Fight Nazis! Troubling the water for the march of the “Identitarians”!
In times like these, when far-right parties are able to generate more and more votes and during a massive shift to the right in society, the neo-fascist “Identitarians” are mobilising for a demonstration in Vienna on July 20th. Ever since the revelations by the Correctiv research collective about a secret meeting of the extreme right near Potsdam, Sellner and his horrible idea of “remigration”, i.e. the violent mass deportation of people with a history of migration, have been the talk of the town- and he knows how to use this attention to his advantage. So it’s no wonder that the neo-fascist “Identitarians” are once again announcing a “remigration” demonstration in Vienna. Ahead of the upcoming national elections in Austria, the neo-fascists are aiming to spread propaganda for their inhumane ideas and claim the streets as a pre-political space for themselves. They are actively supported by right-wing extremist to neo-Nazi groups from neighboring Germany, Italy, Switzerland and other countries. In the slipstream of the rise of right-wing parties throughout Europe, the “identitarian” activists see the opportunity to initiate a “patriotic turnaround”. They are not only interested in parliamentary successes, but also in a long-lasting shift to the right in all areas of society, as they see it as the last chance to stop the “population exchange” and turn things around. They counter this ethnic-racist fantasy of an apocalypse with the “reconquista”, the reconquest of Europe. What exactly this means has been known not only since a secret meeting near Potsdam: the deportation, displacement and discrimination of all people who do not fit into the right-wing extremists‘ narrow worldview.
Against the shift to the right and authoritarian formation!
The extent to which society has already shifted to the right is shown not only by the adoption of the rhetoric of the extreme right into centrist discussions. The FPÖ, which is currently the party with the most votes in the polls, has long since ceased to need to differentiate itself from the neo-fascists. In fact, the “Identitarians” can now be seen as their activist youth organization; in terms of personnel and ideology, there the FPÖ and the “Identitarians” have long been two sides of the same coin. And this is precisely what makes the situation so dangerous, given the threat of the FPÖ (and therefore the extreme right) again joining the government in Austria, which will further fuel the authoritarian formation of society. In doing so, the extreme right has a home game at institutional level: due to the crisis manifestations of capitalism on a global scale, authoritarian responses are booming. We see it in stricter asylum rights as well as in the further construction of deadly borders of Fortress Europe. We see it in a racist security discourse that ascribes social problems to certain cultures and thus presents them as unchangeable, and pushes for more police as the only solution.
We see it in an enormous rise in antisemitism, the “rumor about the Jews” (Adorno), which can be heard across all political spectrums and serves as a delusional explanation of the world. We see it in the rise of anti-feminist and racist ideologies that seek to justify social participation and claims in the midst of intensified competition over invented but supposedly natural “identities” that justify exclusion and violence against the “others”. We also see it in an authoritarian pacification of social contradictions that combines welfare state benefits with increasingly repressive elements. There seem to be no rosy prospects for the emancipatory left.
However, as always, it is important not to be fooled by the power of others or by the lack of our own and not to rely on false unifications. Instead, we need a social left that opposes all forms of reactionary ideologies and at the same time develops a perspective beyond the organized sadness of capitalism, which makes life hell for most people. Because the prevailing conditions are already unbearable enough without Nazis and are by themselves a good reason to turn to open rebellion.
Anti-fascism remains necessary because the losers of capitalism do not necessarily have an interest in overcoming it, as the reflection of National Socialism alone proves to show. For this reason, we want to work together to turn the march of the “Identitarians” on July 20 into a disaster and reject the friends of culture, nations and religion who have obviously gone mad within capitalism. After all, the organized far right serves as a loudspeaker for reactionary ideologies that are already widespread in society. In addition, a practical critique of the state, patriarchy and capital is also needed in order to leave the frustrating hamster wheel of anti-fascism and dig up soil from under the right’s feet. Because reactionary ideologies don’t just fall from the sky. They are products of this unfair social order in which we must constantly subordinate our wishes, hopes, needs and desires to the silent compulsion of profit maximization and wage labour. However, there’s good news: it doesn’t have to be like this. Humans made this society and we can change it too. And a good life for everyone has long been possible, because there is enough for everyone. While the extreme right is concerned with perpetuating the state of domination and exploitation, we are concerned with nothing less than the “association of free people” (Marx), in which the happiness of the individual is the conditionfor the happiness of all.