[LAF] Antifascism and Russia

[Volodya]

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http://freedom.libsyn.com/134-antifascism-and-russia

Revolutionary greetings,

Contemporary anarchism exists at the intersection of several movements that
oppose oppression: anti-capitalism, antifascism, anti-racism, ecological
movement, feminism, free speech advocates, lgbt activism, etc. Having said
that, being a member of those movements does not automatically excuse any and
all actions of the people. We should criticise ourselves, because only then
can we move forward.

Recently i have come across the news about antifa people helping out with
Russian conquest of Eastern Ukraine and defending their position by claiming
that they do so to oppose the spread of fascism in the occupied territory;
here i will attempt to explain the fallacy of such position. The antifa group
in question calls itself "8th International Brigade Carlos Palomino", however
this is not going to be a critique of their specific actions nor will i
attempt to talk about their tactic, rather i will express my opposition to the
entire strategy chosen.

The very first thing that we need to recognise about Russian occupation of
South and Eastern Ukraine is that it has nothing to do with opposition to
fascism in that country. Russian government has zero-tollerance to any
opposition to pro-Russian nationalist, pro-Russian racialist, or pro-Russian
imperialist ideas. Antifascists are commonly labeled as terrorists and thrown
in jail, one of the best recent examples of that is Alexandr Kolchenko, who
was arrested in Crimea and accused of plotting terrorist acts in an obviously
made up case, his real crime was that his antifascism was directed against
pro-Russian fascists who were in the area.

Which brings me to the next point, that Russia doesn't only lack any drive to
oppose fascism, but it actively supports fascists and fascist ideologies on
the territories that it controls. Slavic Union (aka SS), the russian neo-nazi
group, has long been rumored to volunteer in much of south and east ukraine.
Cossacks, who have traditionally been the most racist of the Russian force
groups, are given complete carte blanche in their behaviour in the occupied
territories.

And even within Russia-proper police often refuse to even listen to the claims
about attacks by racists, and are often too busy with checking the papers of
anybody who doesn't look like a russian. Although Russia criticises Ukraine
for attempting to promote Ukranian language, i would challange anybody in
Russia to find the country-wide TV or Radio station that broadcasts in
anything other than Russian.

The laws that deal with the rights of minorities in Russia have been discussed
to death already; but now in the occupied territories it is only getting
worse. In Lugansk 2-5 year sentence for homosexual sex have recently been
approved, and in some cases it can be upgraded to death penalty. In Crimea the
Russian government officials have vowed to have no public visibility for LGBT
people. And although Kremlin often tries to claim that it just supports the
wishes of the local people, whatever those are; it openly destroys any sort of
action that does not further its imperialist agenda.

What Russia has become good at, is painting a picture of itself as a fighter
against USA and fascism. This has drawn some people to mistakenly conclude
that in order to oppose US imperialism and neo-nazism they need to show some
sort of support to Russia. Such propaganda model in part is based on that of
the United States, and it is very strange how so many people fail to recognise
the similarities. Russia today is declaring to the world "You are either with
us or with the terrorists!" and the same people who were criticising such
idiotic dichotomies just years ago, completely accept them now.

So what are the reasons why Russian forces are now in Ukraine? The answer is
relatively simple, Ukraine has managed to kick the pro-Russian corrupt
president Yanukovich out of the country. That ex-president actually managed to
build himself a personal zoo on his manssion, he has sucked the money from the
same regions that today are apparently fighting to join Russia. But even
though the people managed to kick out the president, they were unable to
resist the military invasion by Russia, and that was due to the long time that
Ukraine was an openly neutral country. The military in Ukraine simply cannot
stand up against Russian one, because Ukraine has depended on USA, Russia, and
UK to protect its borders, two of these countries are refusing to do anything
except sanctions and one of them is actively working towards the occupation.

In this situation it is of course easy to jump on the bandwaggon of the side
that is most likely to win the fight. But just like no feminist in the right
mind has defended the US invasion of Afghanistan, should no antifascist
support Russia in its attempt to annex territory after territory from Ukraine.

None of the above should be taken to mean that i believe no nazis are in
Ukraine. I know that there are, and i know that in some parts the fascist
movement is a big problem. I also know that i give fully support to Russian
people who would want to fight against right wing take-over. However, the
fight to prevent the rise of fascism in Ukraine should not become the fight to
further Russia's imperialism, and it should be lead by Ukranian people
themselves; and until the Russian invasion Ukraine was actually doing a much
better job at it, than Russia has.


- -- 
http://freedom.libsyn.com/     Echo of Freedom, Radical Podcast

 "None of us are free until all of us are free."    ~ Mihail Bakunin
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