In the face of the attack at Las Ramblas, Barcelona

Statement by Lucha Internacionalista (Internationalist Fight, Spanish State)

Català|Español

From Internationalist Fight we solidarize with the victims of yesterday’s attacks and their families. We reject these kind of actions meant to spread terror and fear among people, as well as we repudiate the reactionary fanaticism that inspires them.

Today, we do not forget the thousands of men, women and children that die on the streets of Syria and Iraq, for attacks similar to this one, or under western bombs. For us, there’s no such thing as “first or second class dead”: we rebuff the hypocrisy of European governments that are horrified when blood is shed in Paris, Berlin, London, Niza or Barcelona.

It is false to say as Rajoy or Puigdemont do: “democracy” against “terrorism”, “freedom” against “barbarism”. And it is regrettable that Colau – as it appears to be with Podemos’ statement to the board and the Congress Spokepeople Board- will add to Rajoy’s “unity” appeal. What democracy are they talking about? The one that took us to war with Iraq? The one that supports the genocidal state of Israel? The one in which the King himself sign millionaire arm contracts with the sanguinary monarchy in Saudi Arabia? The one that says that the criminal al-Assad is a lesser evil for Syria? The one that militarized European borders and condemn to death in the sea to thousands of people? The one that cut rights and liberties and criminalized struggles in our country? The one that forces to go into hiding and and being overexploited thousands of male and female illegal workers? All these policies of the European “democracies” serve multinationals. They are part of the problem, not part of the solution. We cannot expect that all that violence, so near, do not reach us. These policies are the ones that feed the spiral in which fanaticism grows and groups like Daesh that –we must not forget- have strengthen in Syria and Iraq smothering in blood the struggles for freedom of their peoples.

For that reason we do not believe the crocodile tears of the governments responsible of this violence too. We will not place ourselves behind their placards, they will only use them to sow more blood and fear.  It had already happened after the Paris attacks, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heading the demonstration together with the other imperialist leaders, the declaration of the emergency state and the French bombing over Syria the following day. It will not be on our name that these policies be validated and deepened. It will not be using the innocent dead people today in Barcelona that the imperialist indiscriminate bombings over Raqqa or Mossul will be legitimated. As we shouted after the Atocha attacks, the bombs in Bagdad explode in Madrid.

We will not accept in the name of our security, either, the militarization of our lives, as it is foreseen by the Anti terrorist Pact summoned yesterday by Rajoy.  We will not accept, either, that borders will be closed to people fleeing from war and a terror greater than the one we lived yesterday here, or poverty. We will not accept, either, the persecution of migrants or Muslims.

We will not place ourselves behind the state flags headed by the Monarchy, we will win the streets to stand by the victims’ families and to shout strong: the dead belong to us,  the people, and not to the violent policies applied against the peoples from here and from the rest of the world.

Internationalist Fight, section of IWU-FI (International Workers Unity- Fourth International), in Spanish State.

Barcelona, 18 August, 2017

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