We live in a perilous moment, one when the specter of a new Red Scare looms closer by the day. But we cannot allow state repression, whether threatened or realized, to achieve its intended aim of demobilizing or disorganizing our social movements and political organizations. To counter these attacks our only option is to build a solidarity that is both broad and principled.
Over the last several years the Palestine solidarity movement has borne the brunt of repression brought down by the federal government. High profile student organizers like Mahmoud Khalil have been imprisoned and are now fighting deportation while the state works to compile a blacklist of other movement participants.
More recently, as efforts to defend communities from ICE occupation have ramped up, so too has the repressive reaction. Organizations such as Unión del Barrio, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, as well as other left and anti-war groups have been made the target of an escalating ‘investigation’ by the House of Representatives. Despite our deep political and practical criticisms of some of these organizations, we recognize that an attack on them today only paves the way for attacks on the rest of us tomorrow.
The latest pretext for crackdowns has come in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. It does not matter that the alleged shooter had no ties to the organized left or social movements. No sooner had the shot been fired than was the right promising to use the state’s repressive arm to indiscriminately ‘go after left-leaning organizations’. Similarly, the aim of Trump’s executive order declaring ‘antifa’ a domestic terrorist group is not to break up any specific organization, but to create a legal pretext that enhances the prosecution of any individual or group the state argues fits their ambiguous definition.
The overriding purpose of these attacks, investigations, and bluster is to create a climate of fear and demobilization. The reactionary right understands that in our deeply atomized society, these tactics can effectively convince people that keeping their heads down will guarantee safety. We know this could not be further from the truth. Not only does individualized silence make us more vulnerable, history has shown time and time again that vigorous and public solidarity is our most powerful means for collective self-defense.
What this looks like in practice will depend on the specific kinds of repression used. In general it means that we commit to standing shoulder-to-shoulder with different formations of the organized left when they are facing state-directed attacks. We can maintain our criticisms and independence from one another while recognizing that we are dramatically weaker when driven apart.
We affirm our commitment to organizing towards our ultimate objective of libertarian socialism and to defending the interim gains our movements have won. We will meet the state’s efforts to silence us, or to compel us to keep quiet, by becoming louder. When the state tries to chill us, we will turn up the heat. Instead of demobilizing, we will redouble our efforts to build strong social movements and a culture of mass resistance. Only through active solidarity and organized self-defense will we counter the repressive tactics of the state and ruling class.
Black Rose/Rosa Negra Anarchist Federation