Calls are spreading for a mass international uprising on March 28 against war, racism and fascism, across more than 3,000 locations in the United States and in dozens of cities worldwide.
In the United States, the organizers of No Kings predict that Saturday’s demonstrations will be of historic scale. In Britain, a nationwide protest is expected to flood London following a call by the broad coalition “Together”, which was recently formed.
In Italy, the movement that led the way in solidarity strikes for the Palestinian people is preparing for a major two-day event in Rome, with a concert on March 27 and a demonstration on March 28. More than 5,000 people participated in the preparatory assembly for the “O re o Libertà” two-day event in Bologna. “Today we are opening together a new political path that breaks with the old world that oppresses and kills —from Minneapolis to Iran— in order to stay in power,” they conclude. “We are moving forward with our diversity, which includes social spaces attacked by the Meloni government, Catholic associations, trade unions, NGOs, and parties. In the coming weeks we will cross Italy and Europe with a national and international calendar: Rome, Naples, Turin. And again: from Berlin to Zagreb and Brussels, for a general European strike.”
The planned mobilizations on March 28 also include cities in France, Germany, Austria, Poland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Tunisia, Japan, Belgium, South Africa, Catalonia, and others.
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From All Sectors
On Thursday, March 19, KEERFA Ampelokipi–Gkyzi held a multifaceted event at the Refugee Housing (“Prosfygika”), titled: “Solidarity and struggle for a world without racism, fascism, war, and poverty.” The event began at the Children’s Space, one of the structures of the Assembly of Occupied Prosfygika, where both children and adults took part in movement-based games under the guidance of Ismini Sleiper.
At the same time, KEERFA placed a banner at the intersection of Degleri and Alexandras Avenue, with the slogan: “HANDS OFF THE PROSFYGIKA – OPEN BORDERS – ASYLUM – PAPERS.” In the space of the collective café, a temporary visual art exhibition operated, featuring sketches and photographs that framed the discussion.
Christina Manolakaki referred to the mobilizations in the U.S., stressing that March 28 aims to become the largest mobilization in the country’s history. She noted that the movement, strengthened by the mobilization for Palestine, continues dynamically, for solidarity with migrants, against ICE and against involvement in USA’s wars. A presentation of images from France and England followed, concluding with Greece and the demands to close the military bases and open the borders.
Kostas Katerachias, a hospital doctor, conveyed the image of a society that, both in neighborhoods and workplaces, refuses to be “dragged” into the country’s involvement in war by Trump–Netanyahu’s close ally, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. He emphasized the link between the anti-war and anti-racist movements and the need to build a mass front.
Sofia Managliotou, a teacher and member of the 2nd Secondary Teachers’ Union of Athens, highlighted the impact that a possible eviction of the Prosfygika would have on the students living there, both in the educational process and in their lives overall.
At the same time, she referred to the multiple difficulties of integrating refugees and migrants into an underfunded education system that prioritizes other expenditures, such as military equipment. She spoke against the Onassis Schools, explaining that they undermine equal access to education and negatively affect students in deprived neighborhoods, who would be required to travel significant distances to attend classes in other school units.
Takis Zotos, a lawyer and member of the civil action in the Golden Dawn trial, emphasized the importance of the conviction of the Nazi organization and the recent major victory, while also referring to the deportation case of Javied Aslam, noting that it is a retaliatory move by the state against someone who has defended migrants’ rights. He also stressed the importance of practical solidarity from political parties and organizations, which the movement must address and seek to draw toward justice.
Many people took part in the discussion that followed. Among others, a young journalist highlighted that in recent conflicts, human losses in Lebanon and Iran often go unnoticed, as do the ongoing crimes in Palestine, calling for mass participation in the March 28 mobilizations. A philosophy student spoke about the need to activate the student movement.
The event concluded with a call to participate in upcoming actions, aiming to strengthen a mass anti-racist and anti-war movement.
Orestis Ilias,
KEERFA Ampelokipi–Gkyzi
• At the recent open assembly of the occupied Prosfygika on Alexandras Avenue, while comrade Aristos is on the 46th day of a hunger strike, upcoming actions and interventions were announced, including participation in the anti-war and anti-racist demonstration on March 28, with a march from the Prosfygika to Syntagma.
