In Vienna, there have been massive attacks by Turkish nationalists on feminists and leftist structures for days. The campaign #RiseUp4Rojava sees a direct connection with the war of the Turkish state against the Kurdish freedom movement.

The international campaign released a statement expressing their solidarity with the antifascist struggle in Vienna. The statatement reads as follows:

"For days, there have been massive attacks by Turkish nationalists on feminists and leftist structures in Vienna. The starting point of the clashes was a protest action of feminist organisations, which took to the streets against femicides, last Wednesday. Both, the Kurdish Women’s Movement and feminist Turkish and Austrian groups were involved in the protest action. The rally was attacked by several dozen Turkish fascists, also known as Grey Wolves, who, like right-wingers and sexists all over the world, feel attacked by the protests because their male dominance is increasingly being smashed.

There was anti-fascist protest against the attack, as a result of which about 250 Turkish fascists attacked the left centre EKH on Thursday. It is only by luck that nobody was seriously injured, the fascists took the death of people into account, they threw incendiary devices and tried to break into the building. We show solidarity with the antifascists in Vienna and wish them much strength in their struggle. We are many more! In these days, we stand all the more united against the hatred of the right wing, no matter if it comes from European governments, from right-wing mobs who set fire to refugee homes, or from Turkish nationalists like the Grey Wolves.

What we have to understand in connection with the attacks of the Grey Wolves in Vienna is that they are directly related to the war of the Turkish state against the Kurdish Freedom Movement, the Women’s Movement and the democratic opposition in Turkey: The Turkish nationalists who attacked the women’s demonstration and the EKH in Vienna are the vanguard of Turkish fascism in Europe. We know that the Turkish secret service and the Turkish state apparatus is also active in Europe to take action against its enemies. Anyone looking for proof of this only needs to look at the example of the three Kurdish comrades Sarah, Rojbin and Ronahi, who were murdered by the Turkish secret service in a Kurdish centre in Paris a few years ago.

The attacks in Vienna are not primarily caused by a few confused Turkish young people; they are part of the Turkish state terror against the Women’s Movement, against Kurds, and all those who show solidarity with them. Nor is the timing of the attacks in Vienna a coincidence. After all, the Erdogan regime is intensifying the war against the Kurdish Freedom Movement these days: The fascist Turkish state is bombing positions of the Kurdish Workers’ Party, PKK, in the mountains of Southern Kurdistan; it is bombing the Yazidi people in Shengal; it is bombing Kurdish refugee camps like Mexmur; and it is also attacking again and again the liberated areas of Northern Syria. Only a few days ago, three comrades of the Kurdish Women’s Movement Kongra Star were killed by Turkish drones in Northern Syria. These cowardly murders show the hatred of the Turkish state for women’s liberation, the hatred of all elements not fitting into the ethno-nationalist concept of the Turkish state. And the hatred towards progress, revolution, and freedom.

The attackers of Vienna share this hatred. They may feel like rebels because they lash out and throw incendiary devices. But they are not rebels, quite the opposite: for the rulers they are just cannon fodder. Like all nationalists and fascists, they are just a manoeuvring mass for the leaders of hatred and regression. Instead of taking their lives into their own hands, they subordinate themselves to imperialism. Instead of living solidarity, they divide our class. They do not understand that they will never be on an equal footing with the rulers in the palaces of power. They don’t understand that they are much more united with their Kurdish fellow than they think. But it’s precisely because their nationalist mania is so irrational that it’s so dangerous.

It was to be expected that Austrian right-wingers and fascists will try to use the clashes between Turkish fascists and left-wingers for their racist propaganda against migrants. They want to push the split further and don’t even realise that the Grey Wolves are their brothers in faith. To those, who want a homogeneous society, who are against diversity, let us say: Go to Erdogan, he is more similar to you than you think – it is no coincidence that the Hungarian fascist Viktor Orban is developing relations with the Turkish state and talks about Turks and Hungarians being brothers. Instead of shouting “Deportation!”, go to Turkey yourself, there your dreams of a nation led by a ‘Führer’, and of nationalism have been pursued by warlike means for many years.

Our response to the attacks of the fascists, whether they are the Grey Wolves, the FPÖ, or the AfD, is resistance and solidarity. We don’t let us split into Kurds, Turks, Austrians, Christians, Muslim, or atheists. If we look to Rojava/Northern Syria, we see that it is possible for population groups that have been stirred up against each other for decades to live together in peace. We see that it is also possible without nationalist rulers. We see that the liberation of women can prevail against the entrenched patriarchal structures in society.

What unites us antifascists is not only the rejection of fascism, but also the deep trust that people can unite in solidarity and live in peace with each other. This trust connects people worldwide and across all continents. It is this trust in the progress and the future of humanity that gives us the strength to continue to fight!

Fascism will be smashed, solidarity will win! Resistance is life!"

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