South Side ARA has had a busy year. This zine is a taste of some of the people we pay attention to, actions we’ve participated in or support, and ideas at the forefront of militant anti-fascism, from April 2012 to April 2013. This is our 4th annual zine and we hope you’ll copy, distribute, and talk about what’s in here. More importantly, we hope you’ll watch out for those people outed in here and start acting, as you can, to fight fascism, racism, sexism, anti-semitism, islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, ageism, capitalism, and all oppression.

On Sunday, the 28th of April 2013, a well-known Russian anti-fascist, Alexey Gaskarov, was arrested in Moscow. He is a member of the Coordination Council of Russian opposition. The investigation committee of the Russian Federation has accused him of having pacticipated in riots and violence against representative of authorities on the 6th of May 2012, when OMON (Russian riot police) attacked a peaceful demonstration.

The National Socialist Movement (NSM) planned to hold their annual conference and rally this year in Atlanta, GA. The conference portion was to take place at the same place they were staying at; the Wellesley Inn Hotel (1337 Virgina ave Atlanta, GA), booked under the “Richard Wight group”.

In the evening of 14th of April, social activist V.N. was seriously wounded in Kiev. He was assaulted by 5 Nazis in the area of metro station Dorozhichi. Young patriots used knives and cutted three times arteries in the legs of the activist. V.N. also lost teeth and suffered a brain concussion. If it was not purpose of attackers to murder, at least they attempted to permanently main activist who takes active part to anti-government, anti-capitalist and animal right actions. V-N. lost much blood, but due to an operation made in time, his life is no more in a danger.

Last autumn, a longstanding case against Nizhni Novgorod anti-fascists was returned to investigation, and for a while it seemed like a final victory (see https://avtonom.org/en/author_columns/background-nizhni-novgorod-victory). However, in contrary to these expectations, the case returned to court this spring and things do not look too good.

Our friend Oleg is threatened with 5 years in prison, as he is facing charges according to statutes 213 (hooliganism) and 116 parts 2a, 2b (battery) of Russian criminal codex. This is already second such case against Oleg, first time he was charged 3 years ago

On November 24 2012, three different demonstrations took place in Rome and in other cities. In the morning, two separate rallies marched through the capital, both protesting against cuts in school budgets. The first was led by the COBAS union, which had called for a strike, while the second was a students’ rally.

Health condition of anti-fascist Alexei Olesinov, who is held at Moscow's Medvedkovo pre-trial detention centre as a suspect in the "Moscow antifa case" for allegedly participating in a brawl, has sharply deteriorated. Independent expert evaluation, conducted by the Pavlov State Medical University in St Petersburg, confirmed that Olesinov risks becoming permanently disabled. However, the pre-trial detention centre administration has opposed bringing outside doctors to treat him. Opposition activists say that should Olesinov's health be significantly damaged, active protests by radical-left youth may ensue.

After two weeks ago the case against Nizhny Novgorod antifascists (the Antifa-RASH case) was sent back to prosecutor's office "to remove doubts, irregularities and obstacles" by a court, which is not likely to hear that case again, the case against Moscow-based antifascist Igor Kharchenko may set a precedent. The case, which is being heard by Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky district court, includes charges under Article 282, Part 2 of the Russian Criminal Code (participation in extremist community).

Anti-fascist Alen Volikov, who is under arrest at Moscow's Butyrka pre-trial detention centre, was visited by police operatives on November 13, and subjected to psychological pressure aimed at making him admit his guilt. Volikov's lawyer Farid Murtazin reported that the operatives made threats of violence against his family members. The officers said that they would not leave Volikov's parents alone, and would set Federal Security Service (FSB) officers on them.