Euromaidan – 2013 Ukraine protests

[ALB]

Don't know if this has any significance. Probably not, but something to at least note.Swedish neo-nazis are planning to go to the Ukraine to support the "revolution" there, according to this article:http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/svenska-nazister-uppmanas-aka-till-ukraina-1/

Quote:

SWEDISH NAZIS ENCOURAGED TO GO TO UKRAINESwedish Nazis are being encouraged to go to Ukraine to support the revolution. According to a new Swedish right-wing site with close ties to the Nazi Swedish party the aim is to show that they "stand united with white, European nationalists in more than words." By helping, we hope that the new government formation is to be nationalist, says Magnus Söderman, who is behind the petition which calls itself the "Swedish Ukraine Volunteers".

[alanjjohnstone]

Views on Venezuela from some anarchists  http://libcom.org/news/open-letter-situation-venezuela-comrades-fel-el-libertario-nosotros-los-pobres-26022014

[alanjjohnstone]

http://libcom.org/forums/news/protests-ukraine-02122013?page=2I was shocked to read this on the Libcom Maidan thread.""There are other anarchist groups in Ukraine but they are also extremely marginal. One group called Narodniy Nabat (The People's Bell) have been participating in the direct confrontation with the police forces. From what I can gather (and its difficult to nail down with absolute accuracy) they have adopted the strategy of a temporary armistice with some of the far-right groups, whom they had been previously been trading blows, in order to focus on the bigger enemy of the state.'…. ….i find myself in tune with this other comment:"For the working class there's no one to choose in this fight …. Where is the working class in this "revolution" or "civil war" – it doesn't exist as any sort of independent force, not even in embryo. Worse than that, it is having the shit kicked out of any possible consciousness of its class identity as it can only line up as individuals …"

[ALB]

