Above: anti-fascist partizans in liberated Minsk, 1944.

Last month, the Defence Fund heard about an antifascist in Belarus who was charged for assaulting an infamous neo-nazi there.  For security reasons we are unable to provide a lot more information regarding this, except that we were happy to send our friend some money to help pay for his legal defence and court-related costs.  We hope that he is exonerated of the absurd charges laid against him.

FIGHTING HATE IS NOT A CRIME!
ANTI-FASCISM = SELF-DEFENCE!SOLIDARITY IS OUR WEAPON!

Juuust wanted to let everyone know that Artem, the Ukranian anti-fascist recovering from a near-fatal stabbing by neo-nazis, is now out of the hospital and recuperating at home.  He has asked us to thank all of his supporters (if you’ve ever donated money to The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund, that includes you!) who have had his back and are helping him pay off his medical bills.

And maybe also Jaffa?

Not sure…

“He drinks a Jaffa drink/he drinks a Jaffa drink…”

Ukrainian anti-fascists are, well, very tough.  Kharkiv’s Artem is a prime example.  Artem was attacked by a gang of at least ten neo-nazi shits, who stabbed him in the back several times in a clear attempt to murder him.

Most of us would probably be dead after that.  But Artem has rebounded wonderfully and is on his way to a full recovery.  The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund is happy to send some money his way to help him with his medical and rehab bills.  Pretty soon, he’s going to be back on the streets like nothing happened.  That’s Kharkiv hardcore!

Although things were (happily!) a bit slower this quarter compared to this past summer, The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund was still kept quite busy.  Since the beginning of September, the Fund has provided support to nine anti-fascists and anti-racists in five different countries at a cost of nearly $2000U.S.  Of course, we blogged about each case so you can read up on all of them.

With the election of Donald Trump in the U.S., a lot of anti-fascists feel that things are extremely bleak.  But the flip side to that is that people recognize how real the struggle is and are stepping up like never before to support and defend anti-fascists and anti-racists.  Since the U.S. election, donations to the Defence Fund have been the highest since we started up over two years ago!  This is important because as the forces of hate become more emboldened, standing up and shutting them down becomes more important and more high-stakes than ever, which means our Defence Fund and its mission becomes even more essential.

We are the only defence fund set up exclusively to defend and support anti-fascists and anti-racists the world over.  We make all our decisions via consensus whenever possible and by majority voting when consensus is not possible.  We report on all our activities on our blog, to keep the Defence Fund as transparent as possible.

To do this work, we rely completely on donations from people like you.  If you haven’t made a donation to the Defence Fund already, now would be a great time to do that.  Here’s how.

It’s not obligatory for anti-fascists to thank us for having their backs when they run into trouble, but it’s always nice to hear that our efforts + the efforts of everyone supporting them are appreciated!  So we were well-pleased to wake up to this message from our friend in the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism, whose absurd court fine we helped pay off last week:

“As many other activists know, it is not easy to confront the far right and fascists on the streets.

The threat of violence from them, their supporters, and often from the police as well, is always present.

You keep going because you know from history that you need to directly stop these fascist groups from organising when they are small.

If they manage to grow, their ability to use violence will also increase, with devastating effects on all of us.

You keep going because of the solidarity and comradeship with your fellow sisters and brothers who attend the meetings, go out in public to advocate and publicise, and who stand shoulder to shoulder with you on the streets confronting the fascists.

You keep going because you know that if you get hurt, if you get targeted, if you get arrested, if you get fined, there are people out there who recognise and respect your efforts and sacrifices. They will pick you up, support and stand in solidarity when you need it.

This is why I keep going.

I deeply appreciate and thank all the people who showed support for the fight and donated money.

In solidarity and struggle to all anti fascists around the world.”

Well put, mate; we could not agree more!

If you’ve made a donation to The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund then you helped pay off our friend’s fine and undo the injustice done to them, so pat yourself on the back!  If you haven’t made a donation to The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund, isn’t it time you did?

No one asked us, but we think that anyone courageous enough to do whatever is necessary to protect anti-fascists confronting a march of bigots and Islamophobes should be showered with praise.  Instead, the Australian courts fined our friend from the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism $550!

We weren’t having any of it, and neither were the other people that donated to the crowdfunding campaign to pay off the fine on his behalf.  We which managed to do, in full, in just one week!

Australian legal system, get it through your heads: anti-fascism isn’t a crime; it’s self-defence!

It turns out that the Defence Fund does not approve of all requests we receive.  Recently, we had a request to help defend anti-fascists in Belgium.  Unfortunately, the details we received about their situation were both sparse and vague.  We didn’t know who these Belgium anti-fascists were, what they had been accused of, or what exactly they needed help with.  It wasn’t clear if they were in trouble for specifically anti-fascist activity or for activity related to issues that could only be defined as anti-fascist in the absolute broadest sense of the term, if at all.

