Eric Draitser with a piece on the volatile situation in Ukraine. He wrote it in January and it initially featured on his blog Stop Imperialism at the end of the same month. It is reproduced on TPQ with the author's permission.
The violence on the streets of Ukraine is far more than an expression of popular anger against a government. Instead, it is merely the latest example of the rise of the most insidious form of fascism that Europe has seen since the fall of the Third Reich.
Recent months have seen regular protests by the Ukrainian political opposition and its supporters – protests ostensibly in response to Ukrainian President Yanukovich’s refusal to sign a trade agreement with the European Union that was seen by many political observers as the first step towards European integration. The protests remained largely peaceful until January 17th when protesters armed with clubs, helmets, and improvised bombs unleashed brutal violence on the police, storming government buildings, beating anyone suspected of pro-government sympathies, and generally wreaking havoc on the streets of Kiev. But who are these violent extremists and what is their ideology?
The political formation is known as “Pravy Sektor” (Right Sector), which is essentially an umbrella organization for a number of ultra-nationalist (read fascist) right wing groups including supporters of the “Svoboda” (Freedom) Party, “Patriots of Ukraine”, “Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian National Self Defense” (UNA-UNSO), and “Trizub”. All of these organizations share a common ideology that is vehemently anti-Russian, anti-immigrant, and anti-Jewish among other things. In addition they share a common reverence for the so called “Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists” led by Stepan Bandera, the infamous Nazi collaborators who actively fought against the Soviet Union and engaged in some of the worst atrocities committed by any side in World War II.
While Ukrainian political forces, opposition and government, continue to negotiate, a very different battle is being waged in the streets. Using intimidation and brute force more typical of Hitler’s “Brownshirts” or Mussolini’s “Blackshirts” than a contemporary political movement, these groups have managed to turn a conflict over economic policy and the political allegiances of the country into an existential struggle for the very survival of the nation that these so called “nationalists” claim to love so dearly. The images of Kiev burning, Lviv streets filled with thugs, and other chilling examples of the chaos in the country, illustrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that the political negotiation with the Maidan (Kiev’s central square and center of the protests) opposition is now no longer the central issue. Rather, it is the question of Ukrainian fascism and whether it is to be supported or rejected.
For its part, the United States has strongly come down on the side of the opposition, regardless of its political character. In early December, members of the US ruling establishment such as John McCain and Victoria Nuland were seen at Maidan lending their support to the protesters. However, as the character of the opposition has become apparent in recent days, the US and Western ruling class and its media machine have done little to condemn the fascist upsurge. Instead, their representatives have met with representatives of Right Sector and deemed them to be “no threat.” In other words, the US and its allies have given their tacit approval for the continuation and proliferation of the violence in the name of their ultimate goal: regime change.
In an attempt to pry Ukraine out of the Russian sphere of influence, the US-EU-NATO alliance has, not for the first time, allied itself with fascists. Of course, for decades, millions in Latin America were disappeared or murdered by fascist paramilitary forces armed and supported by the United States. The mujahideen of Afghanistan, which later transmogrified into Al Qaeda, also extreme ideological reactionaries, were created and financed by the United States for the purposes of destabilizing Russia. And of course, there is the painful reality of Libya and, most recently Syria, where the United States and its allies finance and support extremist jihadis against a government that has refused to align with the US and Israel. There is a disturbing pattern here that has never been lost on keen political observers: the United States always makes common cause with right wing extremists and fascists for geopolitical gain.
The situation in Ukraine is deeply troubling because it represents a political conflagration that could very easily tear the country apart less than 25 years after it gained independence from the Soviet Union. However, there is another equally disturbing aspect to the rise of fascism in that country – it is not alone.
Ukraine and the rise of right wing extremism there cannot be seen, let alone understood, in isolation. Rather, it must be examined as part of a growing trend throughout Europe (and indeed the world) – a trend which threatens the very foundations of democracy.
