Congratulations to No Fixed Abode Antifascists for a successful first action. This report was originally posted on their new blog.
Planning to catch the band upon arrival, NFAAF members scouted the building, later breaking backstage and confronting front-man Koňýk – famous for such song-titles as ‘Cigánsky Problém’ (‘Gypsy Problem’) – as he prepared to play.
Eventually bundled away by friends and entourage, a visibly shaken Koňýk responded only with shouts for help and racist clichés. Anti-fascists later monitored the leaving crowd for far-right insignia.
‘Gypsy Problem’ was released in 1990s Czechoslovakia where Roma gypsies were routinely murdered by Nazi skinhead gangs. Although Zona A later distanced themselves from the song, covers include one by Juden Mord (Jew Murder). A couple of years ago antifa.cz published an article on Koňýk, linking him with several important figures on the Czech and Slovakian extreme right.
In a society with permanent fascist threats, militant resistance to racism is the only remaining option for oppressed people. Anti-traveller discrimination is racism and must be confronted in our everyday lives, at gigs or squats, as against fascists and neo-Nazis in the street.
Fuck the Greyzone – the venues, fans and labels playing to the idea that music is simply music and nothing about the politics behind it – who create the climate of apathy in which racism flourishes. We must smash racism and apathy wherever we find it.