We are an ad-hoc collective of anti-fascists in London who want to organise a solidarity event to support anti-fascists in Russia on 19th January 2019.
19th January is a significant day for anti-fascists and anarchists, as each year demonstrations are held to remember Russian comrades, the journalist Anastasia Baburova and lawyer Stanislav Markelov, who were murdered by fascists in broad
“They’re not terrorists. The terrorists are at the FSB, and they torture people.” Participant in a picket in St Petersburg in May this year. Photo by Jenya Kulakova. Courtesy of the Russian Reader.
daylight 10 years ago, as well as other fallen comrades who were victims of fascist violence.
Markelov, an experienced lawyer and social democrat, spent years fighting for justice in workers’ struggles, environmental protests and against the violence of the Russian state. Baburova, a young journalist with the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, was a reporter and anarchist from Sevastopol, Crimea. They were murdered in Moscow by a nationalist terror group with links to the Kremlin.
We also want to express our solidarity to the defendants in the “Network Case”, in which 11 Russian anti-fascists and anarchists have been detained and tortured as part of a
On 28 October, parents of the Penza and Petersburg detainees organised a protest in Moscow, demanding an end to torture and the trumped-up legal process. There were dozens of arrests, and solidarity demonstrations in seven Russian cities, and Helsinki, Finland. Photo (Moscow) from Rupression.com.
security service investigation into alleged terrorism. These men, from St Petersburg and Penza, are due to go on trial in the coming year.
The Russian state’s repression against political dissents acts in tandem with fascist gangs, a collaboration that has long been known and experienced.
With the turn to right and far-right fascist populist governments across the world from India to Brazil, USA to Italy, there is no more greater need than to share experiences and knowledge around this international moment which we are all facing, whether in the UK or in Russia.
Whilst our comrades are faced with unimaginable violence by both the state and street-level fascist gangs, we intend to send a message of solidarity and defiance with this event.
What you can do:
■ We invite you to attend a meeting on Monday 26 November, 6.30pm-9.00pm, at the Mayday Rooms, 88 Fleet St, London EC4Y 1DH. Please RSVP to london19jan [at] riseup.net.
■ Discuss within your group to support this initiative.
■ Save the date and republish this callout on your website.
I support this call (which is also published here) and hope readers will do the same. GL, 1 November 2018.
■ Information on the “network case” can be found at:
The Russian Reader website. (The most recent item, Convoyed, has a list of things you can do at the end.)
People and Nature 