In Greece, savage austerity imposed by the troika (IMF, ECB, and European Commission) has crippled the country’s economy, leading to a depression as bad, if not worse, than the Great Depression in the United States. It is against this backdrop of economic collapse that the Golden Dawn party has grown to become the third most popular political party in the country. Espousing an ideology of hate, the Golden Dawn – in effect a Nazi party that promotes anti-Jewish, anti-immigrant, anti-women chauvinism – is a political force that the government in Athens has understood to be a serious threat to the very fabric of society. It is this threat which led the government to arrest the party’s leadership after a Golden Dawn Nazi fatally stabbed an anti-fascist rapper. Athens has launched an investigation into the party, though the results of this investigation and trial remain somewhat unclear.
What makes Golden Dawn such an insidious threat is the fact that, despite their central ideology of Nazism, their anti-EU, anti-austerity rhetoric appeals to many in the economically devastated Greece. As with many fascist movements in the 20th Century, Golden Dawn scapegoats immigrants, Muslim and African primarily, for many of the problems facing Greeks. In dire economic circumstances, such irrational hate becomes appealing; an answer to the question of how to solve society’s problems. Indeed, despite Golden Dawn’s leaders being jailed, other party members are still in parliament, still running for major offices including mayor of Athens. Though an electoral victory is unlikely, another strong showing at the polls will make the eradication of fascism in Greece that much harder.
Were this phenomenon confined to Greece and Ukraine, it would not constitute a continental trend. Sadly however, we see the rise of similar, albeit slightly less overtly fascist, political parties all over Europe. In Spain, the ruling pro-austerity People’s Party has moved to establish draconian laws restricting protest and free speech, and empowering and sanctioning repressive police tactics. In France, the National Front Party of Marine Le Pen, which vehemently scapegoats Muslim and African immigrants, won nearly twenty percent of the vote in the first round of presidential elections. Similarly, the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands – which promotes anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant policies – has grown to be the third largest in parliament. Throughout Scandinavia, ultra nationalist parties which once toiled in complete irrelevance and obscurity are now significant players in elections. These trends are worrying to say the least.
It should be noted too that, beyond Europe, there are a number of quasi-fascist political formations which are, in one way or another, supported by the United States. The right wing coups that overthrew the governments of Paraguay and Honduras were tacitly and/or overtly supported by Washington in their seemingly endless quest to suppress the Left in Latin America. Of course, one should also remember that the protest movement in Russia was spearheaded by Alexei Navalny and his nationalist followers who espouse a virulently anti-Muslim, racist ideology that views immigrants from the Russian Caucasus and former Soviet republics as beneath “European Russians”. These and other examples begin to paint a very ugly portrait of a US foreign policy that attempts to use economic hardship and political upheaval to extend US hegemony around the world.
In Ukraine, the “Right Sector” has taken the fight from the negotiating table to the streets in an attempt to fulfill the dream of Stepan Bandera – a Ukraine free of Russia, Jews, and all other “undesirables” as they see it. Buoyed by the continued support from the US and Europe, these fanatics represent a more serious threat to democracy than Yanukovich and the pro-Russian government ever could. If Europe and the United States don’t recognize this threat in its infancy, by the time they finally do, it might just be too late.
Recent months have seen regular protests by the Ukrainian political opposition and its supporters – protests ostensibly in response to Ukrainian President Yanukovich’s refusal to sign a trade agreement with the European Union that was seen by many political observers as the first step towards European integration. The protests remained largely peaceful until January 17th when protesters armed with clubs, helmets, and improvised bombs unleashed brutal violence on the police, storming government buildings, beating anyone suspected of pro-government sympathies, and generally wreaking havoc on the streets of Kiev. But who are these violent extremists and what is their ideology?
The political formation is known as “Pravy Sektor” (Right Sector), which is essentially an umbrella organization for a number of ultra-nationalist (read fascist) right wing groups including supporters of the “Svoboda” (Freedom) Party, “Patriots of Ukraine”, “Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian National Self Defense” (UNA-UNSO), and “Trizub”. All of these organizations share a common ideology that is vehemently anti-Russian, anti-immigrant, and anti-Jewish among other things. In addition they share a common reverence for the so called “Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists” led by Stepan Bandera, the infamous Nazi collaborators who actively fought against the Soviet Union and engaged in some of the worst atrocities committed by any side in World War II.
