THE FIGHT AGAINST FASCISM AND RACISM IS INSEPARABLE FROM THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CAPITALISM AND THE STATE-NATION!

By Hasse-Nima Golkar

Fascism and racism are both oppressive ideologies that stand in direct opposition to the values of freedom, equality, justice and mutual aid. Anarchists, who advocate for a stateless society based on voluntary cooperation and self-management, see both fascism and racism as tools used by politician elites to maintain authoritarian hierarchical structures.

Fascism has an authoritarian and exploitative in nature, relying on centralized power, nationalism, and the glorification of the state. It enforces strict hierarchies, suppresses dissent, and demands conformity to a rigid national identity, often tied to race or ethnicity. From an anarchist viewpoint, fascism is the ultimate expression of the violence of all states which using militarism, surveillance, and propaganda to crush severely any movements that challenge its authority. On this basis, anarchists oppose fascism because it imposes control over individuals’ lives, stifles personal independence, and it denies the possibility of creating a free and cooperative society.

For anarchists, fascism is not just a political system but a social force that can infiltrate even democratic societies through institutionalized violence, such as police brutality, xenophobic policies, or the rise of far-right movements. The state, in anarchist analysis, serves to uphold these systems of domination by preserving capitalist interests, which fascism regularly aligns with. Fighting fascism, therefore, becomes a struggle not only against a political regime but against the very foundations of authoritarianism in society.

Racism, too, is viewed by anarchists as a mechanism of control. It divides the working class and marginalized communities by fostering hostility and mistrust between people based on artificial racial categories. Anarchists argue that racism is deeply embedded in state and capitalist structures, serving as a tool to maintain inequality and exploit labor. By fostering divisions among oppressed people, racism prevents solidarity and collective action, making it easier for those in power to exploit and oppress.

Fascism and racism is a type of social hierarchy that, like capitalism, must be destroyed for true liberation. Racist systems perpetuate violence against all people of color (especially Black), Indigenous, and other with the sexual-gender identity “LGBTQIA+”, therefore liberation can only be achieved when these systems of oppression are abolished. This abolition requires not only the destruction of formal institutions that uphold racial hierarchies but also the dismantling of racist ideologies that pervade everyday life.

Anarchists often engage in direct action against both fascism and racism, such as through anti-fascist organizing, solidarity & mutual aid networks, and building alternative structures to capitalist economies. They emphasize grassroots, decentralized approaches to fighting any oppression, rejecting state solutions that they see as only reinforcing existing power dynamics. Anarchists believe that the fight against fascism and racism is inseparable from the broader struggle against capitalism and the state-nation.