From A World To Win News Service

"No to fortress Europe"—
European demonstrators march to support immigrants

September 21, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

14 September 2015. A World to Win News Service. As European Union politicians manoeuvred and bickered about how to keep out the hundreds of thousands of people seeking refuge, or make political use of them, demonstrators throughout the continent and the UK marched in solidarity to welcome them. In some cases they supported their governments, perceiving them as reacting humanely. In others, they opposed their governments’ openly anti-immigrant efforts and the monstrous arguments used to justify them.

The earliest rallies were in Paris and other French cities on 5 September, in protest of the Socialist government’s refusal to crack open the country’s borders. In Gothenburg, Sweden’s second-largest city, 10,000 people attended a 9 September rally to proclaim, “Refugees Welcome.” A smaller gathering 5 September in Stockholm was addressed by the country’s prime minister the week before, and the weekend after many thousands came out to greet refugees coming to Sweden through Denmark. In Aarhus, Denmark’s second-largest city, thousands of people braved heavy rain to take a stand against their government’s hard-line anti-immigrant position. A smaller rally took place in Copenhagen. Munich and other German cities saw innumerable expressions of support for incoming foreigners, including at football games in Munich and Hamburg.

On Saturday, 12 September, demonstrations demanding that borders be opened were held in Madrid, Lisbon, Krakow (Poland) and Romania. Several hundred people came out in Budapest in opposition to the Hungarian government.

In the UK, whose government has deliberately put itself at the forefront of anti-foreigner hysteria, marches were organized in numerous cities throughout England (including Brighton, Manchester and York), Scotland (Glasgow), Wales (Cardiff) and Northern Ireland (Belfast). In a London demonstration whose size exceeded anyone’s expectations, friend or foe alike, as many as 100,000 people flooded the streets, bringing the city centre to a halt for several hours as the protesters marched to Downing Street, the prime minister’s residence, shouting, “Cameron—Shame on you!”

One group of youths chanted, “David Cameron, hey, hey, how many kids did you drown today,” evoking the death of three-year-old Alan Kurdi, who drowned along with his brother and mother as his family tried to cross the Mediterranean. Cameron is notorious for arguing that immigrants should not be rescued at sea, because that would encourage others to make the journey. A home-made sign carried by an anarchist proclaimed, “Hey Dave, we’re your swarm,” a response to Cameron’s speech where he referred to refugees and migrants as a “swarm,” as if they were locusts.

The diverse crowd included people from all walks of life: pregnant women, families with small babies, single mothers, men and women in wheelchairs, from very young to elderly. British and non-British-born people participated, including thousands of present and former refugees.

The march was organized mainly by anti-war, anti-racist coalitions and organisations as well as refugee support groups, with the official slogan “Refugees Welcome Here” a deliberate and sharp rebuke to Cameron’s premeditated hostility to newcomers. Many of the participating groups and individuals came with their own handwritten placards and slogans like “No borders,” “Smash the borders” and “Be human.”

A notable number of people influenced by the recent desperate exodus adopted more radical positions, extending their opposition to include not only the Tory government’s immigration policies but more broadly the sources of the suffering of the people who have been forced to flee their home. They raised slogans such as “Don’t bomb Syria,” “They are not refugees, they are the victims of our bombs” and “They are not chasing our benefits, they are fleeing our bombs.” This was especially appropriate at a moment when Cameron announced that his government’s response to the Syrian refugee crisis, for which the UK is in no small part responsible after a century of British imperialist interference in the Middle East, now once again accelerating, would be to step up the bombing of Syria. Whatever the results of the current Syrian situation, the UK wants to see its own interests served.

There were contradictory currents in the march, including among Syrians and many other people of Middle Eastern origin. For instance, a small group carried a very large banner asking the UK and other imperialist countries to use their militaries to “Stop Assad’s killing machine.” Although they were ignored by the majority of the people except media outlets such as BBC, this showed the crucial need for clarity on the root causes of the Syrian civil war in the functioning of the imperialist system as well as the policies of particular great power governments. There was a general problem in understanding how imperialist attacks fuel Islamic fundamentalism, in Syria and elsewhere, and more generally the dynamics of conflict yet mutual support between imperialism and Islamic fundamentalism.

The biggest challenge facing those who want genuine radical change, including in the situation of the millions of the world’s refugees, was also reflected in the protest. A months-long campaign for the leadership of the Labour Party came to an end Saturday, with the results announced right before the march set off. The winner was Jeremy Corbyn, who is broadly seen as a veteran “hard left” Labour MP with a programme roughly along the lines of Greece’s Syriza or Spain’s Podemos. There was euphoric celebration among a large section of the demonstration, and Corbyn’s first act as new Labour Party leader was to give a major address at the rally.

What does Corbyn’s victory herald? Is it really possible to conceive a solution to the crises convulsing the world coming from the Labour Party, with 100 years of proven unrelenting service on behalf of British imperialism, including presiding over the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq under Tony Blair—a fact perhaps ironically recognized by the marcher whose sign read, “No human being is illegal—except Tony Blair.”

People showed once again there is a great potential for international solidarity and internationalism, but also that the fight must continue to further deepen and strengthen this solidarity by exposing the ruling classes, their deceptions and intrigues, and their system itself.

 

A World to Win News Service is put out by A World to Win magazine, a political and theoretical review inspired by the formation of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, the embryonic center of the world's Marxist-Leninist-Maoist parties and organizations.

 

 

Volunteers Needed... for revcom.us and Revolution

Send us your comments.

If you like this article, subscribe, donate to and sustain Revolution newspaper.