While Ukrainian political forces, opposition and government, continue to negotiate, a very different battle is being waged in the streets. Using intimidation and brute force more typical of Hitler’s “Brownshirts” or Mussolini’s “Blackshirts” than a contemporary political movement, these groups have managed to turn a conflict over economic policy and the political allegiances of the country into an existential struggle for the very survival of the nation that these so called “nationalists” claim to love so dearly. The images of Kiev burning, Lviv streets filled with thugs, and other chilling examples of the chaos in the country, illustrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that the political negotiation with the Maidan (Kiev’s central square and center of the protests) opposition is now no longer the central issue. Rather, it is the question of Ukrainian fascism and whether it is to be supported or rejected.
For its part, the United States has strongly come down on the side of the opposition, regardless of its political character. In early December, members of the US ruling establishment such as John McCain and Victoria Nuland were seen at Maidan lending their support to the protesters. However, as the character of the opposition has become apparent in recent days, the US and Western ruling class and its media machine have done little to condemn the fascist upsurge. Instead, their representatives have met with representatives of Right Sector and deemed them to be “no threat.” In other words, the US and its allies have given their tacit approval for the continuation and proliferation of the violence in the name of their ultimate goal: regime change.
In an attempt to pry Ukraine out of the Russian sphere of influence, the US-EU-NATO alliance has, not for the first time, allied itself with fascists. Of course, for decades, millions in Latin America were disappeared or murdered by fascist paramilitary forces armed and supported by the United States. The mujahideen of Afghanistan, which later transmogrified into Al Qaeda, also extreme ideological reactionaries, were created and financed by the United States for the purposes of destabilizing Russia. And of course, there is the painful reality of Libya and, most recently Syria, where the United States and its allies finance and support extremist jihadis against a government that has refused to align with the US and Israel. There is a disturbing pattern here that has never been lost on keen political observers: the United States always makes common cause with right wing extremists and fascists for geopolitical gain.
The situation in Ukraine is deeply troubling because it represents a political conflagration that could very easily tear the country apart less than 25 years after it gained independence from the Soviet Union. However, there is another equally disturbing aspect to the rise of fascism in that country – it is not alone.
The Fascist Menace Across the Continent
Ukraine and the rise of right wing extremism there cannot be seen, let alone understood, in isolation. Rather, it must be examined as part of a growing trend throughout Europe (and indeed the world) – a trend which threatens the very foundations of democracy.
In Greece, savage austerity imposed by the troika (IMF, ECB, and European Commission) has crippled the country’s economy, leading to a depression as bad, if not worse, than the Great Depression in the United States. It is against this backdrop of economic collapse that the Golden Dawn party has grown to become the third most popular political party in the country. Espousing an ideology of hate, the Golden Dawn – in effect a Nazi party that promotes anti-Jewish, anti-immigrant, anti-women chauvinism – is a political force that the government in Athens has understood to be a serious threat to the very fabric of society. It is this threat which led the government to arrest the party’s leadership after a Golden Dawn Nazi fatally stabbed an anti-fascist rapper. Athens has launched an investigation into the party, though the results of this investigation and trial remain somewhat unclear.
What makes Golden Dawn such an insidious threat is the fact that, despite their central ideology of Nazism, their anti-EU, anti-austerity rhetoric appeals to many in the economically devastated Greece. As with many fascist movements in the 20th Century, Golden Dawn scapegoats immigrants, Muslim and African primarily, for many of the problems facing Greeks. In dire economic circumstances, such irrational hate becomes appealing; an answer to the question of how to solve society’s problems. Indeed, despite Golden Dawn’s leaders being jailed, other party members are still in parliament, still running for major offices including mayor of Athens. Though an electoral victory is unlikely, another strong showing at the polls will make the eradication of fascism in Greece that much harder.
