Winning the peace – not the war!

31. August 2023

We remember the German aggression against Poland in 1939, therefor the military beginning of the WWII as “Anti-war-day” with peace activities worldwide. The United Nations declared September 21 as international “Peace-day”. For both events, FIR underlines its basic position as “Ambassador of Peace”, to be fighter against war, for direct ceasefire and beginning of negotiations to stop wars.

Eighteen months after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, there is still no end in sight to the Russian-Ukrainian war. Instead, in recent months we have seen increasing brutalization to the detriment of all people in the war zones, in Ukraine itself, in the Donbass or in the Russian regions, which are now also war zones.
In the FIR newsletter we have underlined our concern about the use of munitions, which in the long term destroy the livelihood of all people in this region. This includes the supply by Britain to Ukraine of nuclear-enriched projectiles, which are said to have higher penetrating power. It is known that the use of such munitions means contamination of the combat zone itself for decades. Whether the “liberation” of an area can be achieved with these weapons is more than questionable. What is certain, however, is that in the future people in this region will only be able to live with damage to their health – regardless of who has gained the upper hand in the military conflict. The same applies to the massive use of booby traps and mines either in the retreat of own troops or in securing defense lines. Landmines were already distributed uncontrollably by the water masses during the flooding when the dam was destroyed. We know from previous wars in all parts of the world that landmines are one of the long-term consequences of war for civilians even after the fighting has ended.
We do not forget that as a consequence of the war and the political and military responses of all warring parties, about 16 million Ukrainians have had to flee the country, at the same time that hundreds of millions more people around the world are suffering the consequences of an economic war in which energy costs have risen extremely, fertilizer and grain have become almost unaffordable for the poorer countries of the world, and speculators are using this war to increase their profits.
This war is increasingly taking on the character of a proxy war between Russia and the NATO countries – on the backs of the people in the war regions. While Ukraine’s allies are planning for a war that is expected to last for many months with the announcement of new arms deliveries, we repeat our appeal from November 2022:
“Weapons will never bring peace, diplomacy and negotiations are the only way. This is necessary above all to save the lives of the civilian population on both sides.
In this we also see ourselves in agreement with Pope Francis, who has urgently warned of the danger of nuclear war, which will have catastrophic consequences not only on the battlefield, but also for all European countries and even more so for all humanity.”

It can be seen that the states of the global South (as demonstrated by the delegation of African states) are making many efforts under the slogan “No to war and yes to dialogue and cooperation.” They call for an end to the militarization of the region and an end to the sanctions policies that burden the world’s poorest states in particular.
The FIR and its member associations call on people in all countries to step up their public activities for peace, as they have already done on September 1, Anti-War Day, in many countries, or on September 21, the United Nations World Day of Peace. As peoples’ voices grow louder, governments must respond.
More than a year ago we appealed to the former veterans of the Great Patriotic War and their associations to work for the cessation of fighting.
“An immediate ceasefire is necessary to protect the civilian population, which includes many former Soviet veterans and their families. They know better than anyone that the guns must be silent. Arms deliveries will not bring peace, only a cessation of fighting and serious negotiations between the warring parties.”
This is the way of peoples and life, the dream of a better, more peaceful world. This is the way of the partisans of today.
Partisans of peace, partisans of humanity!

XIX FIR congress in Barcelona, October 2023

19. Juni 2023

Our last regular congress has been end of 2019 in Reggio Emilia. It was an impressive event and a successful meeting. Normally we should have had the next congress in 2022, but due to the Pandemic situation not only in Europe the FIR-EC decided to postpone this important meeting for all member federations. In the last meeting of the executive committee of FIR, we decided finally to prepare our next regular congress of FIR for October 2023 in Barcelona.
Supported by our Catalan comrades and member federations the conference will take place from Friday October 27 to Sunday October 29, 2023 in Barcelona. The opening will be on Friday late afternoon with the ceremony of the Michel Vanderborght Award, the congress itself will be on Saturday and on Sunday we will participate in the ceremonial events of “Despedita”.

All member federations will receive an official invitation in summer. There one can find the regulars, the agenda and – later on – the proposals for common declarations.

Solidarity with the people in Emilia Romagna

22. Mai 2023

FIR and its member federations convey solidarity and sympathy to all anti-fascists in Italy because of the heavy damages and burdens caused by the flood disaster.
We have our congress in Reggio Emilia and the great hospitality still in good memory. All the more we are shocked by the pictures that reached us in the last days from this region of the severe damage caused by heavy rain and floods.
Even if we cannot provide practical help, we hope that this small sign of solidarity will reach you and show that no one is forgotten in such a catastrophe.