Comment on the latest situation in the Ukraine from the comrade who has written the article on the Ukraine in the March Socialist Standard:Notes on the situation in Ukraine, 2/27/14Banderist (1)regroupmentIn establishing itself as a parliamentary party, the Svoboda (Freedom) Party of OlehTiahnybok has tried to present itself as ‘moderate’ and ‘respectable’, though without renouncing its ideological roots in the openly Banderist Social-National Party of Ukraine (SNPU). This entails, in particular, the rejecting anti-Semitism (partly for the sake of good relations with Orange oligarchs of Jewish origin) and supporting the goal of joining ‘Europe’ – previously denounced as decadent (in order not to alienate the EU and pro-EU forces within the Orange coalition).These moves toward respectability have enabled Svoboda to enter the new governing coalition and Tiahnybok himself to meet the US envoy to Ukraine, assistant secretary of state Victoria Nuland (not to mention the Israeli ambassador). However, they have also opened up a political space to Svoboda’s right, which is now occupied by Right Sector (RS), an umbrella structure encompassing such organizations as Patriot of Ukraine and White Hammer. They are anti-Semitic, anti-Europe, and the other things that Svoboda can no longer allow itself.RS uses the Wolfsangel (Wolf’s Hook) (2) as its symbol. Its armed units have taken over ‘autonomous zones’ in and around Kiev. One video on the internet shows them vandalizing the Kiev offices of the Party of Regions; another shows them stopping a police car at a roadblock and checking the driver’s ID (to assert authority). Some 30% of the protestors on the demonstrations marched under RS banners. It was they who first attacked the police with Molotov cocktails, provoking violence in response. When the anarchist Anti-Fascist Union Ukraine tried to join the protest, they were intimidated and threatened by RS.Nevertheless, there are many signs that Svoboda and RS are not really in opposition to one another. There is, rather, a division of labor between them as parliamentary and extra-parliamentary forces sharing the same long-term goals. Tyahnybok’s deputy Yuri Mykhalchyshyn is thought to serve as the main link between Svoboda and RS.The existence of a radical-nationalist paramilitary force outside the weakened and demoralized state machine has been a major factor impelling Ukraine down the road to civil war, with similar ‘self-defense’ forces emerging on the other side of the political confrontation in the Eastern cities. Some analysts have been arguing that Ukraine is already in the early stages of a civil war.The atmosphere of mass violence is conveyed by another video, taken in the Crimean city of Kerch. A group of moderate (non-Banderite) Orange activists have come to set up a platform and hold an outdoor meeting with the local residents. The woman speaker has hardly begun when people begin yelling things like: ‘You are fascists, you have no right…’ and throwing things at them. Something lands right in the middle of her face. Then a group push break through the police line – the police seem to be doing their best to protect the visitors – and rush the platform. It topples over and the speaker is thrown to the ground. Then we see another group kicking and beating her companions, their faces already bloodied. The crowd eggs them on with cries of ‘Beat the fascists!’The new governmentIt had been announced that the new government would be a coalition of the three main Orange parties – Fatherland, the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR), and Svoboda. However, it turns out to be an alliance of only Fatherland and Svoboda plus a few non-party figures. UDAR says it decided not to enter the coalition but does not explain why; it promises to support the government in parliament.There is a clue: on Tuesday Tiahnybok expressed reservations about joining a coalition that would also include UDAR. Perhaps that reflected his dislike of UDAR’s conciliatory stance on language and other ethno-national issues. My guess is that both UDAR and Svoboda were unwilling to work together, so that Fatherland had to choose between them. Why did they choose Svoboda? A leaked phone call between Nuland and the US ambassador shows that the State Department did not want Svoboda in the government, suggesting that while the US has influence on the Orange politicians they are not helpless puppets of the US.My own answer is that only Svoboda can restrain RS and thereby hopefully halt the drift toward civil war. This is presumably a reality that the Ukrainians understand but the American (and European?) diplomats do not. The composition of the new government supports this hypothesis. The new head of the National Security and Defense Council, Andriy Parubiy, though recently aligned with Fatherland – he coordinated a volunteer security corps to protect the protestors – has a Banderite past (he co-founded the SNPU with Tiahnybok) and his deputy is none other than Dmytro Yarosh, grim-faced leader of the RS. Through this maneuver the radical-nationalist paramilitaries can be incorporated into the official security forces of the state.Svoboda has been given one of the three deputy prime minister posts (Oleksandr Sych) and the ministries for ecology and agriculture. The new education minister (Serhiy Kvit) is also close to the radical nationalists. And Svoboda keeps the state prosecutor’s office, a politically sensitive position already under its control.Besides the radical nationalists, several other members of the new government may disappoint those who believe in the ‘ideals of the Orange Revolution’. A number of new ministers have been targets of corruption allegations, and in some cases the evidence seems quite weighty. And some of the new people, especially in the economics ministries, are generally regarded as representatives of specific oligarchs: energy minister Yuri Prodan and finance minister Oleksandr Shlapak both have close connections to the wealthiest of the Orange oligarchs, ‘Benya’ Kolomoyski.(1). Stepan Bandera was the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, which was active in Galicia (Western Ukraine) under Polish rule in the 1930s, under German occupation during WW2, and under the Soviet regime until suppressed in the early 1950s. I use the term ‘Banderists’ in order to leave open the question of whether movements in this tradition should be regarded as fascist, semi-fascist or merely radical nationalist.(2) [my addition — ALB]

[alanjjohnstone]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/02/27-2A Curious HistoryThere’s also a curious history behind U.S. attitudes toward ethnically divided Ukraine. During Ronald Reagan’s presidency – as he escalated Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union – one of his propaganda services, Radio Liberty, began broadcasting commentaries into Ukraine from right-wing exiles.Some of the commentaries praised Ukrainian nationalists who had sided with the Nazis in World War II as the SS waged its “final solution” against European Jews. The propaganda broadcasts provoked outrage from Jewish organizations, such as B’nai B’rith, and individuals including conservative academic Richard Pipes.According to an internal memo dated May 4, 1984, and written by James Critchlow, a research officer at the Board of International Broadcasting, which managed Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe, one RL broadcast in particular was viewed as “defending Ukrainians who fought in the ranks of the SS.”Critchlow wrote, “An RL Ukrainian broadcast of Feb. 12, 1984 contains references to the Nazi-oriented Ukrainian-manned SS ‘Galicia’ Division of World War II which may have damaged RL’s reputation with Soviet listeners. The memoirs of a German diplomat are quoted in a way that seems to constitute endorsement by RL of praise for Ukrainian volunteers in the SS division, which during its existence fought side by side with the Germans against the Red Army.”Harvard Professor Pipes, who was an informal adviser to the Reagan administration, also inveighed against the RL broadcasts, writing – on Dec. 3, 1984 – “the Russian and Ukrainian services of RL have been transmitting this year blatantly anti-Semitic material to the Soviet Union which may cause the whole enterprise irreparable harm.”Though the Reagan administration publicly defended RL against some of the public criticism, privately some senior officials agreed with the critics, according to documents in the archives of the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. For instance, in a Jan. 4, 1985, memo, Walter Raymond Jr., a top official on the National Security Council, told his boss, National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane, that “I would believe much of what Dick [Pipes] says is right.”

