Antifascist Action for Greece’s message of condolences to Tony Benn’s family, friends, and comrades.
It is with great sadness that Αntifascist Action for Greece (AAfG) has learnt about the death of Tony Benn, a tireless campaigner for social justice and world peace who died this morning.
Tony leaves behind a legacy of fighting for an equal and fair society and of opposition to endless war and militarism. He was a consistent opponent of racism and fascism, more recently voicing his concerns about the rise of the fascist ‘Golden Dawn’ in Greece. Tony led a distinguished political career in the Labour party and at the forefront of the labour, anti-militarism/anti-nuclear, and anti-racist and antifascist movement. Tony’s tireless campaigning against colonialism, war, racism, fascism and islamophobia, and his solidarity with all oppressed people and groups across the globe, including the Greek people, have established him as a distinguished and much admired progressive figure globally. Throughout his career, he actively associated himself with anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism, not least with the Movement for Colonial Freedom, making him a target for the hateful antics of fascists like the League of Empire Loyalists. His anti-imperialism also strongly underpinned his commitment to peace and his strong support for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
Tony once described himself as a sign-post type of politician, holding out a hand saying ‘this is the way you should go.’ He can rest assured that his iconic political campaigning has entrusted these signposts to the hands of the many who will keep holding them up paying tribute to his legacy. In his later years he became president of the Stop The War Coalition, strongly opposing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as becoming president of Greece Solidarity Campaign, an independent campaign and non-party political organisation established in response to an appeal by him in February 2012 in solidarity with the struggling people in Greece that are resisting the social, political, and economic disintegration of Greek society by the ‘medicine’ prescribed by the ‘austerity’ peddlers.
At this time, our thoughts are with Tony’s loved ones and comrades, inspired by his lifelong legacy, AAfG stands determined to further his antifascist work.
AAfG
Anti-Fascist Action For Greece 