start, their activities could be limited if not stopped. In Graz, Helsinki and Copenhagen, just as in Amsterdam, antifascist activists were able to distract the racists from what they had originally come for in different ways. In the Finnish city of Pargas and the region of Österbotten several hundred activists gathered against racism.

In Greece more than one hundred activists wanted to gather and confront the border fence in Eidomeni. The activists were stopped by Greek police forces. At the Greek-Macedonian border refugees are selected by Frontex-forces. Only Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugees can pass the border in a long and inhumane process. Migrants from other countries are deported to Athens and kicked out at the streets or so-called hot-spots. We remember the more than 15 people who were cruelly killed by the Spanish police forces on 6th of February 2014 at the border fence. That day hundreds of migrants tried to cross the border between Morocco and the Spanish enclosure Ceuta. The actionday #6fCeuta was called by Voix des Migrants, Alarm Phone, Afrique-Europe-Interact, NoBorders Morocco and many other migrants’ and Moroccan associations. Actions took place in Strasbourg (France), Berlin (Germany), Genova (Italy), Barcelona and Ceuta (both Spanish state). In Rabat (Morroco) more than 400 Subsaharan and Moroccan activists organized a sit-in in front of the Spanish embassy. They demonstrated against the “war on migrants” in order to claim the freedom of movement, safe flight routes and papers for all.

We showed that it’s possible to do coordinated, radical and antiauthoritarian actions on a transnational level. We need to keep on in connecting each other and create common spaces for actions, discussions and analysis. In the last years some good examples for a transnational organizing where made: the grassroots network of Afrique-Europe-Interact, the antiauthoritarian platform against capitalism Beyond Europe or the Blockupy-network. As well as we need constant palttforms we need meetings across our political fractions. As an example we can name the second Connecting European Struggles conference last year organized by our comrades from Sweden.

Let’s keep on going this way of while establishing and deepen our relations with migrant self organization. Let’s get in touch with each other and share our ideas of a free society with social equality for everyone.

The future is still unwritten!

Organize political solidarity!

Fight Fortress Europe and capitalism!