We wish your conference well and look forward to hearing of your organizing – now and for the future.
We are facing an increasingly uncertain future: the global capitalist crisis and a deepening recession; continuing War and Occupation; militarization of the State via the Patriot Act in the name of a “War on Terror”; mass raids and deportations of working peoples carried out by ICE; and an election that in many ways is unprecedented but in the end offers only differing visions of maintaining a capitalist System.
The total sum of these situations open up both risks and opportunities for those opposed to the current Order. But the potentials for mass opposition movements are neither limited to nor guaranteed to be movements relating to or emanating from “our side”. We must be conscious of and prepared for the emergence of popular and reactionary movements taking shape and offering their visions of “community” and survival in the face of a desperate time.
Whether Conservatives who feel the System is beyond their control and influence to far-Right religious fundamentalists to anti-immigrant forces to outright fascist groups in the style of the NA and their ilk, there are real possibilities that we could see these groups reemerge and strengthen as society becomes more polarized.
The antifascist movement – as represented by movements like ARA – have been on the front lines of developing the needed analysis and the means of fighting back and building a recognized and independent political alternative. It has not been easy. We have faced repression and even murder. We have seen splits within our ranks over strategy. And at times we have fallen short of the mark we set. But the efforts and example of our work has added to the vast experiences of people in motion and struggle. It is our ability to access the lessons from these experiences that will determine our future viability as radical and pro-liberation antifascist movements.
Once again, we wish you luck.
In Antifascist Struggle,
threewayfight