On June 21, 2021, the Palestinian Authority showed us another world is possible.
It’s too early to say if the demise of Nizar Banat, a proud and virulent Assadist, was the product of radical direct action by individuals or ordered by the Palestinian Authority.
However, it does raise the question - is this the beginning of Palestinian antifascism?
Actions by the Palestinian Authority since the discovery of Banat suggest that regardless of its desires, material conditions are nudging it in a direction congruent with antifascism. Rather than give in to the demands of the fascist mob that has taken up Banat’s cause, Fatah is crushing the Axis operatives who hide behind revolutionary slogans and fastidiously work towards the extermination of the Syrian Revolution against their beloved Assad.
How far this de facto antifascization can go remains to be seen. Given the fact that Palestinian identity (and the wider modern Arab identity, for that matter) is itself is founded on anti-Semitism, and the tendency of states to suppress organic antifascist action (to the applause of leftists), it’s likely that any drift by the Palestinian Authority toward antifascism will be limited and self-correcting.
On the other hand, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that these trends mark the beginning of a tilt by the Palestinian Authority against the Axis. Even if not fully consummated with mass action against Assadists, such a shift would itself be meaningful to the cause of antifascism and could have tangible benefits to the Authority. At the very least, this realignment could shore up their position against Hamas and give them new relevance as a new member of the region’s anti-Iran camp. Given that Democrats support Hamas, such a move would not result in United States support, but would serve the Palestinian Authority’s narrow objectives regardless.
The possibility of the Palestinian Authority adopting a limited antifascism also throws into relief the deliberate efforts by pseuodoresistance “antifascists” to obscure the true nature of fascism. They will make spurious claims that the Authority is murdering “problematic” yet “dissident” voices without accountability, and that somehow this is fascism.
The pseudos would have us believe that certain tactics are inherently “fascist,” and ergo cannot be used to smash fascism, even though they would utterly devastate these forces in a wide variety of contexts.
The same Western leftists, left-infected liberals, and Voices From The Region who claim that certain tactics are inherently fascist are now loudly mourning the loss of the Assadist Nizar Banat in the name of human rights. This should be enough give anyone who has doubts certainty about the nature of their “arguments.”
This is the contentious ground. Antifascists must know that the suppression of fascist mobs is not fascist. Mass arrests are not fascist. Prison camps are not fascist. Organic reprisals against fascists are not fascist. State-backed attacks against fascists are not fascist.
Should material forces continue along their apparent course, it’s possible that the Palestinian Authority turns to some of these tactics in an effort to repress the budding fascist uprising it faces. It will do this merely out of self-preservation, but the liberatory nature of antifascist struggle may have liberalizing knock-on effects.
Regardless, such developments should be supported by antifascist forces, especially against the predictable braying of the “anti-Assad leftists” who have been critical to Assad’s victory and the broader ascent of the Axis. The Palestinian Authority’s potential use of these tactics will also be a referendum on their inclusion in our own struggles. The pseudos who dominate the “antifascist” movement want nothing more than to take these tactics off the table ensure a fascist victory while they score kayfabe “victories” against them through doxxing, milkshake attacks, or staged street fights.
The case of Nizar Banat reminds us that our struggles are intertwined. Fascism must be destroyed wherever it rears itself, ruthlessly and without remorse. We will not accept empty gestures toward solidarity in this struggle and will not accept co-optation by collaborators. We win together or not at all.
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