During the Easter holidays, two attacks were carried out by members of “Blood & Honour” in Bialystok. The first victim was found unconscious around 22.30 on Sunday (8/4), and soon died in hospital. Then at approximately 4.30am on Monday Nazis entered the Fiction Pub. They shouted that they will “get rid of leftists” and then clashed with workers and customers, who forced them to leave. However, Nazis managed to hurt a 28-year-old woman and a 26-year-old man. Fighting continued in front of the premises until the offenders fled from the scene.
Due to the events in Bialystok (the result of Sunday’s action is one dead and two injured), and in order to prevent further attacks of fascist thugs, and more injured people, and a growing atmosphere of terror in this city, we are calling for a national anti-racist demonstration in Bialystok.
As Warsaw Antifascist Action, we are convinced of the necessity of such an immediate reaction. We are in touch with the movement based in Bialystok, which shares the same opinion. These are situations where the media outrage is not enough, police investigation is not enough, when a march of silence is not enough…
There are times when the only right answer is loud and assertive social reaction. A reaction of solidarity with all victims of extreme right-wing terror. A reaction which should be the beginning of the end of what is going on for years in Bialystok.
We call the entire “November 11th Coalition” to join this appeal. We call on all other movements that are outraged like us by the scale of racist violence. We call for a large demonstration under the slogan “Stop the Nazi violence”.
The demonstration will take place on Sunday 15th of April in Kosciusko Square, at 13.00
No Comments “Bialystok, Poland: Antifascist mobilization after one killed and two injured by Nazis”
PL -> The above call also here antifa.bzzz.net
PL -> Report/photos from the demo of April 15th, on cia.media.pl
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Statement on the far-right violence in Białystok
ZSP-Warsaw was outraged on hearing about the fascist terror which took place in Białystok. Unfortunately, the latest news in the media is only the tip of the iceberg. In Podlasie there are regular incidents of racial and xenophobic violence. We are against nationalism and all forms of discrimination, which were the same ideas of the both those who committed crimes in all of Europe during WWII and those responsible for the incident in Białystok.
What’s more, we are against the state apparatus, which helps the groups of neo-Nazis in Bialystok by repressing local self-defense groups and making it impossible to react to the terror these people are known for. We condemn all supporters of these murderers and the city authorities, who for years allowed the local neo-Nazi movement to grow in strength.
Our opposition does not limit itself to groups which declare itself Nazi, but also to other ones, especially ones which have been responsible for murders, those like The Polish National Front (currently the League of Defense of Sovereignty), whose members in 1995 severely beat 30 homeless people in Legionowo, killing two of them, or the ONR whose member in Sosnowiec in 2005 stabbed a guy in a squat, or NOP whose members in Lodz killed a 15-year old in 1996. We also condemn other right-wing organizations which are trying to spread terror in Poland.
On April 15, we have to be in Bialystok, at the anti-fascist demonstration. We must say STOP to the far right.
Związek Syndykalistów Polski – Warszawa
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Neo-nazis kill in Poland
(source libcom)
Białystok is one of the biggest cities in the eastern part of Poland. For a long time Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims have lived in the one area. Białystok is also full of people from Caucasus. Only one far right organization was able to set up there and be active. Unfortunately this organization is Blood & Honour.
For many years the local antifascist group Antifa Wildeast has fought both against B&H and local authorities – which not only tolerates Nazis but also helps them. In 2010 police arrested 100 antifascists just before their demonstration started. They arrested them although they didn’t anything wrong. They were just attacked by small group of Nazis who used knives.
The antifascists arrested were taken to one place with three B&H members including Artur Wysocki and Marcin Łukaszczuk. The three Nazis could do everything they wanted. They could smoke cigarettes, look into mobile phones taken from antifascist by police. One of the officers was taking photos of faces using his private mobile phone and showed them. Connections with local authorities gave Blood & Honour many chances to attack people without punishment. They were terrorizing Rromany (Gypsies) and attacking local football fans regularly.
Recently they tried to burn flat of immigrant from Pakistan. One day they attacked an Armenian boxer who defended himself. Police arrested the boxer and the judge gave him probation. A few days later Nazis attacked him again using machetes. Faces of two Nazis mentioned here by name were recorded but police didn’t do anything.
