During the night between 27th and 28th of August 2016 another one of a series of attacks organized by neo-Nazi groups took place in the autonomous area of Metelkova City in Ljubljana. The Nazis attacked by throwing bottles, pyrotechnics, stones, and shouting fascist slogans which resulted in a few people being hurt, one of them seriously. The police came to the scene and sadly even tried to treat the hurt people as criminals. We stand in solidarity with all the injured and join them in a clearly handed down: “They shall not pass!”

The antimigration discourses that have recently escalated through sensational reporting of the profit-oriented media apparatus, and which are constantly also the agenda of political elites to achieve their populist goals, are creating fertile ground for seemingly isolated and sporadic attacks on autonomous spaces. From our analysis and experience from the field we understand that states as institutions through their antimigration policies, systematic discrimination and racism do not allow to breathe neither to the autonomous spaces nor to people seeking refuge. So it is obvious that we cannot place our trust and hope in these and similar formations. We are aware that in order to fight the ideologies of exclusion the responsability rests in all community members, always and everywhere.

Primorska is, historically speaking, an open venue of encounter and coexistence of the different, and the memory of the first anti-fascist struggles is still being cherished here. That is why we are not afraid of the sowers of hatred and intolerance! We cooperate with related collectives and spaces that work in the field of anti-fascist struggle and closely monitor the situation in our environments. The towns in which we live, will continue to be anti-fascist and we will not stop defending the autonomous spaces created here.

Against borders, wires, and nationalism for freedom of living and free movement of all!

The Collectives U.P. INDE Koper & ARGO Izola