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READ THE LATEST UPDATE [NL] HERE, WITH IMPORTANT INFO AND INFO PHONE NUMBER
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Utrecht for Everybody is a collective from Utrecht that wants a city where people are welcome regardless of heritage, skin colour or religion. Primarily we do this by focusing on organising against reactionairy movements, in the government as well as on the streets. Our collective is a way to express our concerns with, spread information on and to call out for actions against extreme-right events, movements, etc.
We started this collective due to Pegida’s plans to come to our city. Our primary targets at this moment are spreading information about the true nature of this racist and islamophobe movement and to mobilise for the anti-Pegida actions on 11 October 2015.
Below and here you can read why Pegida is a danger to an open society (as we would
like Utrecht to be).
PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West) is the name of an anti-Islamic, anti-left movement in Germany that rose dramatically to prominence after mobilising tens of thousands of white German citizens to their weekly demonstrations. Many of the German far-right participated and formed a large proportion of those that attended. What followed after the demonstrations were racist attacks of migrants and refugees. The story is all too familiar, when reactionaries take to the streets, minorities, non-whites, trade unions and “lefties” become the target of attacks. PEGIDA act as a lobby group aiming to mobilise and spread reactionary support that focuses the target towards a perceived Islamification of the west.
PEGIDA NL are trying to gain ground and mimic the rapid rise of this movement in the Netherlands by taking ground on Neude square in Utrecht on the 11th of October 2015 (see their flier below). Though overshadowed by groups like Identitair Verzet, Pro Patria and Nederlandse Volksunie, PEGIDA NL is attempting to be a more softer, cuddlier form of xenophobic anti-Islamism but this is obviously just a tactical pretence to not repeat the “mistakes” of groups in the far-right and neo-nazi spectrums. In Germany, many who participate in PEGIDA demonstrations happen to be members of right-wing parties such as the NPD and NSU, both groups known to use hate and violence as their common rhetoric and tactic. We, anti-fascists and anti-racists in Utrecht, need to ensure that this sort of movement is dismantled before it can gain any sort of traction.
All across Europe we have seen the centre ground of representational politics being hollowed out and the emergence of mass right-wing populist parties aiming to use the ever increasing precarious conditions (falling wages, standard of living crisis, zero-hour contracts, social cleansing/gentrification, police repression, disempowerment) to present themselves as the anti-establishment opposition and alternative. All across Europe we have seen that street based fascist movements will support and provide the social base for these parties to gain local and national power.
Utrecht voor Iedereen opposes all forms of reactionary movements – from the streets to the state. We see PEGIDA NL as one manifestation of the unease in society caused by state divide and rule tactics, the stirring up of racial and religious hatred in the media and the decline in living standards.
We urge all of our supporters to join us on this 11th of October, as part of a mass show of strength against PEGIDA and all far-right movements!
NOTE: this text has been adapted from London Anti-Fascists (AFN)’s text on Facebook during their action against PEGIDA UK, see link https://www.facebook.com/events/854737571216364/.