We’re facing a fascist threat. Signs of a movement forming to crush growing grassroots resistance are clearly visible. Big Capital can see its victims rising on several fronts. Right now, it uses parliamentary measures — like anti-protest laws and expanded police powers — to try to stop us. But its ultimate weapon is fascism — to shatter workers’ capacity to organise — when it fears revolution.
At the front of our lines are First Nations, who have resisted dispossession and genocide since 1788. The solidarity they inspire shows in Melbourne’s Invasion Day protests on January 26. The massive demonstrations, which have drawn up to 100,000, put the Australia Day parade to shame — so much so that in 2023 the Victorian government reluctantly axed the patriotic spectacle.
First Nations never ceded their sovereignty. Their demands for return of land and justice resonate with other movements mobilising against the genocide of Palestinians and mounting injustices against women, trans people, queers, refugees and all workers. The Aboriginal movement’s message to keep fighting emboldens others with its example. Its power to unite stands out in the sheer massiveness of Invasion Day demos.
It showed most recently in the aftermath of the first far-right, Nazi-led March for Australia, which took over central Melbourne and finished with a vicious Nazi attack on Camp Sovereignty, a significant Indigenous cultural site close to Melbourne’s centre. First Nations demanded collaboration from the counter-march organisers and stepped in to lead the second anti-fascist counter-mobilisation two weeks later. September 13 replaced the chaos and fragmentation of August 31 with a unity that was disciplined and upbeat.
The National Socialist Network plans to strike next on January 26. Our movements must build upon September 13 by combining into a united force that will defend the Invasion Day protest and rout the Nazi-led white nationalists. Make this Invasion Day the most massive ever! This requires mobilising all the communities and organisations targeted by the über right into a unified, collaborative front and recognising First Nations leadership. Success on January 26 would be a power punch to the incipient fascist movement and a big step toward building a united front capable of smashing it.
