English: 3-2-2018: Antifa conference Amsterdam + programme
Wanneer: 30/01/2018 - 11:41
On Saturday the 3rd of February there will be an Antifa conference in the OCCII in Amsterdam. The conference program includes discussions, presentations, workshops and trainings.
With the revival of the extreme right on the streets and in parliament, the political actions by the extreme right and antifascist counter mobilisations, it is time to have a meet up. The conference is accessible for both experienced and unexperienced antifascists. The aim is to exchange information, to learn from each other and to work together to build a strong antifascist movement.
The program of the conference will discuss the practice of the 'Laat Ze Niet Lopen' concept, how to effectively work in an affinity group and what we can do about parliamentary groups like the PVV and Forum voor Democratie. We will also be asking ourselves if the actions we take still work and what we can improve.
The conference will start at 10:00 in the OCCII, Amstelveenseweg 134 in Amsterdam. You can find the programme of the conference below:
Programme:
Journalistst, photographs and film recordings
Journalists are not welcome at the conference. It is also not allowed to take photographs or film people. AFA Nederland will take some photographs for the report; all visible faces on the pictures will be deleted. If you notice any journalists inside or see anyone taking photographs or filming, please notify the people at the door.
Food and drink
There will be lunch and dinner provided. All the food is vegan, so that everyone can join. Breakfast should be taken care of yourself. Please do not consume alcohol until dinner.
Costs
Organising a conference costs money: travel costs for the speakers, renting chairs, printing the posters, flyers, and this booklet. There is no entry fee for this conference, but there will be donation jars standing around. If you can, please donate some money so we can cover the costs of the conference.
Translation
Some of the presentations and discussions will be in Dutch, some will be in English. If you need someone to translate, please announce this at the start of the presentation or workshop. You could of course also arrange someone to translate beforehand.
10.30-12.30 OCCII Grote Zaal
Workshop 'affinity groups' [presentation will be in Dutch]
When you go to an action or demonstration it is possible to find yourself, whether anticipated or not, in tense situations. The police could try to obstruct your action, or arrest a fellow activist; right-wing activists could react with aggression or violence. How can you react to this effectively, in a way which ensures your own and other's safety? How can you try to make your actions successful? The affinity group could be a means to effectively organise yourself.
This workshop, given by an activist from the Anarchist Group Nijmegen, will be about reasons to have an affinity group, how to create one, and how it could be used during actions. The speaker has experience with working in affinity groups during protests and actions in the Netherlands and abroad. He was involved in the translation of 'Samen – een pamflet over het vormen van affiniteitsgroepen' [Together – a pamphlet about setting up affinity groups'] a brochure which was published in preparation of the 2007 G8 protests in Heiligendamm, Germany, and is still being widely distributed.
11.00-12.30 OCCI Upstairs
Reclaim our Pride in times of the far right. [presentation will be in Dutch]
The political climate has shifted heavily towards the right. Far right tendencies can be observed throughout Europe. In France, there is Marie Le Pen's Front National; in Germany, the AfD has entered the German parliament. When it comes to Greece we do not even speak of the far right anymore, but of downright fascism – Golden Dawn, which organises groups of thugs to attack refugees and Muslims. What is the relationship between the far right and the LHBTQI+ movement?
In the States, we have seen that Trump has convinced many white gay men of his ideas, and that these men join the Alt-right movement. What are the consequences of this shift for the LHBTQI+ community and agenda? What is the relationship between the far right and the commercialisation of the LHBTQI+ movement? But above all, how do we struggle against the far right and what is the importance of thinking intersectionally?
Come join and discuss with Reclaim Our Pride speaker So Rayatsour!
12.30-13.30 Lunch in the Bollox
13.30-15.00 OCCI Grote zaal
Laat Ze Niet Lopen, the concept and the effect [presentation will be in Dutch]
During the last few years, Laat Ze Niet Lopen has often called out for actions against far right demonstrations throughout the Netherlands. Laat Ze Niet Lopen calls out for decentralised actions at and along the route of the far right demonstrations. We provide the latest information about the demonstration, action maps and an information timeline during the day itself.
Sometimes the Laat Ze Niet Lopen concept has been successful, but we often notice that people find it difficult to come up with ideas, because virtually everything is possible. Therefore it seems a good idea to us to explain the concept again, but to also talk about what could be done better or different and whether this concept is still relevant nowadays. How could the concept be improved? How could we make it accessible to everyone and include more people?
13.30-15.00 OCCI Upstairs
Stop the war against migrants [presentation will be in English]
The EU is waging a war against migration and the arms’ industry is profiting. Migration is perceived as a security threat in which EU responds by militarising border security, both at its borders but also intervening in third countries.
This include sending armed forces to the borders, erecting security fences (with all kinds of surveillance and detection technology), increasing use of autonomous systems (drones etc), use of military means by border police, (para)military Frontex operations in the Mediterranean, Operation Sophia before the coast of Libya, with support of NATO, and training and providing equipment to (para)military border guards in third countries.