The mobilization on March 28 takes on particular importance. The struggle against fascism continues on all levels, from the conviction of Golden Dawn achieved here, to the resistance of the people in Minneapolis against ICE’s assault squads.
But it is also significant as a major anti-war day of action. The crimes in Gaza and the war waged by the U.S. and Israel in Iran require global mobilization of peoples against war, racism, and fascism. We call on everyone to take part in a mass mobilization on March 28 in Syntagma and in all cities, with anti-racist, anti-fascist, and also anti-imperialist–anti-Zionist characteristics.
Pantelis Vainas,
ADEDY Executive Committee
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Universities
On March 28 we flood the streets, from America to Athens, in a global uprising against war, fascism, and racism. In 3,000 locations across the U.S. people will demonstrate that day, and the same will happen in England, France, Italy, Germany—a massive international mobilization against the perpetrators.
We unite our voices and say: Hands off Iran. Freedom for Palestine. No involvement alongside the U.S. and Israel. Close the bases, bring back the frigates, and stop military armaments. Open the borders, asylum and papers for every migrant and refugee. Jail the perpetrators of Pylos and Chios. Hands off Javied Aslam.
We can stop this war by organizing a massive anti-war movement. That is why we call on everyone to mobilize neighborhoods, workplaces, universities, and schools and take to the streets en masse on Saturday, March 28, at 3 p.m. in Syntagma, and march together to the U.S. Embassy.
Marianna Spiridaki, Vasilis Kalampogias, Iris Arvaniti
Athens School of Philosophy
Theatre in the Streets
On Tuesday, March 17, the theatrical one-act play by Thanasis Triaridis, “The Euthanasia of the Whale, Pylos 13/06/23,” was presented for the first time at Embros “Εμπρός” Theatre by the initiative of artists and activists “Justice for Pylos,” in collaboration with KEERFA.
It is a powerful work centered on the orchestration of a cover-up, the orders issued from above once the coast guard detects an unmanned boat carrying refugees drifting at sea. The concepts and language used to conceal those responsible, and the rawness of the dialogue, confront the audience with the reality unfolding at the borders and seas—one stamped by the state and the Greek government.
In the discussion that followed, the “Justice for Pylos” initiative emphasized that the preparation of the play was taking place at the same time as the government’s crimes were occurring at the borders. The shipwreck off Chios gave additional impetus to the artists to develop and present the play.
Subsequently, the play’s author Thanasis Triaridis spoke, along with KEERFA coordinator Petros Constantinou and the defense lawyers of the Pylos shipwreck survivors, Effi Dousi and Evgenia Kouniaki. The contributors stressed that the play was created to be performed in workplaces, universities, schools, and public squares, and that it is a call to action—to strengthen the anti-racist and anti-fascist movement capable of putting an end to crimes against refugees and migrants.
The play will go hand in hand with organizing for March 28, the day of international action against racism and fascism. On that day, at 3 p.m. in Syntagma, the “Justice for Pylos” initiative will be present, carrying as its banner the striking set design of the performance.
Sofia Garbi
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March 28 – We Will Be There!
March 28, global uprising
For a world without racism, fascism, wars, poverty
Rallies
Athens, Syntagma 3pm
Thessaloniki, Venizelou 12pm
Patras, Georgiou Square 11am
Ioannina, Region building 12pm
Xanthi, Central Square 12pm
Chania, Pan-Cretan rally 1pm, Souda Square
Volos, Agios Nikolaos 12pm
Komotini, Peace Square 1pm
The list is growing daily.
Called by: KEERFA, Athens Labour Center (EKA), ADEDY, POESY Congress, Federation of OAED Workers, unions of education workers, hospitals, municipalities. Migrant communities: Pakistani Community of Greece “Unity,” KASAPI Hellas – Union of Filipino Workers, Shiite Muslim Community in Greece, Bangladeshi Community. Student Associations, Palestinian Community, Stop the War Coalition, No Kings Greece.
Internationally called by: No Kings Indivisible USA in thousands of cities, Together Alliance UK in London, O re o Libertà in Rome, Marche des Solidarités in France, World Against Racism and Fascism in 14 countries—Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Tunisia, Japan, Belgium, South Africa, Catalonia.
POESY
The POESY (Panhellenic Federation of Journalists' Unions) congress took place in the shadow of the war in Iran, the continuation of the genocide in Palestine, and the racist crimes inflicted by governments from the U.S. to Greece on refugees and migrants.