Were this phenomenon confined to Greece and Ukraine, it would not constitute a continental trend. Sadly however, we see the rise of similar, albeit slightly less overtly fascist, political parties all over Europe. In Spain, the ruling pro-austerity People’s Party has moved to establish draconian laws restricting protest and free speech, and empowering and sanctioning repressive police tactics. In France, the National Front Party of Marine Le Pen, which vehemently scapegoats Muslim and African immigrants, won nearly twenty percent of the vote in the first round of presidential elections. Similarly, the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands – which promotes anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant policies – has grown to be the third largest in parliament. Throughout Scandinavia, ultra nationalist parties which once toiled in complete irrelevance and obscurity are now significant players in elections. These trends are worrying to say the least.
It should be noted too that, beyond Europe, there are a number of quasi-fascist political formations which are, in one way or another, supported by the United States. The right wing coups that overthrew the governments of Paraguay and Honduras were tacitly and/or overtly supported by Washington in their seemingly endless quest to suppress the Left in Latin America. Of course, one should also remember that the protest movement in Russia was spearheaded by Alexei Navalny and his nationalist followers who espouse a virulently anti-Muslim, racist ideology that views immigrants from the Russian Caucasus and former Soviet republics as beneath “European Russians”. These and other examples begin to paint a very ugly portrait of a US foreign policy that attempts to use economic hardship and political upheaval to extend US hegemony around the world.
In Ukraine, the “Right Sector” has taken the fight from the negotiating table to the streets in an attempt to fulfill the dream of Stepan Bandera – a Ukraine free of Russia, Jews, and all other “undesirables” as they see it. Buoyed by the continued support from the US and Europe, these fanatics represent a more serious threat to democracy than Yanukovich and the pro-Russian government ever could. If Europe and the United States don’t recognize this threat in its infancy, by the time they finally do, it might just be too late.
- Eric Draitser is the founder of StopImperialism.com. He is an independent geopolitical analyst based in New York City. You can reach him at ericdraitser@gmail.com.
I agree that what is happening in the Ukraine is anti-democratic, but the lurch to the right is entirely predictable given that most on the political spectrum advocate policies that act against working class people. For example, workers rights/pay was seemingly innocuous. Hence manufacturers need to pay UK workers £1 per unit, for something Chinese workers will accept £0.1 per unit pay for. You can have all the pay and conditions you want, its just you will have less jobs at the end of it. The Left have priced workers out of it, so far out of it there is now no major manufacturing wherever they operate freely. I guess workers around the world are waking up to this reality. Luckily all is not lost for the socialists, some Nazi flags have been waved around, time to flog that dead horse again.
ReplyDeleteYanukovych no longer leading Ukraine, White House declares
ReplyDeleteThis article is absolutely spot on factual. Great reading.
ReplyDeleteIs the U.S. Backing Neo-Nazis in Ukraine?
ReplyDeleteAnthony,
ReplyDeleteWhat i predict will happen : a straw man of Nazi sympathizers is being woven. This is what people will focus on, it will eventually be flattened by guaretees from the other 70% (assuming thats the correct figure) that they are not infact Nazi. The media will raise a sigh of relief and it will be forgotten we are supporting an anti-democratic coup amidst all the back slapping. (there is no occupying power there, so i find it hard to call it anything else other than a coup).
Dramatic video footage of the slaughter in Kiev:
ReplyDeleteAnd another perspective is likewise concerned:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20522.htm
Wolfsbane can you explain the significance of the weblink, the only parallel I see is that both events occurred during an Olympics? Do you think Russia engineers tensions to obfuscate domestic inspection of its medal tallies?
ReplyDeleteIts depressing to see scenes in Ukraine, support for the far right is just lack of critical thinking in my opinion. When times are hard its easy to blame a scapegoat, easy and lazy. Its easier to say its the jews fault etc than it is to admit that this financial situation happened on our watch, that the death of sovereignty and fiscal responsibility manifested itself in our lifetime.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if mankind will ever reach its potential. I do know that support for the far right makes you want to throw the towel in. Hitler said in mein kampf how propaganda should pander to the lowest common denominator and so it continues, bankers commit mass fraud leading to recession and people think far right policies and scapegoating will fix the problems. They don't understand how the global financial system works, they are idiots. The world's full of them.