The European military and security industry has been very influential in setting the discourse of a migration-security nexus and shaping the policies to their benefit.
Large arms and technology companies, in particular Airbus, Thales, Leonardo and Indra, as well as lobby organisations, such as the European Organisation for Security (EOS), are key players in this deadly ‘game’. After influencing the market demand towards advanced borders’ security, these companies offer their products as a solution to stop migration flows, while previously have equipped the wars that created them in the first place.
Meanwhile, EU not only turns a blind eye to this process but also cooperates with, and thus legitimises and strengthens, human-rights abusive regimes in third countries by combating migration.
Specifically speaking, in the last decade alone 80 billion euros of arms have been exported from EU countries to the Middle East and North Africa.
The Turkey deal led to the closure of the so-called Balkan route which forces refugees to go to Italy through Libya, resulting in more deaths in the Mediterranean. At the same time EU feeds the rise of nationalism, racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia by depicting refugees as security threat.
During this info-talk we will delve into the parties who benefit from the further militarisation of the EU borders, highlighting the necessity of a collective response. Together we aim to shape this response by shedding light to this inhumanity and forcing those responsible to pay for it.
15.30-17.00 OCCII Grote Zaal
Action training [presentation will be in Dutch]
The antifascist struggle takes place on many different terrains. Obtaining information, printing and distributing posters and flyers, writing articles, spreading knowledge, etc. Next to this, activism on the streets during far right events continues to be extremely important. During this training we will practice blocking the far right, but also engage with possibilities of street activism during new challenges, such as PVV demonstrations, Forum voor Democratie gatherings and other new-right groups who employ different tactics than oldschool far right groups such as NVU and Pegida.
15.00-17.00 OCCI Upstairs
Zwarte Piet [Black Pete] and institutional racism in the Netherlands [presentation will be in Dutch]
Jerry Afriyie of i.a. Kick Out Zwarte Piet will give a presentation on the struggle against the racist caricature Black Pete and institutional racism in the Netherlands. After the presentation there will be a discussion with the audience about what we can learn from the past years of actions against Black Pete. Which actions were succesful, how can we act together against Black Pete and racism in general during the coming years?
17:00 – 19:00 Teatro Munganga
The rise of the right-wing party AfD in Germany – A challenge for the antifascist movement [presentation will be in English]
In September 2017 the „Alternative für Deutschland“ (AfD) got 12,6 % of the votes at the federal election and gained entrance into the German parliament Deutscher Bundestag. During the last three years this party has been very successful and gained seats in 13 out of 16 federal state parliaments. For the first time in the history of the federal republic a far right party has become this powerful. The sucess of the AfD has got a lot of impact on the political discourse and the ways in which the German goverments act. We see an increased shift to the right, especially in the politics against asylum seekers and in the field of security politics. But the AfD and its political enviroment also attack the rights of women and queers. Founded in 2013 as a party of one fraction of the German capital, which disagreed with the EU-politics on indebted southern states of the European Union, the AfD opened its structures very early for different kinds of right-wing people and groups. Since 2015 there is a steady radicalisation of the AfD, which has now become the most influental far right party in Germany and openly promotes racism and nationalism. Slogans of the AfD sound very similar to slogans of the German Neonazi Party NPD, which suffers from the competition with the AfD. In the shadow of the AfD, a lot of racist, nationalist and antifeminist movements, groups and speakers haven grown.
For the antifascist movement in Germany the AfD is a big challenge. A lot of strategies, which worked very good in the past, don`t work in the struggle with the AfD. Antifascists groups launched a few campaigns against AfD before the federal election, but they couldn`t stop the breakthrough of the far right. The group „Antifaschistische Linke Münster“ supported a local campaign called „Keine Stimme für die AfD“. Comrades of „Antifaschistische Linke Münster“ will give a overview of the history, topics and persons of the AfD and will discuss their experience fighting this party. They hope to learn about past strategies and experiences by antifascists from the Netherlands in their longer lasting fight against Geert Wilders and the far right.
19:00 21:00 Food in the MKZ
19:30 – 21:00 Studio RPM
Film Golden Dawn: A Personal Affair [film will be in English]
The financial collapse, the political instability and the family relations are placed in the spotlight as the documentary is trying to discover "what's in the head of GoldenDawners, who pose as victims" of the system. Golden Dawn "never hid" its ideology. Its influence in the polls might have been almost nonexistent previously, but the compatibility of this ideology with unshakable beliefs in Greece - cultivated by many clergymen and most of the Media but also by family and the political system - is the fertile ground on which the organization flourishes. The director is looking into the matter from a personal viewpoint, having dedicated many years and another two television productions in approaching the neo-Nazi party, which has taken the third position in Greece's political system after three decades of obscure but bloody activity.