Delegates of the “Front for Overthrow” (Μέτωπο για την Ανατροπή) raised these issues in their interventions, stressing the need for media unions to take a clear stance against war and racism, and to adopt measures so that journalists and media workers are not turned into instruments of government propaganda.
In this context, a resolution was approved for POESY’s participation in the anti-war, anti-racist rally on March 28 at 3pm in Syntagma, and condemning the racist crimes in Pylos and Chios.
The journalists’ federation, by decision of its congress, states:
“The war of the U.S. and Israel in Iran spreads destruction across the Middle East and beyond. The same forces that present themselves as liberators spread death through war crimes such as the one at the girls’ elementary school in the city of Minab, with over 160 dead students.
At the same time, within the U.S., the government has declared war on refugees and migrants, with ICE going so far as to kill anti-racist Americans in the streets of Minneapolis.
The war campaign goes hand in hand with racism, and we see this in Greece as well. The government boasts of its strategic alliance with Israel, which is committing genocide in Gaza, and supports the U.S. in its war campaign from Venezuela to Iran, while at the same time keeping borders hermetically closed to refugees.
Refugees and migrants are labeled as invaders, a danger, an asymmetric threat, in order to justify crimes against them. The 15 dead refugees in Chios, recovered in pieces because, according to testimonies, a coast guard vessel ran over them, was not an isolated incident. The families of the 650 dead in Pylos are still waiting for justice.
The racist poison that permeates public discourse daily—primarily the responsibility of the government, but also of media that reproduce claims of “illegal invasions” while burying news such as felony charges brought against coast guard officials over Pylos, including the current chief—opens the way for the far right and fascism.
Journalists have a duty to stand against attempts at racist or war propaganda, against attempts to turn us into instruments of covering up crimes—whether Tempi and Chios, or Gaza and Iran.
As workers, we are part of the movement in Greece and internationally that seeks to stop the war and put an end to racism and the fascist threat. On March 28, the anti-war and anti-racist movement coordinates internationally with mobilizations in a number of countries.
First and foremost in the U.S., where, after driving ICE out of Minneapolis, people are taking to the streets in all states in large demonstrations against Trump’s warmongering, racist, and sexist policies. In Britain, Italy, Spain, Germany, thousands will march with the slogans “hands off Iran” and “refugees welcome.” In Athens, we will participate in the demonstration on March 28 at 3pm in Syntagma.”
Fyllia Politi,
journalist
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The Palestinian Community, in cooperation with many organizations and collectives in Greece, has decided to call for the March 28 rallies in Syntagma and across the country, against the war in Iran, against the genocide in Palestine, against the blockade of Cuba, and against the overall arrogance of the U.S. and Israel.
The situation in Palestine is becoming increasingly worse. We should not be misled by the so-called ceasefire. It is a deception by the Americans and Israelis to buy time. Netanyahu’s plans in Gaza and the West Bank are being implemented day by day. The Israeli parliament’s decision to annex the West Bank attempts to bury the Palestinian vision of an independent state.
In Gaza, the situation remains unchanged. Despite the ceasefire lasting months, the bombings continue as normal. Supplies through the Rafah crossing pass in extremely limited quantities, so the problem of hunger remains real. Thousands of people still live in tents because their homes have been reduced to rubble.
Nevertheless, there is a global movement that helps the Palestinian people persist. Without it, they would not be able to endure. This movement will take to the streets again on March 28 worldwide, and we will be part of it.
Hassan Ahmed,
Secretary of the Palestinian Community of Greece
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Chania
We have ahead of us a major pan-Cretan rally at the Souda Base on Saturday, March 28. Participation is very large, from unions, organizations, and collectives across the island.
The demand is common and we should not get stuck on details: the Souda Base must close. I have students whose parents work at the base, and the discussion at school is daily. Their anxiety is great due to the escalation of war. We try to teach them that we must fight for a better world. Everyone to the demonstration at the Souda Base on Saturday against the killers of peoples, the U.S. and Israel.
Katerina Pandi,
teacher, Chania
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Xanthi
The Xanthi Secondary Teachers’ Union will participate in the anti-racist rally on March 28, which must also take on an anti-war character. As a union, we always participate in mobilizations and actions against racism because we consider it a very important issue, and as teachers even more so—we must set an example for children. That is our role: to create a better world.
