Berlin 1st May: Stop the Nazi Demo

Stop the nazi march on 1 May!

With the slogan “national community instead of globalisation madness” the German National Party (NPD) and independent neo-nazi groups are calling for a joint march in Berlin on 1 May 2004.
With it, this year they tackle the hard criticism that capitalist globalisation has received from the left, and use this subject as the excuse to bring their racist, anti-Semitic and nationalist content ideology to the streets.
As opposed to previous years, the NPD and the majority of independent neo-nazi groups have managed to unite in a single, big march.
This merging responds to the interests of the NPD who is trying to strengthen their weakened position.
The aim of this call for unity from the NPD and „Aktionsbüro Norddeutschland“ is to show cohesion. Hence that thousands of old as well as new right-wing extremists are expected to join the march in Berlin this year.
In 2000 the NPD’s march on 1 May in Berlin already became a key event for nazis.
Although between 2000 and 2002 the marches were forced by law to move to the outskirts of Berlin, last year neo-nazis managed to march through West Berlin’s city centre for the first time and with over 2000 participants achieve yet another success in the growing number of extreme right marches.

Anti-fascist resistance
For many years now anti-fascist groups from Berlin have been pleading to disrupt, block and stop the nazi marches that take place on 1 May.
Our aim was and still is to kick the nazis off the streets. We also seek to spoil the day for the politicians and the police forces in Berlin, who protect nazi marches and ensure their smooth running.
That is why this year again we are calling for an anti-fascist demonstration in the morning of 1 May and the carrying out of random actions along the route of the nazis’ march and on their arrival.
In the past counter-activists have often succeeded in making the logistic and political price to pay for neo-nazi marches an expensive one.
Entire districts were under state of emergency, thousands of police officers deployed and the national transport authorities had to close stations to the public so that they could take the nazis to their starting point.
In the past it has also been possible to disrupt nazi marches with banners and shouting in protest. Many potential fascist participants could be sent home even before the marches started.
Again and again it has been proved that despite the massive police deployment, blocking streets, controls and sending anti-fascists off, it has never been possible for nazis and police forces to carry out a “peaceful demonstration”.
We want to continue the anti-fascist counter-activities of the past years and make this day as unpleasant for the nazis as possible.

Unity amongst the NPD and independent neonazis
On 1 May 1992 the attempts of the then still legal FAP to organise a march in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg were quickly called off thanks to the stones thrown by anti-nazi opponents. Since then the neo-nazi groups have become more organised.
At the beginning of the 90’ many neo-nazi organisations were declared illegal. After that many fascist squads joined the NPD in order to find a new platform for their political work.
The NPD sees itself as the shelter for various right-wing movements reaching from pro-violence radical groups to right-wing-conservatives.
The NPD grew stronger and new structures, the so-called „Freie Kameradschaften“, were founded in order to avoid public surveillance and being outlawed.
„Freie Kameradschaften“ are associations of neo-nazis that not always have an agenda or a definite structure.
Even when some of them are attached to a party, they feel they must fight for their “race and nation” first. The organisation then plays a secondary role.
These „Freie Kameradschaften“ see themselves as „national revolutionaries“ ready to use violence and they consider the NPD too old-fashioned, conformist and subordinated to law.
Thus some of the radical neo-nazi organisations turned their back on the NPD. At the same time though unity is becoming more and more important again, just like this year’s 1 May shows: structural contradictions are put aside in order not to weaken the “national movement” with divisions.
1 May has to remain as the worker’s day!
Workers in Chicago demonstrated for the first time on 1 May 1886 demanding that working hours were reduced to eight hours a day.
Around the world workers traditionally demonstrate on this date to fight for their rights. Through a radical change of the system they wanted to achieve an improvement of their work and living conditions and as well as a free society.
In Germany, social-democratic and communist workers were demonstrating for a better life too.
During the nazi dictatorship the „workers day“ was renamed the “national day of labour” so that the differences between the working class and capitalists were not so evident.
Workers’ claims such as higher wages, social security and less working hours were considered to be a threat to the overall goal of a German “Reich”.
As a result, all trade unions were outlawed and their members integrated into the “German labour front”.
Historically, national-socialist politics have methodically stolen the traditions from the left-wing workers’ movements and integrated them into their national-socialist discourse.
This is the legacy of the NPD and other neo-nazi organisations as today again they are trying to appropriate left-wing slogans and traditions. Since they divide and judge humanity along categories such as „race“, nation, ethnicity, gender and culture, despite all the imitations of progressive left politics their content is clearly identifiable as fascist and nazi.

Nazis against globalisation
„National community instead of globalisation madness“. The slogan of this year’s neonazi march is characteristic of the nazis’ attempts to combine a national-socialist model of society with current topics in the left.
With their model of a „national community” they aim at a society that is supposed to produce homogeneity through both inner and outer exclusion.
Neonazis see globalisation as an anti-Semitic conspiracy that wants to hand over Germany to the power of foreign corporations.
According to the NPD Germany’s only chance depends on economic independence and the closing of all its borders.
The anti-globalisation movement that originated in the international left movement has caught the attention of the public eye around the world since the events of Seattle in 1999.
The mass rallies of Prague, Gothenburg, Davos and Genova had a world wide impact on the media as well.
The left movement is against the liberalisation of markets following a capitalist blueprint and the closure of international borders like it is the case in fortress Europe. This does not lead to social justice but only to more exploitation.
Criticising globalisation does not mean strengthening nation states. However, the nazis’ answer to globalisation is the closure of the German nation state.

Our answer to it:

globalise resistance against capitalism!
Everything for everyone!
No room for nazis!
Reclaim the streets! Be creative and assertive!

Anti-fascist demonstration: 10.30 a.m. underground Strausberger Platz (Berlin-Friedrichshain)

Watch out for up-to-date announcements: www.mai-berlin.de.vu