David, I dont think anyone understands how the global financial system works, it doesnt make them idiots, its a complicated beast that people spend decades to become experts in one small part of.You know finance just has theories, there is nothing as certain as 2+2=4 involved in it. The better the empirical observations, the better the models, and the better the theories that follow, but its a lot of it guess work and probable outcomes.
ReplyDeleteDaithiD,
ReplyDeleteYou could say that about any aspect of life, everything in essence, is a theory, however when you have corruption as the fundamental building block of the financial centre then corruption is what you'll end up with.
As for the idiot comment anybody who thinks supporting the extreme right in challenging the global financial system is an idiot in my opinion.
David Higgins,
ReplyDeleteIm not sure what you mean, im not supportive of the far right at all, and i didnt think the Ukraine protests were about the financial system either? Financial assets fluctuate in price, up or down.The majority of finance is predicated on either anticipating this movement, or mitigating it. You can make a wrong call (infact for every right one, someone has made a wrong one), it doesnt mean anything is corrupt. The cause of the credit crises was based around models that didnt mitigate the ‘tail risk’, catastrophic failure wasnt built into them. Left or right (or far right), if you cant actually grasp what went on, and its bloody complicated, then you arent going to land a glove on those you are calling corrupt. In my view,the main source of corruption was the automatic state intervention in the banks, this is not capitalism and the bad ones should of been allowed to fail.but this corruption doesnt emanate from the financial center, its Brussels, Whitehall, Leinster House. But i digress......
Wow! Missed this one but I've read it before, as always Eric is spot on - this is one of the most astute minds I've come across and his insight into the workings of imperialism is second to none. Eric Draitsor on the Quill! Gee's that is just brilliant to see... maith thu!
ReplyDeleteDaithiD,
ReplyDeleteThe financial system controls Brussels, Whitehall, Leinster house, and if you don,t think that within the the top of financial system they didn't not only see the collapse coming but actively benefited from it then we'll have to agree to disagree.
What i meant was you can take any system financial, political, and say it's open to interpretation, it's all complex, it depends on variations etc. etc but at the core of it all corruption remains corruption, and in today's political climate the power emanates from New york, the city of London and not governments.
To be fair i never said you supported the far right, i said there are those who believe that far right policies will correct financial anomalies. I say it again i believe they are idiots.
As far as the Ukrainian protests of course they are about finances, everything eventually goes back to finance i have never known affluent people to protest.
In relation to the financial markets i don't think they are as complex as people make out, they basically committed fraud, they promoted models they knew to be insolvent. Take away all the talk of derivatives etc and what your left with is fraud. You wouldn't get away with selling dodgy commodities anywhere else but because they are dealing with imaginary concepts, fictional money based on abstract valuations corroborated by faceless men and computer screens somehow it's ok.
David, the what banks do to make money is only of concern to their clients and shareholders. It suits politicians to talk of stealing this or corruption that (and your line feeds directly from this), but the more important point is that they were freely given access to the public purse by these same politicians, and this is where the transfer of wealth occurred. They should of been allowed to fail.
ReplyDeleteDaithiD,
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more that they should have been allowed to fail. The problem is private banks and central banks are intertwined so the argument that the banks affairs concern only the shareholders is false when you have private central banks in conjunction with commercial banks manipulating interest rates etc in concerns everybody.
I don't agree with your argument that politicians accuse bankers on the contrary the do their bidding, the whole bailing out nonsense. Before the Brit election a few years ago Mandelson and Osbourne were on Rothschilds yacht that for me tells it own story.
There is nothing new about what's happening here Daithi Jackson, Franklin warned of the dangers of banks all those years ago, louie mcfayden stated in the house of senate the crash of '29 was engineered by bankers for their own benefit i.e the creation of the federal reserve.
There is no separation between private banks and state especially when the use national wealth as collateral as the've been doing long before 2008.
Anyway as much as it is enjoyable debating with yourself Daithi I don't have much more to say on this, you make coherent, intelligent arguments, I have a different outlook.
Thanks David, I see this kind of thing as a modern version the town hall meetings of old, its good to test out proposals and counter proposals here. You clearly are passionate about this too, and an honourable draw is declared!
ReplyDelete