Connecting our struggles in global anti-fascist defense
Mairead Skehan Gillis, a member of the Boston branch of Workers World Party, gave this talk virtually on May 20, 2025, to the African International Anti-fascist Forum hosted by the Venezuelan Embassy in Angola and other Venezuelan Embassies across Africa.
Revolutionary greetings to all! My name is Mairead and I am an activist and member of Workers World Party, an internationalist, Marxist-Leninist organization in the belly of the U.S. beast. We have been fighting since 1959 to overthrow capitalism and imperialism, oppose oppression around the globe and build a workers’ world.
It is an immense honor to be participating in this forum today taking place across African nations, and on behalf of Workers World Party I want to extend our gratitude for the invitation to share this message of solidarity.
Perhaps never before in world history has U.S. capitalism and its global imperialist maneuvers been such a threat to world peace as now, when capitalism is in a constant dead-end crisis and imperialism is being overtaken by an increasingly multipolar world, with the People’s Republic of China leading the way. A dying beast can be especially dangerous and will tend toward fascist methods, as we are witnessing with the Trump administration. Here we believe we have a special obligation to work to defeat our own government, the source of the rising fascist tendency.
In thinking about the importance of this African International Anti-fascist Forum, I am reminded of the phrase from the labor movement that I’ve grown up hearing: “An injury to one is an injury to all!”
The attacks that working and oppressed peoples face in any part of the world are an attack on all of us, because our struggles are all connected. Our movements are strongest when we develop unity against capitalist exploitation and the threats of fascism, against colonialism and imperialism, against racism, sexism, bigotry and poverty. We know who our billionaire, corporate enemies are who are upholding systems of oppression, and we also know that they are vastly outnumbered by the working classes across borders and struggles who make up the world’s vast majority.
In the spirit of Simón Bolịvar, Latin America’s “Liberator,” and former Angolan President Agostinho Neto, we fight for liberation for all by building a future that prioritizes human needs and the planet over corporate profit.
Mobilizations in the empire’s core
I want to share with you all some of the recent mobilizations we have been involved in here in the imperial core.
In April we hosted a meeting in New York City at the Workers World Party office with women representatives of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba to highlight the gains for women that are possible when a people’s revolution is in place. We demand an immediate end to the U.S. blockade on Cuba, no U.S. sanctions on Nicaragua and U.S. hands off Venezuelan sovereignty and Venezuelan migrants.
WWP is also organizing across the country to defend immigrant communities and pro-Palestine student activists who are being kidnapped off the streets by Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) police in an attempt to sow terror and divide us. These blatant attacks on human rights are being carried out by the same administration that simultaneously slashes benefits and services for working people. What our communities need is money for jobs, health care and education, not police violence, cutbacks and deportations.
We can make this happen through the formation of a united front against fascism and imperialism — at home and globally — that brings more sectors of our class into the fightback movement.
The developments in Burkina Faso and the anti-colonial Alliance of Sahel States providing shining examples of this anti-fascist, anti-imperialist unity in action. We applaud the construction of a new era of cooperation based on sovereignty and prioritizing people’s needs.
Ibrahim Traoré’s bold acts to nationalize the country’s resources for the benefit of his people, condemn the worldwide imperialist capitalist system and organize a regional bloc of countries to oppose colonialism make him a hero to African people and oppressed people around the world. They also make him an enemy of the imperialist ruling class. We wholeheartedly answer the call for solidarity in defense of the self-determination of the Sahel states as they break the chains of colonialism. U.S. hands off Ibrahim Traoré! AFRICOM and all U.S. military out of Africa!
Last week we organized a meeting in Boston on China demanding “No U.S. tariff war against China,” “U.S. Navy out of the Pacific,” and to honor the 80th anniversary of China’s victory against fascist occupation. We commend the material support and solidarity that China shows to nations across the Global South while also constantly working to improve the conditions of its people at home. While the U.S. is building bombs, socialist China is building bridges, canals, railways and roads.
Palestine solidarity is essential
Finally, solidarity with Palestine and the Axis of Resistance is essential to our work as revolutionaries. If 80 years ago the Soviet Red Army was the peoples’ compass, if 50 years ago the movement for liberation of Vietnam was the peoples’ compass, today the compass is Palestine. Every day Palestine’s liberation struggle is pulling more people toward the revolution against imperialism and settler colonialism. We are committed to intensify our acts of resistance here as we demand “End the genocide,” “No war on Iran,” “End all U.S. aid to Israel,” “End the siege on Gaza” and “Full return of the land to its rightful keepers!”
As we are building an international movement against fascist threats, we are developing the working-class consciousness that is necessary for us to recognize our true power, show up for each other and construct the future for the people, by the people, that we know to be possible.
¡Hasta la victoria siempre! Until victory is won!
