Political resolution of XVIII regular congress of FIR

1. Anti-fascism is more relevant than ever!

75 years after the historic victory in May 1945 over fascist regimes in Europe, anti-fascism is a more recent political idea than ever. The current problems of political, economic and social causes, require from all people political networking and joint actions – overtaking any political party boundaries – for a socially just, sustainable, peaceful and democratic development in all parts of the world.

2. Stop the resurgence of right-wing populism and neo-fascism

It is with great concern, that we see the increasing political influence of extreme right forces, from violent neo-fascists to right-wing populist groups, in different European countries. Right wing policy has been in governmental power in several European countries. The problematic consequences for the living conditions of refugees and migrants, for minorities and political activists are visible.

One the one hand, some of these groups engage ostensibly to the serious concerns of the people, but give nationalist and racist responses to the existing problems. Moreover, they propagate and practice increasingly violent forms of conflict, such as arson attacks on “foreigners”, hunting refugees and other excesses. The refugee’s movement caused by war and social need – which only can be answered by practical solidarity of all European countries – is answered by them with a demand for authoritarianism, intolerance and nationalist chauvinism.

On the other hand, we can see a wide political movement – including all generations and different political groups and powers – which is active against such tendencies. Mass-meetings in Austria, Germany, Italy, social protests in France and Hungary made visible that there exists a democratic counter movement. FIR and its member federations are part of this social movement – bringing their historical experiences in these activities.

In several European countries we have to face open propaganda for former fascist movements (f. e. Bandera in Ukraine, Horthy and the German SS in Hungary, Lukow in Bulgaria, Mussolini in Italy, Ustasha in Croatia, Baltic-SS as “freedom fighters” in Latvia). This is in contradiction to numerous international declarations, such as the Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly on preserving memories (17 Nov 2014) and the European Parliament Resolution on the rise of neo-fascist violence in Europe adopted on 25 Oct 2018.

FIR and its member federations as internationalist movement, stand together against racism, anti-Semitism, anti-ziganism, xenophobia, neo-fascism, nationalism and extreme right-wing populism. We support all groups and networks, which stand against such developments.

3. Eliminate the threat of war – for the protection of peace

Fascism and war are two sides of the same coin. That is why the oath of Buchenwald of 1945 reads “Destroying the Nazism with its roots and creating a new world of peace and freedom”.

FIR as “Ambassador of peace” of the United Nations, has a moral order to work for non-military solutions for the conflicts in the world. We fight – in particular – both the causes of war and the warmongers who want to impose their imperialistic goals, their needs of raw material and their geopolitical interests, and this on the backs of peoples. FIR cannot accept any attempt of military alliances to be seen as “world-police”. FIR will always work for non-military solutions. We can see in different parts of the world the military escalation to the open aggression in a form of “proxy wars”.

Not a single state or a military alliance have the right to decide about war and peace. We call all political powers to strengthen the United Nations as institution for solving any conflict among states without military aggression, in Middle East, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Syria or in Ukraine.

That is how FIR acts as part of the international peace movement.

4. Preserving memories – against historical revisionism

The memory of the common anti-fascist struggle of the peoples and military parts of the anti-Hitler coalition is a permanent task of FIR and its member federations. In several European countries, notably the Baltic States, Poland, Ukraine and in some countries of the former Yugoslavia, we see various political and social attempts to falsify the antifascist memories. Monuments of the anti-fascist struggle are destroyed or even rededicated; former collaborators of the SS are recognized as “freedom fighters” and even the European Parliament walked into the trap of trying to establish a “solemn ceremony against totalitarianism” on 23 August. We oppose the attempts to build a museum for the Portuguese dictator Salazar.

We oppose those attempts of historical revisionism and we are proud that in all those countries veterans and antifascist groups keep on fighting for the historical truth, defending such memorial places dedicated to the liberation from Nazi-fascism and to the liberators.

The tasks of the FIR and its member federations remain to preserve the historical memory of the resistance of the peoples, of the women and men who sacrificed their lives, who fought in the ranks of the anti-Hitler coalition, for their convictions or who were victims from any other reasons in the concentration and extermination camps. Passing their experiences on to present and future generations is one of the most important tasks of our organizations and we are constantly looking for best practices and new ideas to reach today’s generations with our historical experiences.

We cooperate particularly with camps’ memorials, with archives and historical institutions and antifascist initiatives that convey history. Outstanding examples of this work are the exhibition “European resistance against Nazism” and the international youth meetings, such the one that will be held again 2020 in Memorial Auschwitz, documenting the impressive forms of transferring history to the young generations.

5. The unity of the anti-fascist forces consolidate – win new generations!

Since nearly 70 years, the FIR is working as an international umbrella organization including all the different fighters and forces of the Anti-Hitler-Coalition, former persecuted and today’s anti-fascists. Their strength is the commonality that results despite different political party orientations, social visions or religious values. The path of the “torch of FIR” impressively emphasized that community.

In our ranks are comrades and friends

• they defend and fight to affirm civil and human rights,
• they fight against politics and cultures that generates poverty, fascism and war,
• they defend democratic and social rights,
• they are based on religious or humanistic ideals connected with the antifascist goals,
• they want to preserve the memories of their families.

Each way to antifascism is welcomed in FIR.

This unit must be developed renew, because the witness’s generation is leaving us.  We call all member federations to open their structure for the today’s generations. In that way we are challenged to share the ideals of the anti-fascist legacy with the post-war generations, who bring their own issues and perspectives in political disputes.

FIR is committed to ensure that politics and government in every European country are

• opposed to any form of discrimination based on origin, race, sexual orientation, language, religion, political views, personal and social conditions,
• providing a safe haven to refugees and respect the rights of all, particularly women;
• not at the service of big financial entities and lobbyists, but are granting social policies to provide everybody with jobs, education, welfare and adequate housing, as the basis for a true democracy;
• promoting comparable living conditions in all countries, in order to avoid the obligation to migrate in search of work;
• opposed to all forms of Shoah denial and revisionism, falsification of the Resistance fight, the destruction of memorial sites, the rehabilitation of Nazi-fascists and collaborators in any form they show up;
• fighting all nationalism and separatism and protecting the rights and cultures of minorities;
• advocating a peace policy based not on domination in matter of foreign policy, but on non-military conflict solutions and restoring international law.

FIR task is therefore:

Together with today’s generations we preserve the legacy of the fighters and persecuted and fight for democracy, humanism, social justice and “a new world of peace and freedom.”