A-Infos (en) Germany, LIKO: "We'll take the road!" (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

During demonstrations, strikes or rallies, the often dreary everyday 
life is broken up. We come together and powerfully express our political 
beliefs. The political fight for public space is of central importance 
for us leftists and anti-fascists. ---- But taking the road means much 
more than that! ---- With this text we would like to illustrate the 
importance of the street, express our solidarity with those fighting for 
a better world and motivate us all to keep going.
The meaning of our struggle
Maybe you just received this leaflet at a rally against the AfD, perhaps 
at a strike or a protest against right-wing fraternities. That's a good 
thing, you've come to the right place!

Together we want to take the streets away from right-wingers and 
reactionaries of all stripes, take public space away from them, not let 
them march, and prevent them from spreading their inhumane ideology. 
Sure, it can be tiring. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it is cold, 
sometimes there are only a few people who stand in the way of the right, 
fight for self-managed spaces or strike for better working conditions.

We would like to call on you and future friends and comrades to do just 
that. And we would like to express our solidarity to you. Leftists and 
left-wing radicals, anti-fascists - all of us - must not underestimate 
the importance of public space and the political struggle for the 
streets. We want to illustrate the importance of this fight here - to 
reach more people but also to encourage ourselves to do what we do when 
we take the road.

Antifascism as self-protection
We understand antifascism as the self-protection of the working class - 
our class. It's about protecting and defending our neighborhoods, our 
communities and all public spaces from right-wing, reactionary and 
anti-emancipatory attacks of all kinds.

We can and must realize that what unites us is belonging to our class - 
we do not own the means of production and have to sell our labor and do 
wage work. Even if realities or experiences differ, we form the working 
class. But in order to understand this, it is necessary to meet, get to 
know each other and network. In the documentary "We don't need 
permission" by Pietro Perotti about the labor disputes at Fiat in Italy 
in the 1970s, he emphasized: "In this fight it is important not to 
remain isolated." Here he was referring to one of the numerous 
demonstrations workers; Last but not least, people demonstrated to come 
together. We agree: class consciousness can only develop through 
exchange with one another, especially at our demonstrations. Let's use 
it as a space for discussions, exchange and organization. Demos are more 
than just an "event" - we should understand that.

So onto the street
During demonstrations, strikes or rallies, the often dreary everyday 
life is broken up. There is solidarity, combativeness and loudness 
against monotony and isolation. This is empowering, the power that lies 
in our movement can be felt here - both internally and externally. We 
need this self-empowerment, especially for longer struggles: we get to 
know each other, begin to trust each other, achieve political successes 
together or perhaps share painful experiences.

In addition, one's own political content is catapulted into the public 
eye through a joint action. Bystanders notice us and our concerns, can 
be reached with content and perhaps even convinced, while the respective 
political opponent can be unmasked, blocked or shielded.

The state is increasingly taking action against this: our demonstrations 
are filmed before they even start and are accompanied closely by the 
cops, so that we can hardly bring our political content onto the 
streets, for example through banners. This means that banners simply no 
longer become visible or legible; and not least because their size and 
length are specified, i.e. limited, by the cops. Sometimes we are 
surrounded, sometimes we are not even allowed to start running. In the 
worst case scenario, the well-equipped cops bludgeon the demonstration 
and cover it with pepper spray or use water cannons. If nothing else, 
this proves one thing: If we as the (radical) left take the high road, 
the state reacts nervously.

The immense meticulousness with which people and their actions are tried 
to be criminalized and subjected to repression can also be seen outside 
of demos or rallies, for example when we have beautified the gray 
pavement: political calls and content - whether glued or through 
graffiti - brought to cities are suitable for reaching people. This 
makes this form of activism all the more unpleasant for the state and 
the police apparatus. We know that much political agitation and 
information dissemination as well as discussions and debates take place 
on social media. The algorithms of social media do not promote left-wing 
topics and left-wing content, no matter how large the output is. Because 
the algorithm is not arbitrary - it's about marketing; Left-wing content 
often seems like a foreign body. These channels should not only be the 
means of our communication. Even if the extreme right in particular is 
agitating on social media and trying to stage themselves there: we 
experience their actions, the effects of their disgusting thinking, on 
our streets. That's where we have to be first, together, in order to 
challenge the right-wing public space and thus protect ourselves and our 
communities.

No tolerance for intolerance
The anti-fascist participation campaign "Taking space from the right" in 
Osnabrück shows that this can bring success. With a consistently high 
number of participants who meet and organize every two weeks, it has 
been possible to regularly oppose the AfD's information stands, limit 
the spread of their content and make exchange with the few interested 
people very difficult or massively restricted. The last, actually 
announced performance of the ridiculously small AfD troupe (as of March 
2024) was canceled "due to illness". A militant demonstration marched 
through Osnabrück on January 27, 2024, exposed right-wing structures and 
sent a strong signal of anti-fascist unity to the city's 
anti-emancipatory actors. As a result of the ongoing protests, the 
campaign's research and publications, the AfD lost its meeting place in 
Osnabrück. For years, the AfD had met in the back rooms of a restaurant 
for networking and information evenings. The anti-fascist pressure on 
the restaurant operator had become too great for him, which he had to 
grudgingly accept.

When, on February 13, 2011, one of the largest European neo-Nazi 
gatherings once again wanted to "commemorate" the bombing of Dresden in 
1945 in a historical revisionist and Holocaust-relativizing way, this 
was impressively prevented. Anti-fascists from numerous cities and a 
broad alliance had successfully mobilized for months in Dresden and 
organized the counter-protest. On February 13th itself there were over 
20,000 people who demonstrated against the march. What's more: over 
10,000 people not only ensured that the Nazis couldn't walk through 
numerous (sit-in) blockades, some of them militant. Thousands of 
anti-fascists overcame police barriers and reached the train station 
area, the neo-Nazis' intended rally site. The access roads to the train 
station were blocked and barricades were erected. The police's attempts 
to disband them were also unsuccessful due to the determination of this 
anti-fascist action. Many neo-Nazis were neither able to demonstrate nor 
even get to the rally site. The largest neo-Nazi march at that time, 
which represented an important networking opportunity for the scene 
beyond Germany, was prevented. After this, they were no longer able to 
build on their previous mobilizations.

Both examples clearly show that if we challenge the fascists so 
decisively on the streets, they will also have less confidence (on them).

The good life? For all!
Nevertheless, our aim should be not only to defend the streets in 
defensive battles against reactionaries, but also to increasingly move 
forward with our own topics and content in which the struggles for the 
good life become clear, visible and tangible for everyone

Let's be active, be present and approachable.
Let's get to know each other, let's network
and build our structures.

Out on the street -
Reclaim the streets!*
*... and if it is too cold for that, then come to the SubstAnZ 
(Frankenstraße 25a) every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. 
to the Open Antifa Café;)

https://likos.noblogs.org/2024/04/23/wir-nehmen-uns-die-strasse/
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