On Easter night Blood & Honor attacked again. They came into disco club called Pub Fiction and said that they will clean up leftists. Workers of the club kicked them out but one man and one woman were injured by knives. The man died yesterday.
The situation in Białystok is probably the worst in all of Poland. Local authorities allowed two B&H members to organize a gang which terrorizes the city.
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A comment found on libcom, too:
Poland Full of Blood and Dishonor
On the night of April 1-2, a band of Nazi thugs, including members of the Nazi group Blood and Honor, went on a random spree of violence, attacking patrons of some local bars in Białystok. Shouting things about getting rid of gays and leftists, it is not clear why they chose to attack some people with knifes, or why they beat one person to death. Maybe these people had the audacity to tell them off, of maybe they were suspected of being from some non-Aryan race.
The incident was unfortunately not an isolated one. As one friend has described here, there were other incidents. And typically, the Nazis thugs have been let free, while those trying to defend themselves are arrested. The incident of man attacked with a machete is well-known. On the March 30 it was announced that the police released the band of neo-Nazis responsible for the attack, which occurred on a Sunday night, in the same area as this attack. The only person who was charged in the attack was the main victim, a young man of Armenian origin, raised in that city. He was sentenced to two years. The prosecutor had demanded 8 years for attempted murder, although this was a crystal-clear incident of self-defense.
Besides the existence of growing neo-Nazis and other nationalist, racist and fascist movements in Poland, there is no way to ignore the active assistance of the so-called law enforcement agencies in helping Nazi terrorists.
We cannot stand by and witness these things without any reaction. That is why we will go and demonstrate in Bialystok tomorrow. But that’s not all we have to do.
We can see clearly how antiracism as a ideology and movement is simply not enough. Of course, racist ideas have to be fought. But the ideology of groups like Blood and Honor of any of those other nationalist, extreme right groups in Poland is also the ideology of elites and their main purpose is to position the group that they identify with into the position of elite. In the case of Nazis like Blood and Honor, the elites should be the Aryan master race, which they have decided to identify with (despite the quite obvious historical irony). In the meanwhile, the real elites in the world are determined by capital and power, not by race.
What is lacking in much of Poland are groups which are deeply involved in promoting mutual aid and a class perspective while engaged in real grassroots movements on the local level, like the initiatives we in the Warsaw ZSP have been involved with. Because we can see clearly that the nationalist organizations thrive in areas with frustrated working class and poor youth, where the people see little perspective, are highly demoralized and are looking for somebody to blame. We also see that, through building the grassroots movements, people see their similar interests. In the poor neighbourhood where we have our offices, we see that, instead of being overrun by the right-wing, (which still has some popularity around us since the overwhelming majority of people are right-wing of some sort), people defend each other from attacks made by representatives of real power – against the actions of property speculators, politicians and the police.
While much of the so-called left is busy getting grants for itself, or trying to get elected, the far-right is gaining ground. A good part of those considering themselves anti-authoritarians of sorts practice the creation of alternative spaces and scenes, but in these places isolate themselves largely from other people and, instead of having an influence on the ground, they become types of ghettos. (For them, of course, TAZes or islands of resistance.) It is simply not enough to go out onto the streets after incidents like this in masks and think that the Nazis will be scared off by the sight of hundreds of angry anti-fascists. The resistance to fascism has to start at the base and has to start by radically intervening in the consciousness of the socially marginalized working class which they recruit from. And the only way to start with that, is really by building movements which are based on egalitarian principles and direct action, that effectively work to promote solidarity and to fight with various aspects of social injustice, that help people to get a sense of self-empowerment, so that they have something to fight for and don’t just turn their frustration against their neighbours.
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Article from 2010, on 325
As correctly hinted, the “March of independence” was such that the march was organised by two fascist groups and joined by many uncritical conservatives and patriots. Here in Wrocław we (the antifascists) were massively outnumbered. The “March of independence” therefore gave a big boost to fascists in Poland, and we see above the result.
Of course, the mainstream keep quiet about this. I hope the demo went well.