Wednesday 10 June 2015

July 19 Counter-Rally Aganist "Reclaim Australia"



SHUT DOWN “RECLAIM AUSTRALIA” !  FOR A UNITED FRONT AGAINST FASCISM !

Above: Photo of the April 4 “Reclaim Australia” rally showing a supporter adorned with Nazi tattoos. Nazi groups are using the banner of “Reclaim Australia” to recruit to various fascist organisations.

 19-06-2015 – Almost to the day, 70 years has passed since the Soviet people sacrificed 27 million lives in an epic struggle which defeated Nazi led fascism, and handed the world relative peace for some decades. Yet in 2015, with capitalism once again entering a period of steep decline, fascism is rearing its ugly head, as if on cue. This time, there is no USSR, and workers of the world must defeat the hydra of Nazism by their own hands. Here at home, the nucleus of fascism is appearing under the guise of “Reclaim Australia”. If anyone has any doubts about what “Reclaim Australia” is really about, check the Nazi tattoos amongst the Australian flag waving ultra-nationalists on April 4 this year. Sure, it is dressed up in all kinds of garb about equality of rights, equal rights to all religions and so on. However, fascism always preys on the politically disenfranchised and misguided. So it was in Nazi Germany in the 1920s, so it is in Australia in 2015.

Fascism becomes the last option for the capitalist ruling class when their system enters a stage of deep crisis. For the Western capitalist economies, this period began with the 2008 “global” financial crisis, and has arguably worsened since then. Working people have borne the brunt of this collapsing system, a system they had no part in building. Thousands of job cuts, deepening cuts to social services, education, healthcare, public transport, deteriorating wages and working conditions, bullying, threats and harassment by managers at work, and a skyrocketing cost of living has become “normal”. Coupled with ever deepening corruption, mass unemployment and ever increasing wars overseas, the whole socio-economic system offers little hope for any kind of future for the middle-aged, let alone the youth. The shredding of any semblance of democratic rights and civil liberties for working people, harassment by police and security services on public transport and in public is a sure sign that the ruling class are prepared to put any measures in place to prevent workers and the oppressed rebelling against their vanishing standard of living. Yet it is also a sign that the ruling class fears workers combining in action.

While the hollowing out of first world living standards for workers represents one end of the capitalist economic crisis, the other end is occupied by unending wars of domination and occupation overseas, currently against countries in the Middle East and North Africa, where Islam is a predominant religion. These wars are the basis for the extreme Islamophobia whipped up by the very ruling classes which are waging these criminal bombardments. Currently there are around 1000 Australian and New Zealand troops in Iraq and Syria, allegedly to “fight ISIS”. The real aim is to overthrow the secular state of Syria, and increase the power of the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel in the region. An ISIS/Al Qaeda “victory” in Syria will no doubt end up no better than obliterated Libya, which was destroyed by NATO in 2011. The jihadists fighting to overthrow the popularly elected Syrian government certainly act with unequalled brutality. Yet they could not do this without the material arms and funding provided to them by the US, France, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates – the US and its allies. There is documented evidence of US and UK warplanes air dropping supplies to ISIS/Al Qaeda/Al Nusra and other jihadists. The jihadists are also being treated, at no cost, in Israeli hospitals. There is reportedly daily contact between the Israeli Defence Forces and all of the jihadist groups operating in Syria. Far from attempting to stop ISIS, the Western proxy war, joined by the Australian Armed Forces, is actively working with and for, all of the mercenary barbarians operating in Iraq and Syria.

War and fascism are often strongly linked. If anyone has any doubts about the Australian ruling class and their capacity to lend support to fascism if they judge that their capital is in danger, look at the disastrous situation in Ukraine currently. On February 22 last year, a fascist coup, backed by NATO, overthrew the government of Ukraine. It proceeded to wage war against anti-fascist resistance fighters in the east of Ukraine. With the support of the US, the fascist Kiev coup regime slaughtered at least 6000 Ukrainians, bombing them in the streets of their home towns. Who has backed the fascist Kiev government internationally? None other than Tony Abbott and Bill Shorten, railing against “Russia”.  In reality, for all its faults, Russia is currently stemming the advance of NATO-led imperialism. 

Workers here thus have a dual task – to oppose the imperialist wars being waged by the US Empire backed by Canberra AND to stop the encroachments of a rising fascist movement here. The two tasks are linked, and both can be stopped by determined working class action. Stopping fascism is a matter of physical self-defence for workers. Big business, and indeed small business, have little to really fear about a fascist takeover. In fact, their businesses will probably turn over more profit, and it may alleviate the drastic recession afflicting all capitalist economies. Workers can only lose under fascism, however. Trade Unions, workers’ organisations, and all left parties and any worker suspected of supporting such organisations are likely to be targeted for elimination. Vicious racism will be raised to a fever pitch, placing men, women and children who are not “white” in immediate danger. Fascists openly rallying in public poses a clear and present danger for working people. It is for this reason that the aim of the anti-fascist counter-rallies must be  to shut down “Reclaim Australia”, and sweep the core fascist organisers and all of their supporters off the streets. This must be the aim of the counter-rally to the fascist provocation currently organised for July 19. 

There was debate amongst those organising to counter the first “Reclaim Australia” rallies on April 4 earlier this year. Some argued that what was needed was a rally against “Racism and Bigotry” because, they claimed, people would be turned off by a call to “smash fascism”. This argument contains both a strategic and a tactical error. The strategic error is a mistaken view that “racism and bigotry” stems from poor ideas, which can be countered by education, or perhaps even promoting ideas such as “multiculturalism”. While it is of course important to always counter racist and bigoted views, it must be recognised that the fascist movements that are now arising are a response to the breakdown and decay of the capitalist economic and political system. No amount of education will be able to overcome ideas which emerge from a capitalist system which must turn to extreme violence – even fascism, in an attempt to save itself. 

Real, material action is thus needed, by those most affected – the working class. The tactical error is a proposal to have the rallies only take such action which can be joined by those who are only prepared to voice their opinion, rather than stand in the front line of a barricade. This course, however, allows those who only oppose fascist ideas – predominantly political liberals, well-heeled lawyers, academics, etc – to set the agenda. Rather, setting the agenda should be workers who aim to defeat the entire economic and political project of fascism, for they have both the material interest and the power to do so. The Trade Unions should be at the forefront of this struggle, as workers organisations. However, an obstacle to mobilising the Unions are many of the conservative officials who are mainly concerned with their own well-paid positions. Therefore, the MLG calls for a united front against fascism, led by workers, which can then both pressure the Union bureaucrats and draw in the most pro-worker elements of the middle classes as well as other oppressed layers in one strong movement. There is not a moment to lose.

STOP WAR AND FASCISM! 

SHUT  DOWN “RECLAIM AUSTRALIA”!

MARXIST-LENINIST GROUP  e: mlgroup271@gmail.com ph: 0421 408 692 www.ML-Group.blogspot.com.au

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