[PL] failed nazi attack on Rozbrat sparks succesfull boycot of financial backer of nazi infrastructure
Wanneer: 25/05/2012 - 10:13
FASH POLISHED OFF
From our wild-east correspondent
Rozbrat is a squatted social centre in Poznan (West Poland) occupied by anarchists for over 15 years, it is home to many initiatives and projects.
On 13th May there was a DIY Art Festival taking place there. Since Rozbrat is pretty popular place in Poznan (not only amongst activists, but also amongst more mainstream population looking for something different) the event was attended visited by many families. On the same day in the centre of city local fascists from Autonomous Nationalists (fascists who dress like anarchists) and other right wing groups of idiots were taking part in some sort of celebration of one of the national heroes, as usual trying to hi-jack events for their own ends.
As if this was not enough for brave Polish 'patriots' decided to go to Rozbrat and attack the festival taking place there, even though it wasn't particularly political one and there were a lot of kids with families in attendance. Around 30 arrived outside the building, tried to set gate on fire and began chucking rocks and flares inside squatted area. Leaders of the master race however didn't expect the squatters to react so robustly to their 'patriotic' action. Fascists were chased away from the squat and in the resulting scuffle many of them sustained injuries, including their leader Maciej Witzberg who was hospitalised with stitches and fractures.
Short time after activists began a boycott of two pubs his is co-owner of as a means of putting financial pressure on far-right structures. In Poznan far right is not very strong when it comes to numbers, but clearly has money behind them and those two pubs definitely contribute to that. Facebook profile of action quickly got hundreds of 'likes' and local media also wrote about it. The boycott obviously had significant impact upon nazi business already, as Maciej Witzberg began issuing legal threats to everybody sharing it on their Facebook pages or distributing information about it publicly. That seemed to increase the numbers of people liking and sharing the profile even more! Obviously not content with bad publicity and possibly already facing pressure from business partners, Mr "I am only a Polish patriot" went to the local liberal newspaper (think The Grauniad with less typos) to tell "his side of the story". In the interview he complained about "being persecuted for his beliefs", compared boycott to actions of communist secret police and said he was at Rozbrat to protest their anti-patriotic activities and was assaulted for absolutely no reason. Clearly throwing bricks and flares at kids and their families had nothing to do with it!
Boycott action continues and Poznan anti-fascists said they are not going to leave our poor "patriot" in peace.
Way to go!
FB profile of the boycott action with more information about the fash in Poznan and their connections (in Polish) https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bojkot-U-Honzika-i-Brogans-nie-wspieraj-r...
http://www.schnews.org.uk/stories/FASH-POLISHED-OFF-/