A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #372 - Antifascism - May 9th Committee: No Nazis in Paris! (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

As every year since 1995 in Paris, neo-fascists attempt to commemorate 
the death of Sébastien Deyzieu, a member of the French Action movement, 
who died following a police chase in May 1994. This event is merely a 
pretext for an unashamed fascist march: Celtic crosses, Hitler Youth 
drums, attacks on people who approach their procession, all under the 
watchful eye of the police. --- The May 9th Committee (C9M) has 
established itself as an annual Parisian parade of the most radical far 
right. Therefore, it is our duty to prevent them from acting.

For the past three years, the UCL (Union of Catholic Students) has been 
part of a Parisian antifascist network whose aim is to prevent this 
demonstration. The unity of this struggle extends far beyond specific 
organizations: political organizations, parties, unions, and local 
antifascist groups are able to coordinate around a common strategy, 
namely, preventing the C9M (National Council of the 9th Movement) 
through mass action. In 2024 and 2025, instead of a demonstration, we 
opted for an antifascist village, bringing together stands from 
organizations within our camp. This took place at the foot of the 
Panthéon in the 5th arrondissement, an area sorely lacking in activism. 
While the first two events attracted more people than the fascist march, 
they were not enough to prevent its cancellation.

This led to a slight reassessment of the unified strategy. This year, 
the stakes were even higher: to prevent a march by neo-Nazis galvanized 
by the death of Quentin Deranque and planning to come from all over Europe.

In addition to the antifascist village, a demonstration was planned, 
passing by the C9M starting point, to symbolically reclaim the streets. 
The aim was to force the prefecture to ban the neo-fascist march. This 
strategy proved successful, as both demonstrations were canceled.

Thus, only the antifascist village took place over the weekend, 
attracting approximately 3,000 people with roundtables on the fight 
against militarization, support for antifascist struggles against 
repression, and anti-colonialism. The day ended in a very positive 
atmosphere with a concert by local rapper 2L and a DJ set. Our press 
conference provided an opportunity to distribute our political materials 
and discuss antifascism more broadly.

For the first time, the neo-fascists were therefore unable to march 
publicly and were forced to stage their grotesque spectacle in a field 
outside Paris.

Although our objective has been achieved, we are under no illusions. The 
state will not protect us from fascism. The mass arrests of antifascists 
who nevertheless attempted to demonstrate on May 9th, as well as the 
recent dissolution of the Young Guard, remind us of this all too 
clearly. If the prefecture yielded this year, it was due to the 
collective strength imposed by the unified Parisian framework.

The challenge now is to transform this victory into an example. Let us 
not allow fascism to strut about, neither in Paris nor anywhere else.

Antifascism Working Group of UCL Paris North East

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Comite-du-9-Mai-Pas-de-nazis-dans-Paris
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