[ALB]

Another article recommended as informative can be found here:http://www.criticatac.ro/lefteast/support-ukrainians-but-not-far-right/Here is one passage written before the new government was formed on one of the parties in it:

Quote:

One of the major forces at Euromaidan is the far-right xenophobic party ‘Svoboda’ (‘Freedom’). They are dominant among the volunteering guards of the protest camp and are the vanguard of the most radical street actions such as the occupation of the administrative buildings in the center of Kiev. Before 2004 ‘Svoboda’ was called Social-National Party of Ukraine and used Nazi ‘Wolfsangel’ symbol. The party leader Oleh Tiahnybok is still known for his anti-Semitic speech. Even after its re-branding, Svoboda is establishing cooperation with Neo-Nazi and neofascist European parties such as National Democratic Party of Germany and Forza nuova of Italy. Its rank-and-file militants are frequently involved in street violence and hate crimes against migrants and political opponents. At Euromaidan, particularly, the far-right attacked a left-wing student group attempting to bring social-economic and gender equality issues to the protest. Several days later the far-right mob beat and seriously injured two trade union activists accusing them of being “communists.” Slogans, previously purview of far-right subculture such as ‘Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!’, ‘Glory to the nation! Death to enemies!’, ‘Ukraine above everything!’ (an adoption of ‘Deutschland über alles’) have now become mainstream among the protestors. On January 1st, ‘Svoboda’ organized a torchlight march to celebrate the birthday of Stepan Bandera – the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, which for a certain period collaborated with Nazis, participated in the Holocaust and was responsible for the genocide of Poles in Western Ukraine.

Sounds a bit like Golden Dawn becoming part of the government in Greece.With 40% of the population implacably opposed to them they won't be able to implement their "radical nationalist" agenda, but this does expose the West's talk of  being concerned only with "democracy" in the Ukraine as propaganda to try to disguise their real aim of bringing the area into their sphere of interest.    

[ALB]

Interesting article here from Der Spiegel explaining how the two oligarchs mentioned in the article in this month's Socialist Standard as supporting the "blues" dropped President Yanukovych and got their paid MPs to vote for the new regime:http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/how-oligarchs-in-ukraine-prepared-for-the-fall-of-yanukovych-a-955328.html

[alanjjohnstone]

i can't believe the cant.  Defense ministers of Nato emphasized the “principle of inviolability of frontiers.”  Uh-huh, this after Yugoslavia wars and then Kosovo, later Afghanistan then Libya and umpteen other military interventions in Africa. Not to mention the very convenient blind eye turned to the Chechyna massacres and slaughter when it suited Nato.http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-26/nato-urges-intact-ukraine-as-russia-holds-military-drill.html

[alanjjohnstone]

I found Craig Murray's short article to the point and could relate to it. http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/03/territorial-integrity/

[alanjjohnstone]

Of course, protecting your ethnic cousins was the excuse that Hitler used to invade Sudetenland and countless other wars of aggression/defence. 

[alanjjohnstone]

http://rt.com/news/ukraine-crimea-parliament-government-056/ On May 25, Crimeans will vote “yes” or “no” on whether the “Autonomous Republic of Crimea has state sovereignty and is a part of Ukraine, in accordance with treaties and agreements.”Earlier the presidium of the Crimean parliament have announced that they are confident "that only by holding an All-Crimean referendum on the issue of improving the status of the Autonomy and expanding its powers Crimeans will be able to determine the future of the Autonomy on their own and without any external pressure.”

