"FASCISM AND ANTI-FASCISM IN EUROPE TODAY" ZAGREB 2020

The WVF President took part in the International Conference ‘Fascism and anti-fascism in Europe today’ in Zagreb 2020? hosted by WVF member Association; The Union of Anti-fascism Fighters and Antifascists of the Republic of Croatia

'Fascism and anti-fascism in Europe Today' Zagreb 2020

The WVF President took part in the International Conference ‘Fascism and anti-fascism in Europe today’ in Zagreb 2020. It was hosted by WVF  member Association; Union of anti-fascism fighters and antifascists of the Republic of Croatia. The organizers of the Zagreb conference invited representatives of anti-fascist associations from 25 European countries, including 15 EU member-states and many member organizations from the WVF. The event was held as part of efforts to counter the strengthening of extreme right-wing politics and more and more aggressive attacks on the values of the anti-fascist struggle, which, it said, were the biggest values of present-day Europe. It stated that victory against the fascist regimes in 1945, after they had caused the Second World War, did not mean that fascism had disappeared from the historical scene. It was also pointed out that there were ”more refined appearances” of fascism in a great number of European countries. It made criticism of Resolution 1481 adopted by the Council of Europe in 2006, which underlined the need for international condemnation of crimes of totalitarian communist regimes as a document that equates fascism and communism. He added that historical revisionism also originated from that document. In resolution 1481/2006 of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), issued on 25 January 2006 during its winter session, the Council of Europe ”strongly condemns crimes of totalitarian communist regimes”. The Parliamentary Assembly refers to its Resolution 1096 (1996) on measures to dismantle the heritage of the former communist totalitarian systems. The paper condemned ”the massive human rights violations committed by totalitarian communist regimes”. It also ”calls on all communist or post-communist parties in its member states which have not yet done so to reassess the history of communism and their own past, clearly distance themselves from the crimes committed by totalitarian communist regimes and condemn them without any ambiguity.” The rise of neo-fascism was accompanied by the process of degrading and vilifying anti-fascist fighters from the Second World War and their contemporary followers.