Declaration of the British Chapter of the Antifascist International

The Organising Committee of the British Chapter of the Antifascist International, following the Antifascist Declaration of Caracas, recognises the situation in Britain and the world today:

1. Imperialism, the subjugation and exploitation of oppressed nations by oppressor monopoly-capitalist states, is the dominant force in the world today.
2. Imperialism is opposed both by oppressed nations that want to use their resources and labour for their own interests and the working classes who want to exercise their own economic and political demands in a popular, participatory and proactive democracy.
3. Economic crises of imperialism lead to political and military crises, during which imperialist powers seek to retain control over oppressed nations, gain access to the resources, cheap labour-power, and new markets in independent nations, and strengthen their grip over the working class at home.
4. The imperialist nations (led by Britain, the USA, Germany, France, and others organised in Nato) and their junior partners use the most brutal and inhumane methods to oppress people around the world. They use sanctions, unjust trade relations, and debt burdens to keep oppressed nations underdeveloped and impoverished. If their domination is threatened they resort to invasion, coups, and occupation, and all manner of terrorist methods to suppress resistance, including concentration camps, torture, assassinations, and the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure.
5. As the economic crisis deepens, the imperialists are increasingly resorting to fascistic methods to safeguard their interests. In Britain they use political policing to suppress speech, are trying to remove jury trials for significant court cases, and are criminalising any real opposition by legally branding it as ‘terrorist’. These repressive measures, intended to maintain control over a decaying economic and political system, are stepping stones to outright fascism.
6. In Britain, just 50 billionaires have more wealth than the poorest half of the population. To continue increasing their wealth they have undertaken a massive programme of privatisation, exported entire industries, and transferred wealth via the national treasuries from the public to private corporations.
7. The world’s 12 richest billionaires have more wealth than the poorest half of humanity. To amass this they have engaged in constant war and covert operations to maintain exploitative control over the world, and kept the majority of oppressed nations impoverished and underdeveloped to better exploit their people and resources.
8. This ruling class divides the working class along lines of race, sex, religion, and any other non-class differences it can find. Islamophobia and antisemitism are both used by the ruling class to mislead workers into becoming foot soldiers for their own oppressors. The workers of Britain have more in common with their fellow workers around the world than with the ruling class of capitalists.
9. It is not immigrants who are the source of the problems faced by workers in Britain, but the rulers of the economy who close down industries, privatise social property, and profit from the rise in the cost of living that makes life unbearable for many workers. Those who arrive as migrant workers are often escaping the devastation caused by the economic and military actions of the imperialist nations. Migration controls are another way of dividing the working class.
10. The British state is a principal supporter of zionism, a racist, fascist, genocidal ideology. Israel is a colonial outpost and talk of a ‘two-state solution’ in Palestine has proven to be nothing more than a stalling tactic for continued land theft and ethnic cleansing.
11. Britain, as one of the earliest and biggest imperialist powers, played a central role in many of the worst atrocities of human history. Britain occupied and committed genocide on every inhabited continent of the world during the period of colonisation, from using concentration camps and starvation to gunning down and bombing civilians. Today, Britain remains an imperialist power through foreign direct investment, and maintains control using a vast network of spies and proxy armies. It has sponsored terrorists to fight against Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya and Bashar al-Assad’s Syria, is currently arming and training neo-nazis in Ukraine, stages colour revolutions to overthrow independent nations, and supports some of the most brutal and backwards regimes in the world.
12. The British ruling class funds a vast and constant flow of war propaganda aimed at demonising nations and movements which are in opposition to the interests of Western imperialism such as Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua in Latin America; the Alliance of Sahel States in Africa; the Palestinian, Yemeni, Lebanese, Iraqi resistance movements and Islamic Republic of Iran in the middle east; the DPR Korea in east Asia, and others; with major targets being Russia and China.

Understanding this situation, we call upon all progressive people and organisations to join with us and:

1. Demand the withdrawal of Britain from the imperialist warmongering Nato alliance, the withdrawal of British forces from all overseas bases and territories, the removal of US bases from Britain, an end to all support for proxy military forces around the world, the return of all British soldiers and military contractors to Britain, and an immediate end to all US military operations on British soil.
2. Demand that the British state withdraw all support for the genocidal zionist project, especially the export of arms to Israel, and should immediately recognise Palestinian sovereignty over the entire territory of historic Palestine and the right of Palestinians to return to their home.
3. Share the historical experiences of struggle by peoples all over the world against fascism and imperialism. In particular, we uphold the sacrifice and heroism of the peoples of eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union in the victory over Nazi-fascism, who defended the freedom and culture of humanity against German imperialist barbarism.
4. Demand an end to unilateral sanctions and all forms of economic coercion, sabotage and covert intervention waged by imperialist powers to destabilise and subjugate the peoples of the world.
5. Organise a real, anti-imperialist antiwar movement that mobilises workers to refuse to participate in the imperialist war machine, which they have the power and duty to obstruct.
6. Oppose the development of fascism in Britain by demanding the repeal of the Terrorism Act 2000, which has been used to detain, harass, and search journalists and activists, and to spuriously designate anti-imperialist, anti-zionist and anti-fascist movements as ‘terrorist’.
7. Demand the repeal of legislation that restricts the right to protest, the repeal of anti-trade-union laws which restrict the rights of workers to withdraw their labour, the scrapping of the illegal IHRA definition as policy in the NHS and other institutions as a means of suppressing the political expression of workers, and the restoration of the right to a trial by jury.

Join us!