WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE - news journal UPDATE - (en) France, UCL Press Release - Fascism is at our doorstep: anti-racist response! (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 State-sponsored Islamophobia and colonial injustices are growing in

France. In the face of this racist and reactionary offensive, it is
crucial to build a popular response. Internationally, fascism is taking
shape under the leadership of capitalists and imperialist states,
endangering the rights of exiles and colonized peoples. This is why we
will be in the streets on Saturday, March 22nd, as part of the
International Day Against Racism. Between the fascist attacks in the
heart of Paris targeting the comrades of Young Struggle in February and
the violent expulsion of young exiles from the Gaîté Lyrique in March,
we are witnessing a dizzying escalation of repression and violence. The
state, with the complicity of the Socialist Party city hall, has
expelled more than 400 foreign minors, abandoning these young people to
the streets. In the face of these attacks, solidarity and resistance are
more necessary than ever.

Countering the Islamophobic Wind
State-sponsored Islamophobia is intensifying, resulting in systemic
discrimination and increased repression of Muslims and racialized
minorities. France is fueling this policy by banning the wearing of the
hijab in sports and withdrawing funding from Muslim institutions, while
serious Islamophobic acts are swept under the carpet, such as the arson
attack on the Jorgeau mosque on the night of February 25-26. In the face
of this racist and reactionary offensive, a massive, popular anti-racist
response is essential, with clear demands: the repeal of Islamophobic
laws and an end to discretionary "case-by-case" regularization policies
that favor racist exceptional treatment.

Fighting Our Colonialism
The country's fascistization goes hand in hand with the violence of
French colonialism. Since June 2024, Kanak political prisoners,
imprisoned tens of thousands of kilometers from their homes in mainland
France for resisting the colonial order, have been experiencing this
firsthand. Among them, Christian Tein, spokesperson for the CCAT,
remains imprisoned in mainland France despite a court ruling
invalidating the reasons given by the state. The Paris Court of Appeal
recognized France's responsibility for the chlordecone poisoning in
Guadeloupe and Martinique, but imposed restrictive criteria for
compensating victims, retaining only 11 out of more than 1,200. This
decision illustrates the state's impunity in the face of this health and
environmental scandal, stemming from a colonial policy favoring the
profits of large-scale operators to the detriment of local populations.
Despite decades of contamination and serious health consequences, the
justice system refuses to collectively acknowledge the harm, thus
perpetuating France's environmental and imperialist injustices towards
its overseas territories, which have not "chosen" France.

The fascisation of French society is particularly evident in the state's
complicity in Israeli colonial and genocidal policies. While the
Palestine solidarity movement is repressed and criminalized, words
apologizing for genocide are tolerated, even promoted.

Towards a Fascist International
Today's fascism does not emerge from nowhere; it is organized
internationally under the impetus of wealthy individuals like Musk, who
supports far-right movements and promotes reactionary libertarianism.
Like the fascists of yesterday, it recycles symbols, infiltrates the
dominant discourse, and relies on the bourgeoisie, complicit out of
self-interest. Faced with this rise, liberal and institutional
anti-fascism is limited to moral posturing and ineffective class
alliances. The state continues its process of fascisation through the
constant updating of the doctrines of the war on terror and the war on
drugs, recently updated by Darmanin and Retailleau. These "wars" are
nothing other than wars against the people, increasing police pressure
against working-class neighborhoods and racialized people.

The European Union is strengthening its fortress policy by presenting a
plan to institutionalize the persecution of migrants. Under the guise of
agreements with third countries, it is legalizing mass deportations and
the confinement of entire families in veritable camps. This hardening of
the stance is part of the xenophobic logic of the Asylum and Immigration
Pact, which criminalizes exiles and deprives them of their most basic
rights. In the face of this offensive, only internationalist solidarity
can form a united front against this racist policy and the rise of fascism.

In our workplaces and neighborhoods, let's build a popular and massive
anti-racist and anti-fascist response!

Libertarian Communist Union, March 19, 2025.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Le-fascisme-est-a-nos-portes-riposte-antiraciste
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