In recent years, many regions around the world have seen a sharp rise in far-right ideology and fascism. It was against this backdrop that an initiative was launched in Montreal to create a global platform for strategic resistance against fascism.
In June 2025, we reached out to partner organizations in many parts of the world to share our concerns about the rise of the far right and fascism, ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine, the non-ending wars waged by imperialism, growing inequalities and systematic climate crises. Driven by a sense of urgency, we felt the need to converge around a platform of strategic resistance against fascism and so we founded the Global Solidarity against Fascism (GSAF) together with organizations and activists from a dozen different countries. We also wanted to understand and see how to bring together resistance movements that are already taking shape nationally, regionally and globally.
Following one year of preparatory meetings, we gathered in Montréal from July 1 to 5 2026 and held a series of internal meetings and public events. The GSAF meeting in Montréal is both a culmination and the start of something that will yield analyses, reflections and new forms of global collective action.
As big tech has become more powerful and is increasingly being used to centralize power and target certain populations, it was decided to invite comrades from the Association of Progressive Communications (APC) to attend the meeting and bring in new perspectives and strategies to support our struggles. It should be noted that our Palestinian friends were refused visas of entry by Canada. Although they couldn’t be with us were unable to be with us in person, we had the chance to take in their ideas and their perspectives through videoconferencing.
The charter drafted by the 18 founding members of GSAF was adopted on 2 June 2026.
A series of public events were held in Montréal, Trois-Rivières and Ottawa to help us understand today’s world through the resistance movements that are taking shape to fight the far right and fascism.
Monday, June 1
A screening of the documentary film “When the Tide Goes Out” by Ajay Bhardwaj was organized with Cinema Politica on June 1 at 7 p.m. in attendance with filmmaker and scholar Ajay Bhardwaj. Bhardwaj’s work meditates on the relationship between aesthetic and subversive, art and identity, and history and memory. “When the tide Goes Out” uncovers the persistent, yet hidden, patriarchy that overshadows the gentle power that fuels a labour struggle.
Tuesday, June 2
Decades of neoliberalism have led to widespread hardship, caused ecological devastation, and undermined the very foundations of democracy, paving the way for authoritarian, populist, and fascist tendencies. Today, a whole range of far-right groups are gaining ground by attacking democratic institutions, civil liberties, social rights, migrants and immigrants, minorities, women, labour movements, and workers in precarious employment. But at the same time we see the social movements continue to organize and resist. While their victories may sometimes go unnoticed in the face of backlash from states, corporations, and other reactionary forces, the new context opens new possibilities for mobilization, action, and solidarity.
On June 2, a special edition of the Rendez-vous d’Alternatives brought together four members of GSAF—Herman Kumara (NAFSO/Sri Lanka), Daniel Cara (National Campaign for the Right to Education/Brazil), Magdi El Na’im (Sudanese Human Rights Monitor, Sudan/Sweden), Aparna Sundar (India Civil Watch International and Mannat), and Helen Dabu (ASBAE/Philippines)—with Mostafa Henaway (Immigrant Worker’s Centre, Montréal) to reflect on building transnational solidarity against the far right and fascism.
Wednesday, June 3: Trois-Rivières
On Wednesday, June 3, an afternoon panel was held in Trois-Rivières on “Education: A Right Worth Fighting For!” The meeting was organized by the Comité de solidarité de Trois-Rivières (CS3R), in collaboration with the Conseil Central Coeur du Québec-CSN, GSAF and Alternatives. Building on the experience of Right to Education organizers in Philippines, Brazil, and Ecuador, the meeting was an opportunity to collectively reflect on ways to defend and strengthen the right to education in the Mauricie and Centre-du-Québec regions. The event also accompanied the launch of the Mosaïque des résistances outside Montréal.
Wednesday, June 3: Montréal
The official launch of the Mosaïque des résistances in Montréal was marked by a conversation with Bill Fletcher (former president of TransAfrica Forum and senior fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies), Aparna Sundar (researcher, member of an anti-fascism collective in Toronto, and activist in numerous South Asia solidarity organizations), Kathleen Cole (activist from Minneapolis) and Julie Robillard (coordinator of MEPAQC). And was facilitated by essayist and professor at UQAM’s department of Law Aurélie Lanctôt.
Thursday, June 4
On Thursday evening, a discussion was organized between members of Global Solidarity against Fascism (GSAF) and members of the Québec Front against fascism the Mosaïque des résistances. This gathering, which took place over a light supper at our offices was an opportunity to share, in a friendly atmosphere, our respective perspectives and analyses of the current situation, to better understand the struggles of our comrades in the Global South, and to forge transnational solidarity against the far right and fascism.
Friday, June 5
On June 5, a two-part event was held at Saint Paul University in partnership with the School of Leadership, Ecology and Equity, the School of Social Communications and the Immigrant Workers Centre. The event was titled “Development challenges and opportunities faced by civil society organizations in the world” and brought together researchers, students, community organizations, and civil society leaders from several countries to discuss issues related to international development, immigration, the environment, and human rights. Panels featured GSAF members from Brazil, Ecuador, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Sudan.