[ALB]

I think that since then they've decided to bring forward the referendum to 30 March:http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-crimea-referendum-date-20140301,0,2305350.story#axzz2ustVGtSE

[ALB]

According to this report, Kolomoisky mentioned as an "Orange" oligarch in the article in this month's Socialist Standard has just been appointed a Governor of one of Ukraine's regions. Other oligarchs have been appointed to other government posts:http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/03/world/europe/ukraine-turns-to-its-oligarchs-for-political-help.html?_r=0Looks more like oligarchy than "democracy" but then that's what it's like in the West too except that the oligarchs here call themselves business leaders and don't feel the need to get involved in running the government themselves. They prefer to leave this to middle management as represented by elected professional politicians, who they can rely on to look after their interests without even having to pay them.

[alanjjohnstone]

http://rt.com/news/ukraine-dual-citizenship-jail-572/A bill  in Ukrainian parliament seeks tougher sanctions against holders of dual citizenship, which is forbidden in the country. Under the legislation, violators could be punished by a prison term of up to 10 years. Currently a Ukrainian citizen who receives a second citizenship remains a citizen of Ukraine, unless he/she notifies the authorities and gets stripped of his/her original citizenship. There are fines for those who fail to disclose their dual citizenship, but the regulations on the issue are quite murky and rarely applied.   But it may back-fire. The newly-appointed Dnepropetrovsk governor, Igor Kolomoysky, Ukraine’s third-wealthiest man, with an estimated fortune of $2.4 billion. He co-owns the informal commercial group Privat, which includes Ukraine’s largest bank Privatbank, which Kolomoysky heads, as well as assets in the oil, ferroalloys and food industries, agriculture and transport, possesses dual Ukrainian-Israeli citizenship and controls his business empire from Switzerland. http://rt.com/news/ukraine-oligarch-rule-governors-512/

[ALB]

Translation by Stefan of an anti-war declaration published on a Russian anarchist site here and signed by others.

Quote:

War on War! Declaration of Internationalists in Connection with the Threat of War in UkraineWar on war! Not a single drop of blood for ‘the nation’!The struggle for power among the oligarchic clans of Ukraine threatens to escalate into an international military conflict. Russian capitalism intends to take advantage of the redivision of Ukrainian state power in order to achieve its long-established imperial and expansionist ambitions in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, where it has solid economic, financial, and political interests.On the threshold of the next phase of the economic crisis in Russia, the ruling regime is inciting Russian nationalism in an attempt to divert the attention of working people away from growing socioeconomic problems, their miserable wages and pensions, and the dismantling of affordable healthcare, education, and other social services. Amid the din of nationalist and bellicose rhetoric it is easier to complete the formation of a corporate authoritarian state based on reactionary values and repressive policies.In Ukraine an extremely acute economic and political crisis led to an intensification of the struggle between ‘old’ and ‘new’ oligarchic clans. The ‘old’ clans used various forces, including paramilitary ultra-rightist and ultra-nationalist formations, to carry out a coup d’état in Kiev. The political elite of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine do not intend to share their power and property with the latest rulers in Kiev and are seeking assistance from the Russian state. Both sides are resorting to unrestrained nationalist hysteria—Ukrainian and Russian, respectively. Armed clashes are taking place. Blood is being shed. The Western powers have their own interests and ambitions; their intervention in the conflict may lead to World War Three.As usual, the warring cliques of our masters force us—ordinary people, whether wage workers, unemployed, students or pensioners—to fight for their interests. Intoxicating us with the narcotic drug of nationalism, they set us against one another and make us forget our real needs and interests. Their ‘nations’ are no business of ours. We have much more vital and pressing problems to deal with—how to make ends meet under the system that they have established in order to enslave and exploit us.Don’t get carried away by the nationalist hysteria! To hell with their states and ‘nations’ with their flags and anthems! This is not our war, and we should not take part in it and pay with our blood for their palaces, bank accounts and state offices. And if our masters in Moscow, Kiev, Lvov, Kharkov, Donetsk and Simferopol start it, our duty is to resist by all available means!Down with war between peoples! Down with peace between classes!Signed by:Russian Section of the International Workers’ AssociationInternationalists of Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Israel, Lithuania, Romania and PolandFederation of Anarchists of MoldovaFraction of Revolutionary Socialism (Ukraine)The declaration is open to new signatories.

 

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