Developments are extremely dangerous at all levels, with war conflicts expanding everywhere as the United States seeks to impose its economic interests and control across all regions of the world.
This is extremely dangerous, and our country must have no involvement in these war conflicts.
There is another issue that compels us to link the struggle against war with the struggle against racism. We are in Xanthi, in a region with many Muslims, and currently, due to the war, we see a rise in Islamophobia from the government. This is being carefully cultivated across Europe and is a very dangerous phenomenon—the targeting of entire social groups. Here in Xanthi, in our neighborhoods and schools, we have learned to live together without divisions based on religion or origin, and this is something we do not want to change.
Maria Loukopoulou,
President, Xanthi Teachers’ Union
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Thessaloniki
The struggle we are waging against racism and fascists is a struggle against the government itself. Because it is the government of the killers of Pylos, the killers of Chios, the government of illegal pushbacks and closed borders.
In the Mediterranean since 2014, 30,000 refugees are estimated to have drowned. It is the government that appointed the far-right Plevris as Minister of Migration, that attempts to silence the president of the Pakistani Community, Javeιd Aslam, who for 30 years has fought for all refugees and migrants. Plevris, who during Ramadan proceeded to close mosques in Athens and elsewhere.
It is the government that backs far-right fascists, who gain confidence from its Islamophobic rhetoric.
We achieved a historic victory with the conviction of the neo-Nazis of Golden Dawn through united action over the years with strikes and demonstrations. We will not allow New Democracy to implement what Golden Dawn’s assault squads failed to do. And not only will we not allow it—we aim, as an anti-racist and anti-fascist movement, to secure similar convictions for Pylos and Chios and to have the leadership of the coast guard and the government convicted for these crimes. We want the leadership of the coast guard and the government to join Kasidiaris and Michaloliakos in prison cells.
We fight against a government that escalates its involvement in the crimes of Trump and Netanyahu in Iran and across the Middle East, aiming to control oil and natural gas and crush the Palestinian resistance. They accompany all this with an Islamophobic hysteria while bombing public hospitals, killing thousands of civilians—young girls, the very women they claim to liberate. They strike desalination units and fuel tanks, depriving millions of drinking water and poisoning them with toxic clouds.
The people who have risen many times within Iran against poverty and oppression have nothing to gain from this attack by the U.S. and Israel.
That is why we are organizing a major uprising on March 28. It is a day of action of global dimensions. People everywhere unite against racism, fascism, and war. In the U.S., where the largest mobilization in its history is expected. In Germany, where youth are rising up against plans to conscript 18-year-olds. In Rome, with a major concert on the 27th and a rally on March 28. In Catalonia, where united unions and left organizations are leading against fascism, racism, and war.
We are organizing this uprising in Thessaloniki on March 28—to put an end to racism and fascists, and to the government itself that kills from Tempi, Violanta, Pylos, Chios, Palestine, Iran.
Dimitra Komnianou,
KEERFA Thessaloniki
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Ioannina
This year’s International Day Against Racism and Fascism, on March 28, will certainly be historic, and this message comes from the U.S., where more than 3,000 “No Kings” demonstrations are already being organized. Inspired by the victory of the Minneapolis uprising that drove out ICE forces, we are coordinating globally to crush racism, fascism, and war.
We coordinate the movement that rose up against Trump, alongside migrants, with the movement against Mitsotakis, who is responsible for the crimes in Chios and Pylos, alongside those of Violanta and Tempi. This initiative has been underway for months, against the deadly policies of closed borders, against attempts by those “above,” in conditions of crisis, to turn migrants and refugees into scapegoats for the poverty produced by this destructive system, and against the far right and fascists who benefit from these policies.
However, the war in Iran gives even greater scope to this coordination, as it will also be the day when people across the planet demonstrate against the horror of war, demanding it stop immediately. Ioannina will be part of this coordination, and in the final stretch we are calling for participation not only from youth and all those outraged daily by the crimes of this government and its growing involvement in war, but also from our unions, since the working class is the shield against racism and fascists and, through its power, can put an end to war.
