To the Charlottesville Anti-Fascists
A Message from the Mothers of Murdered Anti-Fascists in France

On the anniversary of the anti-fascist mobilization in Charlottesville, in response to a call for a weekend of international solidarity, we’ve received a solidarity statement from the Collectif des Mères Solidaires in France, the Collective of Mothers in Solidarity.

One year ago, we felt with you the pride of seeing a powerful anti-fascist movement rise up against a far-right and white-supremacist gathering in Virginia.

We also felt the terrible sadness of seeing a young woman who stood up against all forms of discrimination murdered by fascist hatred: Heather Heyer, this shining face, this strong and at the same time calm determination to refuse the unacceptable. Too much light, too much determination…

This is the same hate that in Paris in 2013 killed Clément Méric, an 18-year-old syndicalist and anti-fascist militant.

Elsewhere in Europe, fascism or state repression have claimed the lives of Carlos Palomino, Pavlos Fyssas, Carlo Giuliani, Renato Biagetti, Dax, and so many other young people whose names will forever be associated with the struggle for a world liberated from white supremacy, bigotry, and social injustice.

We write from France as the mothers of young militants who have suffered violence or repression as a result of their activism.

Like Susan Bro, Heather’s mother, we are proud of the struggles of our children.

We know that they pay, or risk paying, very dearly for their refusal of an unjust society that is imposed upon them by the powerful. Death, violence, criminal charges, imprisonment… They are familiar with all of this. We have lived it alongside them.

And we affirm as loudly and as strongly as we can, a thousand times over, that our children are right for fighting back!

Our own struggle, as their mothers, is to bring attention to their words—words too often neglected, deformed, or caricatured.

The fight against the vision of the world spread by the far right must be the business of every generation, each one in its own way.

Mothers from Italy and Spain, whose parents knew fascism and Francoism, have shown us the path forward.

Alongside them, we are in the process of forming an International Network of Anti-Fascist Mothers in order to mutually support one another and to be present wherever struggles are taking place.

We are organizing to support everyday struggles in the neighborhoods targeted by racists, in the schools, and in the prisons; as well as the mobilizations that the entire world will be watching, such as that of this weekend, August 11–12, 2018, in Charlottesville.

We are pleased to associate ourselves with this great movement of resistance, to which your courage has summoned us. We send you our gratitude.

Collectif des Mères Solidaires//Collective of Mothers in Solidarity