We attempted to get more information about the situation a number of ways, including contacting the group calling for support directly, but in the end were unable to come up with additional information that would’ve given us a clearer picture.  Without that extra information, we made our decision via majority vote and the majority voted against supporting this particular request.

It’s rare that we refuse a request for help but it’s important to us to maintain the integrity of the Defence Fund and that means vetting requests properly.  It would be irresponsible of us to send the money that hundreds of antifa have donated to the Fund without adequate information to do this vetting.

An example of a case we were able to vet was this week’s decision to send money to help defend the Austin Antifa 3 – three Austin antifascists facing legal trouble for allegedly cleaning up white supremacist graffiti on the University of Texas campus & also for allegedly shutting down a racist “bake sale.”  Having received sufficient details from a number of sources, we were able to reach a full-consensus decision to send them some support.  You can follow our example and send them support too by clicking here.

As always, we rely 100% on donations to the Defence Fund to support anti-fascists and anti-racists all over the world when they need our help the most.  We really think that you should help us and make a donation today.  SOLIDARITY IS OUR WEAPON!

Yvette Felarca, the school teacher suspended for defending her community against homicidal neo-nazis, sent us some good news today!  From her public statement:

“Thank you everyone, and especially the International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund, for your generosity and support over the past 6 weeks. Our movement has been won the most important initial hurdle–I’m going back to work tomorrow! This would not have been possible without you. I hope my victory can be an example to anti-fascists everywhere, and to teachers everywhere–that when we come under attack, we can defend ourselves, garner mass support, and win. I’m still going forward with my lawsuit to address outstanding issues in my case including: political discrimination, violations of due process, free speech and academic freedom, unjust disciplines, and the District’s continued refusal to restore my back pay. My first hearing is Dec. 8 in Federal Court in San Francisco. You are all invited. If you have not yet had a chance to make a donation, it’s not too late. The fundraising window closes on Thursday. This victory belongs to all of us!”

Nothing is more satisfying than being able to help our fellow antifa when they need us to have their backs.  Nothing is better than seeing first-hand how pooling our resources and sending material support helps our fellow antifa win justice and put their lives back on-track.  This is what makes our movement unstoppable!  If you want in on this good thing we have going on, make a donation to the Defence Fund today!

The Defence Fund received a thank-you note from Oleg recently, after we sent him some material support to help counter the lingering consequences of a fascist attack against him.  Here’s what he had to say:

“Dear comrades, I am very grateful to you for your help and solidarity, I truly appreciate your support and care.Thank you very much for the financial help. I collect various documents and legal help to asylum in another country, I hope that all of my work.

Once again I wish you from the bottom of my heart thank you for your help.

Oleg”

The duty of all anti-fascists is to demonstrate solidarity with their brothers and sisters when they are attacked by fascist swine.  If you’d like to make sure that we are in a position to help people like Oleg when they need it, donate to The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund.

SOLIDARITY IS OUR WEAPON!

The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund was recently called on to help out two European anti-fascists at the same time.

Oleg is a Russian anti-fascist that was permanently injured neo-nazi filth in an attack in 2004.  His injuries have required expensive ongoing medicine and treatment ever since.  While some people would be understandably intimidated by this and refrain from further anti-fascist actions, Oleg continued to publicly participate in anti-fascism but is now seeking a safer place for himself and his family and the medical necessities to establish himself in his new home.  The Defence Fund was happy to assist him with his medical needs back in 2015; we are likewise happy to help him in his plan to move to a safer location.  If you’d like to also help Oleg, you can find out how right here.

“Hanna” (not her real name) is an anti-fascist in Sweden that was arrested and faces criminal charges for her participation in an antifa blockade against Pegida Islamophobes.  Her crime?  She was shouting at the racists too loudly!  Seriously, in Sweden it is now a crime to voice your opposition to racist xenophobes too loudly!

In any event, Hanna (who we have nicknamed “Shouty Shouterson”) has secured a lawyer for her defence but does not speak fluent Swedish and requires a translator for her court proceedings at her own cost, so we’re pleased to be able to send her some money to help with that.  We hope that she hires the loudest translator available!

If you’d like to support Hanna “Shouty Shouterson” in her fight against this absurd farce of a trial, you can find out how here.

If you can’t believe that people like Oleg and Hanna “Shouty Shouterson” have to contend with circumstances like this because they publicly declared their opposition to hatred and bigotry and you want to help people just like them, then you need to make a donation to the Defence Fund!