Dear friends and comrades,
February 2018 marks the 15th year anniversary of the annual Nazi march
Lukovmarsh in Sofia, as well as the Bulgarian presidency of the Council
of the European Union in the first six months of 2018. We would like to
invite you to the Anti-Fascist demonstration, which will be our
response to these disgraceful events, both marking the further
fortification of the horrorlike death-machine we call ‘Fortress Europe’
on whose shores and borders so many people have died in the past few
years.
Who is general Lukov and what is Lukovmarsh exactly?
Lukovmarsh is a Nazi torch-lit march that happens annually in February,
honoring the memory of the general, politician and minister of war
Hristo Lukov (1887-1943), a supporter of Nazi Germany during the Second
World War killed by Violeta Yakova, a female member of the underground
anti-fascist resistance in Sofia. Between years 1942 and 1943 he was
also the leader of the ultra-nationalistic organization Union of the
National Bulgarian Legions, who was pressuring the government to send
the Bulgarian Jews to the German death camps.
15 years ago, in 2003, the figure of Hristo Lukov was pulled out of the
trash bin of history to be commemorated for the first time and the
march in his honor has been happening ever since, regardless of the
formal bans in 2014 and 2015 and the “lack of coordination” with the
municipality in 2016 and 2017, which was appealed to in Administrative
court and won by the organizers of Lukovmarsh. The organizers and
participants belong to numerous fascist Bulgarian groups, among which
are the Bulgarian National Union, the nationalistic party VMRO
(currently an important part of the Bulgarian government), Nazi ultras
groups and the Bulgarian branch of the internationally banned Neo-Nazi
organization Blood and honor. Lately, Lukov's commemorators try not to
show openly Nazi symbolism like swastikas so the march would not be
banned but still – the easily recognisable symbols held dear by the
International Neo-Nazi movement (celtic crosses, flags of the German
empire, the sun of the Third Reich, etc) who are used to mask their
allegiance to the most hateful and anti-humane ideology the world knows
of today, can be spotted on the frontline of the march. Angel
Djambazki, a Bulgarian far-right politician from VMRO, who is a member
of the EU parliament openly supports the march and the organizations
behind it.
A video impression of Lukovmarsh in 2017:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDEi_Vgxynk
Why is transnational solidarity important?
The anti-immigration rhetoric and the fear of migrant “waves” occupying
Europe are turning mainstream politics into a shelter for racism,
nationalism and xenophobia. Ultra-Nationalists are already in the
government in countries like Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria and Poland. In
others like Germany they have higher than ever ratings. Parliamentary
and extra-parliamentary Nazi organizations, all over Europe are uniting
against migrants, meeting up, marching together, holding conferences
and showing “white international solidarity” more than ever to “protect
Europe”as they claim. This was evident in the numbers of foreign
supporters of Lukovmarsh lately, among which are:
Terre et peuple, a French far-right organization - www.terreetpeuple.com
The Spanish Falange, the successors of the party responsible for the
fascist regime of Francisco Franco in Spain - www.lafalange.org
The National-Democratic Party of Germany (NPD), the conceptual heir of
the The National Socialist German Workers' Party - www.npd.de
Die Rechte, a far-right, ultra-nationalistic party, created by ex-NPD
members - https://die-rechte.net/
Der III. Weg, a self-proclaimed National Socialist party, also created
by ex-NPD members - http://der-dritte-weg.info/
The Croatian Neo-Fascist Party- www.hcsp.hr
The Italian Neo-Fascist party ‘Casa Pound’ - www.casapounditalia.org
European Action, a movement for united and ethnically clean Europe -
Russian Imperial Movement - www.rusimperia.info
The Nordic Front, a Scandinavian Nazi movement mainly active in Sweden
National Revival of Poland, anti-semitic fascist party -
http://www.nop.org.pl/?o=english
Various Hungarian nationalists
At the start of Bulgaria's European presidency, we protest both
European bureaucrats and their policies, as well as their tools – nazis
and fascists. We believe that politicians, bureaucrats and media have
made the main contribution to the alarming new rise of the militant
Neo-Nazi, ultra-nationalistic, xenophobic etc. movements in Europe. We
should never forget that it is not Neo-Nazi attacks that killed over
15, 000 people in the Mediterranean and it was not Neo-Nazis who
dehumanised a large group of people to an extent that their lost lives
are counted in numbers, dreams locked in detention centres indefinitely
and children tear-gassed because they have no place to be, different to
a plastic-shack squatted camp. It is in the soil of hate, fertilized by
the excrements of the media, politicians and soulless bureaucrats
counting dead bodies and kilometers of border-fences, where Neo-Nazis,
fascists, ultra-nationalists, homophobes and misogynists thrive. The
fate of Lukovmarsh is a good example – for years the march has been
protested against and eachyear the mayor of the city is only formally
“banning” it only to later allow the nazis to march with their torches,
escorting them with a large number of police. In the meanwhile
political parties in close ties with some of the organisations in the
march are in local, national and European power structures, holding a
number top positions. Their (and not only) constant hate-speech is
promoted and widely welcome in the media, which has continuously used
it to raise its audience’s moneymaking fears and racist stereotypes.
For this reason we want to send a clear message – No nazis on our
streets,no to fortress Europe!
When and how can you support us?
The preliminary date for our march is Feb 17 (same day as Lukovmarsh)
and we would also like to organize a day of informative events the
previous day in which different collectives can do and participate in
talks, presentations and discussions, sell books, t-shirts etc. The
context in Bulgaria is extremely different to the one in other
countries in Europe, we have no large squatted spaces or much money.
However, we will do our best to provide as many places of accommodation
for people coming to the march as we can. You can get in touch with us
to let us know if your group or you and your friends are planning to
come so we can try to arrange sleeping places. You are also invited to
propose presentations, talks or events you would like to contribute
with on the day before the march. We believe the latter is extremely
important in order to involve a wider public into informative and
motivating events related to Anti-Fascist (and similar autonomous)
struggles. If you have books, zines, t-shirt or whatever that might be
of interest that you want to bring to sell or share, feel more than
invited to do it!
In case you would like to support us organizing a benefit gig or
whatever kind of fundraising, get in touch with us. In reality we have
very scarce resources and often money are one of the obstacles we face
when organizing the demonstration. Any contribution will be appreciated
and will help us print propaganda and prepare the demo.
The few of us here have been trying to stop Lukovmarsh for the past 15
years but have had neither the institutional nor the physical power to
do so. In this context, we are deeply grateful to each and every one of
our comrades who have joined us on the streets in the past years and to
those who will make their way to Sofia for Feb 17!
Lukovmarsh is one of the crystal-clear examples of how fascists and
nazis collaborate internationally to spread their ideology of hate and
death. Let's turn Sofia into a symbol of transnationalist solidarity!
NO NAZIS ON OUR STREETS, NO TO FORTRESS EUROPE!