FIR e le sue federazioni affiliate esprimono solidarietà e vicinanza a tutti gli antifascisti in Italia per i gravi danni e gli oneri causati dal disastro dell’alluvione.
Abbiamo il nostro congresso a Reggio Emilia e la grande ospitalità ancora in buona memoria. Siamo ancora più sconvolti dalle immagini che ci sono giunte negli ultimi giorni da questa regione dei gravi danni causati dalle forti piogge e dalle alluvioni.
Anche se non possiamo fornire un aiuto concreto, speriamo che questo piccolo segno di solidarietà vi raggiunga e dimostri che nessuno è dimenticato in una simile catastrofe.

Die FIR und ihre Mitgliedsverbände übermitteln allen Antifaschisten in Italien Solidarität und Mitgefühl wegen der schweren Schäden und Belastungen durch die Hochwasserkatastrophe.
Wir haben unseren Kongress in Reggio Emilia und die große Gastfreundschaft noch in guter Erinnerung. Umso mehr erschüttern uns die Bilder, die uns in den letzten Tagen aus dieser Region von den schweren Schäden durch Starkregen und Hochwasser erreichten.
Auch wenn wir keine praktische Hilfestellung leisten können, hoffen wir doch, dass euch dieses kleine Zeichen der Solidarität erreicht und zeigt, dass niemand in einer solchen Katastrophe vergessen ist.

Chief prosecutor at Nuremberg trials Benjamin Ferencz dead at 103

9. April 2023

The FIR and its member federations remember Benjamin Ferencz, American prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, who died in Florida at the age of 103. He was the last prosecutor of the Nuremberg trials still living.
After graduating from Harvard Law, he fought in the U.S. Army toward the end of World War II and was involved in the liberation of several concentration camps.
Working in the U.S. occupation administration in Germany after the war ended, the U.S. lawyer investigated Nazi war crimes and, at the age of 27, he got the task of chief prosecutor for the U.S. Army in the so-called Einsatzgruppen trial, one of the twelve successor trials to the Nuremberg trial of Nazi war criminals. The Nazi Einsatzgruppen were responsible for the murder of more than one million people, mostly Jews. Ferencz indicted 24 leading SS men on charges including crimes against humanity and war crimes. Of the 22 convicted in the trial, four were executed.
Later, Ferencz was instrumental in establishing the International Criminal Court. His “unwavering pursuit of a more peaceful and just world spanned nearly eight decades and forever shaped the way we respond to humanity’s worst crimes,” said Sara Bloomfield, director of the Holocaust Museum in Washington.

Winning the peace – not the war!

23. Februar 2023

Statement of FIR one year after the beginning of the war in Ukraine

On 24 February 2022, Russian troops invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. The invasion has caused tens of thousands of deaths on both sides and has exacerbated the role of NATO in the area.
As a direct outcome of the Russian decision, not only about 16 million Ukrainians had to flee the country, but other hundreds million people must bear the consequences of an economic war, where energy costs have risen extremely, fertilizer and grain have become almost unaffordable for the poorer countries of the world and speculators are using this war to increase their profits.
We are witnessing that this war is increasingly taking on the character of a proxy war between Russia and the NATO states through massive deliveries of offensive weapons from the NATO arsenal and logistical support. In addition, the European Union is involved in this war, instead of following the way of negotiations, which started years ago with the Minsk treaties.
Now we can hear more and more voices of reason around the world, even former military officers and diplomats, calling for an immediate ceasefire without preconditions and for the start of negotiations between the warring parties. The November 2022 appeal of the World Veterans Federation (WVF) and the International Federation of Resistance Fighters (FIR) therefore states:
“Weapons will never bring peace, diplomacy and negotiations are the only way. This is necessary above all to save the lives of the civilian population on both sides.
In this, we also see ourselves in agreement with Pope Francis, who has urgently warned of the danger of nuclear war, which will have catastrophic consequences not only on the battlefield, but also for all European countries and definitely for all humanity.”
The international peace forces therefore call on Russia and Ukraine to accept the offers of mediation and dialogue made by the United Nations and various states. This is the only way to stop the war and save human lives. We welcome the position taken by Latin American leaders at the CELAC summit in Argentina, who reaffirmed the principle of “No to war and yes to dialogue and cooperation” – that means no arms deliveries and no sanctions. We call the people in all countries to strengthen their public activities for peace. If the voice of the people will be louder, the governments will react on it.
FIR has already appealed in the spring of 2022 to the veterans of the Great Patriotic War in the various European countries and Israel to use their social and political influence and work for the immediate cessation of hostilities in this war.
“Turn to the leaders of your countries. Ask them to bring about an immediate cessation of all hostilities through dialogue with political leaders in Russia and Ukraine, as well as with representatives of the military on both sides, and to ensure that the delivery of offensive weapons does not prolong these hostilities. An immediate cease-fire is necessary to protect the civilian population, which includes many former Soviet veterans and their families. They know better than anyone that the weapons must remain silent. Arms supplies will not bring peace, only a cessation of fighting and serious negotiations between the warring parties.”
This is the way of peoples and life, the dream of a better, more peaceful world. This is the way of today’s partisans. Partisans of peace, partisans of humanity!

