How Will Germany's Left Face The Far-Right Threat?
The city of Chemnitz in the German state of Saxony made headlines in recent weeks as the site of dueling mobilizations by the far right and by anti-racists.
On September 3, more than 65,000 people attended an anti-racist rock concert, more than doubling the 30,000 anticipated by organizers. The concert followed a frightening right-wing march in late August that numbered 6,000 or more, included open Nazis, and dwarfed an anti-fascist counterprotest of 1,000.
The concert, which brought out the massive crowd under the slogan “We are the majority,” expressed support for refugees registered a mass protest against the far-right march — during which thugs chased down and otherwise terrorized not only refugees, but anyone who looks, dresses and behaves unlike an ethnic German.
The far-right mobilization in Chemnitz came in response to an August 26 fight that ended with the fatal stabbing of a German-Cuban man and charges against two men, one Iraqi and one Syrian, allegedly responsible for his death. Right-wingers were quick to seize on this tragic case to whip up already simmering racism and ethno-nationalism.
Read more: https://socialistworker.org/2018/09/17/how-will-germanys-left-face-the-far-right-threat
