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Title: Anti-Fascist Political Work Author: Anarchist Affinity Date: November 15, 2015 Language: en Topics: anti-fascism Source: Retrieved on February 25, 2021 from https://web.archive.org/web/20210225021315/http://www.collectiveaction.org.au/2015/11/15/anti-fascist-political-work/ Notes: Position statement adopted 6 Sep 2015, modified 4 October 2015.
1.1. This position statement is intended to sketch some initial points
of agreement in order to facilitate Anarchist Affinity’s continued
involvement in anti-fascist work in 2015. It is neither comprehensive
nor complete, and we recognize that this position will have to be
re-visited, reviewed and developed on as the situation and our
understanding develops.
2.1. The Australian state is inherently racist; both the state and
capitalism in Australia are rooted in racist premises and racist
practice.
This commenced with invasion, and continued (and in many ways continues)
with acts of dispossession and genocide perpetrated against this
continent’s first peoples. It continued with the establishment of
control and domination over the entire continent, and with the fostering
of a ‘white Australia’ nationalist ideology.
Despite periods of modification, notably the brief period of official
multiculturalism, the legitimating ideology of the Australian state has
been an exclusionary one that pits a predominantly ‘white Australia’
against perceived internal and external threats. This racism permeates
all levels of Australian society; popular racism interacts with the
state and capitalism.
2.2. There has long been a small and often irrelevant fascist milieu
operating on the fringes of Australian nationalism. The far-right,
including fascist actors, seeks to break out from and reach an audience
outside of the its milieu. The most significant break-out by the far
right in recent political history was the short term success of the One
Nation party in 1998.
2.3. The effect of the far-right achieving mainstream success in 1998
was to break the official multicultural consensus and to open the space
for the Australian state to move further to the right, most notably on
immigration and indigenous affairs.
2.4. In 2015 we have witnessed attempts by fascist actors to utilize the
political opportunities opened by the Abbott government’s renewed
attacks on the Muslim community. For the first time in several years
fascist actors are reaching a wider political audience on the basis of
anti-Muslim racism.
3.1. Anarchist Affinity contends that the far-right must not be allowed
to achieve wider political traction. A growing far-right represents a
particular threat to all groups seen as outsider to the narrative of
Australian nationalism.
3.2. Where there appears to be a genuine threat of far-right groups
cohering and gaining traction among a significantly wider audience,
Anarchist Affinity will seek to act in concert with other groups and
actors who wish to counter the threat of the far-right and who
understand this threat in similar terms to ourselves.
3.3. Anarchist Affinity seek to support self-organisation and
self-defense by communities experiencing racism and colonisation. We
seek to amplify the voices of people who experience racism (including
anti-Muslim racism) and other communities attacked by the far-right.
3.4. Where possible Anarchist Affinity seeks to identify and organize
cooperatively with the libertarian anti-state elements of any wider
campaign against the far-right.
3.5. In anti-fascist work Anarchist Affinity rejects nationalism,
appeals to “Real Australian” national identity, and appeals to the
state. Anarchist Affinity opposes racism at all levels of Australian
society.
3.6. In anti-fascist work Anarchist Affinity argues that the working
class, which includes the diverse communities attacked by the far-right,
can and should organise to defend itself. We seek to support, facilitate
and engage in grass-roots resistance to attacks by the far-right.
3.7. The political minimum we will argue for in working with other
actors on this issue:
3.7.1. Direct action to confront and disrupt the far-right is
appropriate where there is a genuine prospect of far-right groupings
gaining access to and cohering in an audience significantly wider than
their own circles;
3.7.2. No appeals to the Australian state, legal system, or the police
to ‘deal’ with the far-right;
3.7.3. Any critique of the far-right must also critique the racist
practice of the Australian state, in particular in relation to both
colonisation and the border regime.
3.8. On the basis of the above political minimum, Anarchist Affinity
will continue to participate in the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism,
as well as the autonomous anti-facist network. This position will be
periodically reconsidered