Some thoughts on the Ukrainian revolution
Letter from an Ukrainian anarchist - July 2014
[ Here ’ s a letter from an anarchist friend ( he ’ s in Kiev ). It ’ s supposed to be a reply to Crimethinc ’ s recent article on the Ukrainian revolution and to everyone who so eagerly claims Ukrainian revolution to be a right-wing only affair . - Note by 325 . nostate . net ]
Comrades !
I ’ m writing to you from Ukraine . I participated a lot in Maidan riots and different anarchist initiatives during that time and want to make several comments that I find to be important for a better understanding of events . In general I agree with your hypothesis ’, but I want to emphasize several details which will make the picture not so dark .
To start with , nationalists and fascists took over the forefront of the confrontations only in the media image of Maidan . They have no real control over activities of protesters , but they controlled the scene of Maidan and the fascination of the mainstream medias .
Fascists from “ Right Sector ” and other organizations had a control only over their members . And it is very remarkable to emphasize that their organizational structures hadn ’ t been very hierarchical . Groups among them were decentralized .
Some of their members had a really vague understanding of far-right values and had supported them only because they were the “ most radical ” force . Dmytro Jarosh , the leader of “ Right Sector ”, was rather a media person , the speaker of “ Right Sector ”, then actual Fuhrer . Now “ Right Sector ” almost has disappeared from public discourse . When the new authorities killed Oleksanr Muzychko , a commander of “ Right Sector ” in the Western regions of Ukraine , and several other provocations had happened , they disintegrated into a fictional “ monstrous fascism ” in Russian propaganda .
The real danger for anarchists was presented by “ C14 ” neonazi group – youth militants from Svoboda party . They have almost no political hegemony and support from other protesters ( Svoboda party tremendously lost their support as the result of their opportunistic policies during the uprising ). They know Kiev antifascists and anarchists by face , because we had confronted a lot of them before Maidan . This group was not so big ( 100-200 people ), but well-organized and better equipped . We couldn ’ t form an anarchist “ hundred-unit ”, because of their pressure . And during the defense of the Occupied Ministry of Education they were the biggest threat for us .
I talked with decades of other militant protesters and usually they discuss anarchism with great interest . Most of them didn ’ t believe in any parties and fought , as they used to say , “ against the police , authorities and corruption ”.
| 11 |