Solidarity with Anti-Fascists in Russia

That this is occurring in a country that lost many millions of people toHitler’s Nazis in the Second World War is even more shocking.

The facts speak for themselves.

• 122 people have been murdered by racists and fascists in the past two and a half years.
• There are an estimated 70,000 skinheads in Russia today.
• Anti-fascists are being systematically attacked and even murdered.
• The perpetrators are often charged only with "hooliganism".

President Putin has promised to stamp out rightwing extremism but has done little. Anti-fascists are not only few in number but are politically isolated in the face of an enemy that whips up hatred and brutality against immigrants and national, ethnic, religious and sexual minorities. Merely "looking anti-fascist" means being targeted by the nazis who patrol parts of most Russian cities looking for victims. In St Petersburg and Moscow, nazis gather intelligence to track down anti-fascists, and attack and, in some cases murder them.

Earlier anti-fascist campaigns against the public use of fascist symbols and the sale of racist propaganda achieved some success but the nazis reacted by murdering Professor Nikolai Girenko, one of the most highprofile anti-fascist specialists who had supported these campaigns, at his St Petersburg home.

The authorities talk proudly of the war against Hitler but do so now from a nationalist standpoint. The nazis claim to be defending "Russian identity" and "the interests of the Russian nation" and the toleration of violent nazi gangs stems from the fact that Russian nationalism is touted, even officially, as a remedy for the continuing feelings of defeat resulting from the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Anti-fascists in Russia now desperately need financial and material assistance but cannot generate this themselves. With funds, they can produce leaflets, organise campaigns and pay for lawyers. They can also build up a more organised, modern, computer-linked infrastructure to create proper networks of resistance.

This can only come about through the international solidarity of progressive people, and all anti-fascists and anti-racists outside Russia.

Donate to the Russian Human Rights Solidarity Fund

Please send donations to: Russian Human Rights Solidarity Campaign, c/o Searchlight, PO Box 1576, Ilford, Essex IG5 0NG

Or pay directly into our account at: Russian Human Rights Solidarity Campaign
Branch Sort Code: 40-03-36 Account Number: 41284479
IBAN : GB76MIDL40033641284479
SWIFT CODE : MIDLGB22

Or donate through :: PayPal

Antifa-Net - The International Antifascist Network for Research and Action was founded in January 2004. It has member groups in Germany, The Netherlands, Austria, Norway, Denmark, France, Sweden, Poland, Russia and the USA. Searchlight is its British representative.