March 7, Rally in support of refugees in Sappho Square in Mytilene, Lesbos, with signs saying “Never Again”
Sometimes we write about war as if it were something in the future—but millions of our working-class family are fleeing for their lives because of the war in Syria right now. Nearly one million have been displaced in the northeastern province of Idlib this winter. Families are sleeping in tents in the olive groves, out in the open in the snow. Many, including babies and old people—the most vulnerable—have died.
In a communist world, if people have to leave their homes due to a crisis like an earthquake or climate change, we will welcome them. We are all one working class and we must fight for a world without bosses or borders—where no worker will be a foreigner.
In a capitalist world, refugees become the bosses’ pawns. Millions around the world are stuck in refugee camps. Others are attacked or turned back at the borders. The Turkish bosses are using Syrians and other refugees as bargaining chips. Turkish President Erdogan has used the presence of millions of refugees to build domestic support for military action on the border with Syria.
And in 2016, after a million refugees crossed the borders into Europe, Turkey agreed to stop them at the border in return for $6 billion Euros. Now, as the crisis intensifies, Erdogan is upping the price. On February 22 Turkey started busing refugees to the Greek border.
This cynical move was Erdogan’s attempt to pressure the European Union to come to Turkey’s aid in the conflict in Syria, as well as to come through with promised funds to assist refugees.
Instead, the Greek bosses responded by militarizing its border, firing tear gas (and probably live rounds) at refugees. At least one person was killed. The Greek Coast Guard attacked boats carrying refugees to the Greek Islands within a dozen miles off of Turkey’s shore in the Aegean Sea. Ursula von der Leyen, the EU president and French President Macron have supported the Greek government.
Fascists and Anti-Fascists Respond to the Refugee Crisis
The bosses’ system is in trouble. The masses of workers will either fight the bosses, or be won by the bosses to attack our working-class family. In India, Modi mobilized his fascist BJP to attack Muslims, and masses of workers from all communities defended them. In Europe, the bosses are building fascism around attacks on Muslim refugees from Syria.
Greek farmers with tractors and search lights have joined the army on the Turkish border, helping the border patrol and physically attacking refugees.
A refugee camp on the little Greek Island of Lesbos—8 miles from the Turkish mainland—was burned down.
Fascist mobs on the nearby Island of Chios have attacked refugee boats trying to put ashore.
But when a couple of German neo-Nazis showed up on Lesbos, they got their faces bloodied by the anti-fascists.
In Mytilene, the capital of Lesbos, 300 people rallied in defense of refugees.
And in Europe, thousands in Athens, Thessalonica, Berlin, and Barcelona marched in solidarity with refugees. They demanded open borders and denounced fascism.
No boss—from the US, Russia, Turkey, Syria or the European Union—gives a damn about the lives of our class. The response of the anti-fascist masses in Europe has within it the seeds of the movement that we need. But to create a world where no worker will be considered a foreigner, we must go beyond fist fights with fascists and marches in the streets. We must build the forces necessary to fight for a communist world—no bosses, no borders! Workers of the world unite!
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