FIR is in solidarity with the victims of the earthquake disaster in Syria and Turkey.

7. Februar 2023

The heavy earthquakes of the weekend in the Kurdish border area between Syria and Turkey have claimed nearly 5,000 lives according to information confirmed so far. Several hundred buildings in the affected major cities have been destroyed or are in danger of collapse. Several thousand people are still missing under the destruction.
The FIR expresses its deep sympathy and solidarity with the people in the disaster region. It is important that comprehensive humanitarian aid is now provided to both sides. We welcome expressly the employment of disaster aids from all European countries. Aid has already been pledged from Asia as well.
In the interests of the people, the vast majority of whom are Kurds living here, we must not allow political reservations to prevent such assistance from reaching only part of the devastated areas. Humanitarian aid must be cross-border – that is the solidarity that is needed today.

Obituary Mikhail A. Moiseev

18. Dezember 2022

It is with deep sadness that we bid farewell today to the Chairman of the Russian Union of Veterans, General Mikhail Alexeyevich Moiseev. He died a few weeks before his 84th birthday.
Mikhail A. Moiseev was in the army all his life. Marked by the experience of the Nazi-German invasion and the Great Patriotic War, which also tore gaps in his family, he decided to join the ranks of the Soviet Army. At the end of his career, he was Inspector General of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. When he retired from active service, he remained socially active, was elected as a constituency deputy to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, and assumed responsibility as chairman of the Russian Veterans Union. He participated active in the reorganization of the federation in recent years. The Russian Union of Veterans paid tribute to him as a great son of the USSR and Russia, a true patriot who devoted his entire life to the service of the Fatherland.

As Chairman of the Russian Union of Veterans, he also assumed responsibilities in the FIR. In 2013, the 16th FIR Congress in Sofia elected him vice-president of the organization. He was one of the engines of the “international anti-fascist conferences” and represented the Russian Union of Veterans and the FIR at various commemorative events. When he had to step down for health reasons in 2019, the delegates appointed him a member of the honorary presidium. Also in this function, he took over further tasks in the sense of the common anti-fascist work, by maintaining the contacts to the successor federations of the former Soviet war veterans’ federation.

General Mikhail A. Moiseev

The Russian Veterans Association proposed Mikhail A. Moiseev as an laureate of the Michel Vanderborght Award. Since the ceremony had to be moved to 2023, he could not see in live this tribute.
The FIR expresses its deepest sympathy to his family and comrades in arms in the Russian Union of Veterans. The FIR and its member federations will keep an honorable memory of him.

Common appeal for Peace of International Federation of Resistance Fighters (FIR) and World Veterans Federation (WVF)

4. November 2022

WVF and FIR, both honored as “Ambassadors of Peace” of the United Nations, in the tradition of the fighters in World War II and the resistance fighters against Nazism, connected with relevant forces of the civil society in many countries of Europe, raise their voice in the current situation to stop the war in Ukraine.
We call both sides and all allied forces for an immediate ceasefire and a start of international negotiations. Weapons will never bring peace, diplomacy and negotiations are the only way. This is necessary especially to save the life of the civilian peoples on both sides.
In this, we also see ourselves united with Pope Francis, who has urgently warned of the danger of nuclear war, which will have catastrophic consequences not only on the battlefield, but also for all European countries and definitely for all humankind.

