“Our understanding of the role of NATO and the United States cannot lead us to downplay or in any way excuse the Russian attack. ”
The Crisis in Ukraine: Major Challenge to the US Antiwar Movement
15 March 2022, byWith Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine a crisis of historic proportions has emerged front and center in world politics. The warmongering US corporate media headline the Biden Administration’s every pronouncement, daily blaring that Putin’s Russia is the aggressor, that Russia is bombing civilians, that it is intent on taking over all of Ukraine and that it poses a threat to NATO, if not to all of “democratic” Europe. All the corporate institutions of manufacturing consent are united (...)
Local leader of Miners’ union murdered by separatists in Donbas
5 May 2015, byThe Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine is saddened by the tragic death of their friend and expresses sincere condolences to the relatives of Ivan Reznichenko.
Commenting on the Ukrainian War
4 May 2015, byFrom October 3rd to 26th, the festival “Women Commentators” was held at the Xawery Dunikowski Museum of Sculpture Królikarnia in Warsaw, at which contemporary art of both Ukrainian and Russian female artists focusing on socio-political criticism was presented. The festival was initiated by renowned Polish artist Katarzyna Kozyra and curated this year by Katya Krupennikova, a Russian curator who also works in Warsaw (the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle). In addition to the specially organised discussion platform and documentary cinema program, the festival featured a museum exhibition showcasing artworks commenting on the current situation of war between Russia and Ukraine, made by artists including Lesia Khomenko, Alevtina Kakhidze, Ekaterina Lazareva, Olga Jitlina, and many others.
Return of the Oligrachs: the October parliamentary elections
4 May 2015, byUkraine’s oligarchs are competing and co-operating to build networks of parliamentary deputies who will lobby their interests
Ukraine’s oligarchs are competing and co-operating to build networks of parliamentary deputies who will lobby their interests
Robbery, arrests, kidnapping were the main threats to the residents of Donbass after shelling
27 April 2015, byOn October 14th at the press conference in the “Ukrinform” news agency, the Center for Social and Labor Research presented the latest results of the systematic monitoring of protests, repression and concessions in August-September 2014, dedicated to violence against civilians in the Donbass and to repressions against protests across Ukraine. The project is supported by the International Renaissance Foundation and the National Endowment for Democracy.
Maidan, the Right-Wing and Violence in Protest Events Analysis
27 April 2015, byHow significant was the participation of the far right in Maidan? Unfortunately, this question quickly falls victim to extreme politicization due to two phenomena: first, active propaganda aimed at discrediting Maidan by its opponents, including the Russian media, and second, by whitewashing attempts by Maidan’s (left-)liberal or moderate nationalist supporters. Despite the hot polemics there are very few attempts to systematically assess the participation of the far right in Maidan. Typically arguments are supported with survey results conducted among participants of the Maidan showing that only a tiny minority of the protesters were members of any political party (3.9% in December 2013, and 7.7% in January 2014), or with data from electoral polls and presidential and parliamentary election results showing little electoral support for Svoboda, the Right Sector party or their leaders.
“What is playing itself out in Ukraine now is the clash of two opposed imperial agendas”
24 April 2015, byIn August 2014 Yuriy Dergunov conducted an interview with Gonzalo Pozo for the Ukrainian magazine Commons: Journal of Social Criticism. It was first published in English by LeftEast in October 2014.
The Western Left Should Not Repeat the Mistake Ukrainian Protesters Did on Maidan
24 April 2015, byThe protesters that started gathering on Kyiv’s main square (‘maidan’) almost ten months ago were driven by a certain kind of ‘occidentalism’ (if I may introduce this term by analogy with orientalism). Europe, which stood as an epitome of Occident for them, presented a generalized image of Ukraine relieved from all evils: corruption, poverty, economic backwardness. However, this vacuous image formed by the desires of the protesting masses, was filled by the content provided by political passions of groups, organizations and parties that struggled to dominate the protest. For liberals it was the Europe of bourgeois democracy, free trade and developed financial markets, for national democrats it was the Europe of elusive ‘European values’ opposed to ‘the Asian horde’, for the far right it was the ‘Fortress of Europe’ and for the few left-wing groups it was the Europe of social struggle. While the brightest dreams of the Maidan coalesced in the image of Europe, the worst nightmares were projected towards Ukraine’s East: Ukraine’s own eastern regions, the stronghold of the then ruling elite, and its eastern neighbor, Russia. [1]
Revolutions and their Translators: Maidan, the Conflict in Ukraine, and the Russian New Left
24 April 2015, byMost accounts of the conflict in Ukraine reproduce the familiar Cold War binary. For the Russian government-controlled TV channels, Maidan (Ukraine’s revolution of the winter 2013–2014) was a fascist coup that overthrew the legitimate government with the US imperialist support. For the liberal media in the West, Ukraine, and Russia, Maidan was a popular democratic uprising against an authoritarian regime that was rooted in the Soviet past. Both these accounts claim to draw on real facts and each obscures much in the real situation.
Footnotes
[1] This article was originally published by Socialist Worker, Ireland. It was republished by LeftEast on October 16 2014