DC IWW Statement on the Events of D12
Dec 17, 2020 - ARCHIVED
Throughout the course of the day on Saturday December 12th 2020, several members of the DC IWW on their own volition were involved in various roles supporting counter demonstrations against the far-right organization the Proud Boys and defending Black Lives Matter Plaza from vandalization. Some of those present in the street that day were attacked and injured. One member went to the ER and others were maced, beaten, and had their personal belongings stolen and damaged. The attack was vicious and unprovoked. The response from Law Enforcement to such violence throughout the day was indifference. Others from other organizations were injured and arrested while engaging in these acts of resistance as well and to them we also express solidarity.
The Industrial Workers of the World is and always has been an anti-fascist union, and while there was no specific action officially endorsed by DC IWW for the events of D12 the local branch has always striven, and encouraged its members, to support and contribute to demonstrations and mobilizations seeking to counter the presence of violent reactionary groups who come to this city to cause harm and threaten the well being of the most vulnerable members of the working class. The Proud Boys want a world that conforms to their Nationalistic, Racist, and Authoritarian worldview and have made it perfectly clear that they are willing to engage in acts of violence against those who oppose them. Their views are entirely opposed to the IWW’s historic mission of emancipating the working class through the cultivation of Workplace Democracy and the Abolition of the Wage System.
The DC IWW calls upon others in our community opposed to what the Proud Boys and others believe to mobilize our collective strength in preparation for the events of Inauguration Day on January 20th; this is not because we support any incoming administration but because we support ourselves and each other. Furthermore, we call upon Wobblies and allies across the world to build an antifascist movement built on the principles of working class solidarity and Revolutionary Unionism. Only when workers are able to act in their own interests against the interests of their employers and the capitalist class as a whole can we engage in truly effective resistance against the forces mobilizing against our collective liberation. By fighting together we can build the structure of a new world inside the shell of the old.