Mr. Dan Viggo Bergtun (President WVF), Mr. Vilmos Hanti (President FIR)

Belgrade International Anti-Fascist Conference of FIR

28. Oktober 2022

October 24-25, 2022, the International Antifascist Conference of FIR, supported by the Serbian veterans’ organization SUBNOR, took place in Belgrade. Delegates of veterans and antifascist organizations from more than 20 countries discussed the danger of right wing development in Europe of today. This conference was well attended by the media. The main TV-news on Monday evening reported a three-minute report. Several representatives of the Serbian government attended the conference. The chief of the presidential office and the new elected minister for foreign affairs spoke in the opening of this event. It was also an honour that the president of the World Veterans Federation (FMAC) attended this event. More than 30 interventions, including a video-message from the Russian Veterans Union, have been presented. The final message summarized the main topics of the conference:

Participants of the conference, Yugoslavian fighters of the liberation, representatives of Serbian government, Presidents of SUBNOR, WVF and FIR, Photo: Tanjug press agency

The danger of right wing development in Europe of today was confirmed in the last weeks not only by the results of the electoral campaign in Sweden and Italy. We experience for the first time since decades that a prime minister of an important European country never denied her fascist origin. This strengthen the right wing tendencies, we have to face in other states like Hungary, Poland and several Baltic Republics. Not only in governments, but also on regional level, right wing tendencies influence the policy in Europe, as we can see in Belgium, Spain, and in Germany too. In that way, they influence also the political debates and decisions in the European Parliament.

These forces stand for racism and xenophobia, hate speeches, anti-democratic tendencies and social segregation, denying the right of diversity, fascist violence in reality against refugees and foreigners, demolition of meeting points of the democratic organizations et.al. In addition, we realize desecration of memorials, and/or synagogues or mosques.

The growing of the right wing is connected with the war in Ukraine too. Although right wing groups sometimes call for “peace”, they see themselves as profiteer of this war. They expect as consequence of the social problems for the people and protests against it a collapse of the democratic system in European countries. 

FIR underlines its position as we called from the very beginning of the war in Ukraine:

This war cannot be legitimized in the name of antifascism. FIR call for an immediate ceasefire and start of international negotiations. Weapons will never bring peace, diplomacy and negotiations are the only way. This is necessary especially to save the life of the civilian peoples.

The second side of the medal are problematic tendencies of historical revisionism, the demolishing of memorial places and memorials itself, as we experience it in several European countries. While neo-fascists destroyed memorial trees for prisoners in Concentration Camp Buchenwald, in other countries the central memorials for the soviet liberators are demolished by state authorities. It goes together with historical revisionist tendencies in schools and public institutions. More than ever, we raise our voice to protest against such development and we engage in the strengthening of antifascism in civil society to preserve the legacy of the resistance fighters, the survivors and liberators. This must be a task of the education of young generations

The International Anti-Fascist Conference calls upon all democrats to be aware of right wing populism, far-right “promises” to the real threats to our lives. We draw the attention to this danger and we welcome the civil society, the organizations of veterans, todays’ anti-fascists, trade unions, Human right organizations, youth movement and initiatives, and the conservatives too, to come together. Build networks and movements open for all people willing to defend democracy, freedom, and/or the political and social rights of all human beings in the respective country.

We need to stand firmly against the extreme right-wing danger.

“Anti-fascism today and the danger of right-wing politics in Europe”.

19. Oktober 2022

International antifascist conference of FIR and SUBNOR in October 2022.

Under this slogan, FIR organizes – supported by SUBNOR Servia – an international antifascist conference in Belgrade on October 24, 2022. The event will take place in the framework of the anniversary of the uprising in Yugoslavia 80 years ago and the commemoration of the liberation of Belgrade.
Together with the member federations of FIR and social partners from the international anti-fascist networks, we try a political stocktaking of the dangers of the extreme right politics in Europe scarcely two years before the next European Parliamentary election. We will look at the politics of right-wing parties in power, as in Hungary and Poland, as well as the election results for extreme right wing and right-wing populist parties in France, Spain and Italy. These results are not only political moods, but also dramatic warning signs of the influence of neo-fascism on political decisions not only at the national level, but also for all of Europe. However, we also want to learn about examples that show this tendency can be stopped, e.g. the results of the elections in Slovenia.
Right-wing politics is not only expressed in election results, but also leads to an aggravation of domestic and foreign policy tensions on different levels. In particular, the rise of nationalist conflicts is an expression of increasing political instability in various parts of Europe, and of course, this is not unique to the war in Ukraine.
We expect guests and delegates from all member federations of the FIR and from international networks, with which we are connected in the anti-fascist work. In this common consultation, we hope for answers to “antifascism today and the danger of right-wing politics in Europe”.

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