France, Alternative Libertaire AL #246 - Anti-fascism: In
Lyon, symptomatic manifestation (fr, it, pt) [machine
translation]
This Saturday, November 29 FN congress held in Lyon, a city that is also a laboratory
fascist factions. In response, various collectives and organizations have called for
demonstrations to state the obvious: not the FN is not a party like no other! This party
is and will remain a P?tain party, reactionary, xenophobic and anti-feminist!
Unfortunately, the event did not go as planned. ---- The reactionary forces did not wait
for the FN congress on November 29, to pressure. A few days before the event, identity
wanted to do in the safe outbid by offering their merchants' free protection service
against anarchists and anti-fascists "vast hypocrisy. This had been a pretext for the
prefecture to harden, even the police presence: Carenco, the prefect of the Rhone,
responded by stating that measures of "security" would be strengthened, and of course to
protect honest citizens and citizen clashes between anarchists and fascists.
A customized police presence
On the day, the preventive system was impressive. Even before arriving in Lyon, many buses
chartered for the occasion were immobilized for an hour, the time to search and file,
forgiveness, "verify" the identity of all passengers. Everywhere in Lyon, cops patrolling
and also controlled the identities of persons considered suspicious, confiscating their
passing their stickers. The edge of the start of the demonstration, the excavations were
systematic bags, some people known to be activists and radical activists were taken
preventively es the position. Eventually, with more than an hour and a half late, because
of the various controls, the event to start. Came first the procession of Conex (National
Coalition against far right) and the collective vigilance 69, then the unions and
political parties, libertarian procession (AL / CNT) and finally, the procession called
"radical."
While groups attacked the windows of banks and employment agencies, police response was
not long in coming and a rain of tear gas has hit the rear of the procession. A police
load followed, dispersing the back of the event. The police ordered the head of the
procession to run while she sat at the center of the hole and dug dissolving the head of
the procession after harassing some distance. The second half, made processions LA / CNT,
NPA and part of Solidarity was isolated and surrounded on the bridge of Guilloti?re thirty
minute, then to the Hotel-Dieu for one hour. Finally, the protestors were able to join the
Perrache train station, still chanting, under police escort, photographed es by fascists
and under careful monitoring of the chopper.
If the mobilization was not ridiculous, it was not at stake. Again, we have seen the
decline of the social movement, which is observed in concrete terms, bringing together
about 4,000 demonstrators from France and neighboring countries. She had the merit to
exist in a context of declining struggles and acceleration of repression. It showed that a
national opposition to the FN and racism state existed. Despite police and political will
and drop heads, there have been relatively few arrests in the demo and none in the
procession AL. Thanks in part to the coordination between AL, CNT, Partners and the NPA.
Unfortunately, there are eighteen arrests made in the margin of the procession of the
CONEX, past two persons in immediate appearance who obtained the postponement of their
trial to January 8, three others refused immediate appearance are summoned to court in March.
The others came out with reminders to law.
Stress the importance of police presence: dozens of riot police trucks, helicopters
throughout the demo, a water cannon, etc. The police played its role as capitalist
militia, violent and disciplined. It is legitimate to question the reason for that device.
Scare? Yes I Am. Repress? Of course. But first, as always, the police were there to
protect the interests of the state and capital. In these times of economic crisis, the
importance of police presence reflects the fear of the capitalist classes of a social
movement radicalized. If the authorities and megaphones, media, recite their
well-rehearsed speech about the "thugs", we do not regret that the symbols of capitalism
and the casualization of workers are attacked. Instead, we wonder about the usefulness
destruction of shelters, home of the rain and wind, in a neighborhood where fascism had
good press.
However, these are minor hardware problems to us. Indeed, it is with the attitude of
"procession" of "unorganized es" than we disagree. Indeed, when police charged, they
bravely ran towards the front of the march, leaving the others in the back, handle the
load and hold the line. Shunning police office, calling for people to clear the clash in
their leaflets and posters, we felt somewhat inconsistent and disingenuous. But the
problem of the attitude of "unorganized-es' does not stop there. Not content to take
refuge in the upstream processions of the event, and they have placed obstacles behind
their passage, and disrupting the line which faced the police.
The lack of solidarity is one thing, endangering classmates is another. That attitude is
unacceptable. We also denounce the imposition of a strategy to everyone. We must respect
differences and capabilities of each: everyone has the desire or the ability to assume the
immediate consequences (tear gas and clubbed). The "violent" actions are another way to
demonstrate but should not prevent the rest of the mobilization to continue the way they
and they wish. Nevertheless, this is indeed the state and its armed wing the police, which
again reduces us to silence. The authorization of the event has served as Democratic PS
bond. The decision to stop us marching was taken before, the case has just served as
justification.
For an uncompromising anti-fascism
This event is merely a manifestation of repressed more if she did not reveal anything. It
marks a break between two conceptions of anti-fascism: institutional fascism that think we
fight fascism in calling for help the state; and radical anti-fascism which adopts
different ways of daily actions and field [ 1 ]. Releases of Conex and vigilance
Collective, we condemn also calling for suppressing "thugs" perfectly illustrate this gap.
These statements and this event is symptomatic of the lack of anti-fascism "republican".
All this clearly illustrates the paradox that there has to appeal to a State to resolve a
situation which he himself is the cause. This "activism" is institutional whenever a
dismal failure for the anti-fascist struggle and revolutionary general; but also results
in a significant impact on the rest of the social movement. The ideological weakness of
these organizations and their "walking demonstrations" simply discourage workers and new
generations. The weakness of the so-called left organizations and the absence in the field
of class struggle advantage symmetrically to the growth of the extreme right and racism
and sexism ordinary. The more we show weak stronger they will be.
Only a mass radical anti-fascism would report sufficient physical and ideological force to
roll back and crush fascism. Nevertheless, this radical anti-fascism can not exist only
once every three months on the street. It has to be there, present in the poor
neighborhoods, in boxes, in college, school, etc. This battle is a battle being fought
every day, every time we hear a little remark on Roma at the bakery or when we discuss
with its neighbors. It is necessary to re-create spaces of solidarity and discussions
where we could deconstruct all the disinformation of the police state that continues to
divide us in order to protect themselves. It's all a bond of trust and solidarity that
remains to rebuild and we have seen on November 29, one by far.
Collective AL Lyon
[ 1 ] See the article "1990: the turn anti-fascism" in Alternative Libertarian September
2013, which states that the problem had already arisen early 1990s for the construction of
a mass anti-fascism.
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Antifascisme-A-Lyon-une-manif
