We, anti-racist and antifascist activists of the left, come together within the Collective for Antifascist Struggle Against Racism and Antisemitism (CLARA).
Our pluralistic and independent association, rooted at the heart of the left and the social movement, raises the alarm about the sharp increase in hatred, discrimination, and racist and antisemitic violence in our society.
This increase is unfolding in an international context of extreme rightward shifts in public debate and the rise to power of authoritarian, supremacist, or fascistic leaders who are dismantling democratic institutions in their countries and, for some, waging wars of aggression and annexation against other peoples.
CLARA is founded on the necessity of building a united struggle alongside all associations and trade unions against antisemitism and all forms of racism, as well as against every other form of hatred, including those targeting women and people discriminated against on the basis of gender, sexuality, or disability. Because the fight against antisemitism is too often downplayed within our social and political camp, we aim to give it greater prominence within the broader anti-racist struggle.
An alarming observation: the rise in racist and antisemitic acts continues
France is experiencing a rise in antisemitism, particularly since the crimes against humanity committed on 7 October 2023 by Hamas and its allies against Israeli civilians. In response to these crimes, Israel’s far-right government launched a war against Hamas, during which it has carried out genocidal operations against the inhabitants of Gaza: systematic destruction of housing and healthcare infrastructure, organized famine, and mass killings of civilian populations affecting a considerable number of women and children.
This surge in antisemitic acts manifests in our country in various forms: attacks and violence against Jewish people, including murder; marginalization and exclusion of students in certain universities; desecration of symbols such as monuments commemorating the Holocaust.
There is also a rise in Islamophobia and other forms of racism, expressed through violence, including murders. This is a documented and quantified reality according to the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH): although, over the long term, tolerance toward minorities has increased in society, the number of violent incidents—attacks against people or property, verbal and physical assaults—continues to grow, and antisemitic and racist graffiti are proliferating. This reality is painfully experienced by those who are targeted.
This development has several causes:
• A political discourse drawn toward the far right
It fuels identity-based panic, encouraged by actors on the right and far right, and sometimes even on the left. Suspicion is cast on minority groups, perceived as “enemies within.” This creates divisions between “Them” and “Us,” while sidestepping the crucial issues of our time: the persistence and growth of social inequalities and the ecological catastrophe.
• Media increasingly influenced by the far right
The growing influence within the media of billionaires close to the far right promotes their propaganda, amplifies prejudices, essentialises minorities, and normalises discourses of hatred and rejection of the Other.
• Dysfunctional social media platforms
Major platforms, controlled by oligarchs or authoritarian regimes, promote racist content in order to capture attention for commercial purposes.
We intend to fight on all three of these fronts.
We reject the hierarchy of oppressions
We take into account the structural racism present in our societies, which manifests in school, workplace, and housing discrimination; police violence; racial profiling; and the persecution of undocumented migrants.
The right and far right, along with supportive media, use the condemnation of antisemitism as a pretext to justify racist rhetoric and policies, particularly to stigmatize Muslims in France and to minimize policies of apartheid and colonialism.
We denounce the conflation between antisemitism and the condemnation of repeated human rights violations by Israeli governments. We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, oppressed and subjected to extreme suffering, as well as with Israelis who are threatened when they demand democracy for all, an unconditional ceasefire, and an end to unchecked settler violence in the West Bank.
We firmly call for an end to occupation, colonization, and apartheid in the occupied territories.
We condemn antisemitic stereotypes present in some contemporary discourses claiming to be anti-Zionist. However, an anti-Zionist position does not in itself equate to antisemitic prejudice and must not be criminalised as such. We are committed to clarifying the meaning of this term, which is often confused with any criticism of Israeli government policies.
We reject both the denial and the minimisation of antisemitism, as well as its instrumentalisation by reactionary forces.
We warn of the ongoing risk of fostering competition between memories and of setting different forms of racism against one another, particularly antisemitism and Islamophobia. It is therefore crucial that the fight against antisemitism not be separated from the broader anti-racist struggle. Our aim is to confront all forms of racism—antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Roma racism, anti-Black racism, anti-Asian racism—without ranking them, while recognizing their specific characteristics. The specificity of antisemitism lies, among other things, in the conspiratorial image of the all-powerful Jew secretly pulling the strings of power, a notion that readily crystallizes anxieties and disorientation across broad sectors of contemporary societies.
Colonialism and its legacy are a major source of contemporary racism. However, acknowledging this reality must not obscure the diversity of mechanisms behind racist hatred, which cannot be reduced solely to colonial and post-colonial dynamics.
We oppose attempts to blur reality by portraying the far right as protectors of Jews, by turning secularism into a civilisational value used to exclude Muslims, or by rewriting our past into a narrative that denies the tragedies of our history: colonization, slavery, the Vichy regime, the Algerian War.
CLARA conceives antifascism not only as the defense of the rule of law against the far right, but also as a condition for the emancipation of all: new rights and freedoms must be won.
CLARA is part of the convergence and complementarity of struggles
We recognize the intersectional nature of oppression. We aim to explain how different systems of domination—gender, race, and class—intersect, in order to better combat them.
Our freedom depends on this: no one is free as long as any one of us is subjected to violence or discrimination.
CLARA is an association that seeks to act
* by listening to and supporting victims of antisemitism, Islamophobia, and racism, regardless of origin
* by maintaining critical vigilance over political and media discourse
* by building active solidarity with grassroots organizations
* by raising awareness about the history and contemporary transformations of antisemitism and racism
* by engaging with associations, trade unions, and left-wing political parties to alert them to antisemitic, Islamophobic, or racist tendencies
* by asserting our independence from political parties
* by systematically calling out political and union leaders who express, knowingly or not, racist, Islamophobic, antisemitic, or discriminatory views
Our horizon is a society free from oppression based on race, geographic origin, gender (including transphobia), sexual orientation, class, religion, or disability.
If you share our struggle and our values, reject hatred and oppression, and believe in the power of solidarity here and throughout the world, join CLARA.
Contact: [email protected]
More content from this blog
- Brendan McGeever, Antisemitism and the Russian Revolution, by Simon Pirani – January 2024
- Rethinking Palestinian Public Opinion. Interview with Zayne Abudaka – 9 October 2025
- Why does Fujimorism still haunt Perú?, by Víctor Miguel Castillo – 1 May 2026
- Asim Munir’s Promotion to Field Marshal Signals an Authoritarian Pakistan, by Salman Rafi Sheikh – 25 July 2025
- Campism and the Geopoliticisation of African Civil Society, by François Polet – 20 December 2024