Louiza Gkika,
Board member of EINI, KEERFA Ioannina
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Patras
On Thursday, March 19, a meeting was held in Patras to organize March 28, the international day of action against racism, war, and fascism, called by the Coordination of Organizations and Collectives, including the Movement for the Defense of Migrants’ Rights and KEERFA Patras.
Trade unionists, board members of unions such as the Achaia Teachers’ Union, catering workers, cooks, SERETE, many board members of student associations from Mathematics, Architecture, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering, and others participated and supported it. In the interventions, the KEERFA representative highlighted the importance of confronting racism alongside the issue of war and their connection, explaining why March 28 is evolving into a global uprising that can act as a catalyst in escalating and generalizing the confrontation with the reactionary cooperation of governments and states in racist policies, support for war in the Middle East, and the opening of the path for the far right.
Many speakers referred to the brutal imperialist war of the U.S.–Israel and Greece’s involvement in it. All committed to decisions and participation of their unions and student associations in the rally in Patras at 11am in Georgiou Square. A series of steps was decided for organizing March 28: poster campaigns, banners, outreach in markets and neighborhoods.
Following this, on Saturday, March 21, KEERFA held a discussion on the significance and organization of March 28, with speakers from KEERFA and Haris Chalakatevakis, student and board member of Architecture. In his presentation, he noted: “On March 28 we demonstrate against racism. It is true that many parts of the Left underestimate this aspect, although it is critical—not only because wars create refugees, but because it is the main way the government attacks, and because they try to strengthen Islamophobia. Look at how differently lives lost in Palestine, Iran, Lebanon are treated… In this final week, we must all organize together, with outreach in neighborhoods and universities, for the success of the international day of action against racism, war, and fascists.” Participation in the joint program with other organizations was agreed, as well as a series of actions by KEERFA Patras for the success of the March 28 rally.
Giannis Angelopoulos,
KEERFA Patras
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Volos
The KEERFA event in Volos on Thursday, March 19 was successfully held, with the participation of Giannis Maggos, father of Vasilis—killed by police—and Vanessa Katsardi, professor in Civil Engineering and president of the Faculty Association at the University of Thessaly.
“Every time I hear Giannis Maggos, I think how deeply political our personal experience ultimately is,” Vanessa said. “Giannis did not come here only to give political analysis—he came on behalf of his child, his flesh and blood. And we have seen how “might-makes-right” crushed Vasilis like a steamroller. Suddenly, all of us who speak about systems and geopolitical balances are confronted with the rawest truth.
Violence has a name, an age, and eyes. And if this police, state violence is the extreme version of internal racism, on the occasion of the global day on March 28, we must see how the same logic operates globally. Because war is exactly that—“might-makes-right” on a military scale. And racism is its legitimizing narrative. When we bomb a country, when we attack a people, the first thing we do is dehumanize them. We call them terrorists, a threat, backward, fanatics.
We do exactly what a racist does to their neighbor—we turn them into ‘the other,’ into something less human so we can kill them without guilt. And then come the consequences: refugees. Thousands of people uprooted, losing everything, reaching our borders. And there they are not met with Europe’s embrace, but with racist slurs, fences, hotspots, suspicion. War produces refugees; racism receives them—the connection is tragically direct.”
Interventions ranged from the victory in the Golden Dawn trial, where it was definitively convicted as a Nazi criminal organization, to the struggle for the trial of Vasilis Maggos, killed by police, on April 1. It was noted that Trump’s America and Israel have open fronts everywhere—Ukraine, Palestine, Venezuela, now Iran—and it does not end there.
Greece has extended its arm into every war, sending equipment or even troops, using its land as a parking lot for NATO aircraft and its seas as passage for warships. This is not a result of strength, but of crisis. Their system is collapsing, and they do not know how to manage it—hence they reproduce Islamophobia, seek scapegoats, and launch wars to justify rising costs.
People do not accept this—there is a global uprising. On March 28 we will not only demonstrate here, but also in the U.S. against ICE and Trump’s sweep operations, in England against fascist and racist attacks, and across Europe against the rise of fascist ideology rooted in Islamophobia. Against racism, war, poverty. Greece can set an example with the victory against Golden Dawn, mass strikes and demonstrations—on February 28 for Tempi, on March 8 for women. The struggle continues on March 28, with migrants at the forefront.
Alexandros Bakousi,
KEERFA Volos