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Interesting statement from the Zapatistas. I hadn’t realised they had gone anarchist. It maybe the quaint language but I am not sure what they mean by the “resistance• in Ukraine. I don’t think they mean the resistance of the Ukrainian state’s armed forces.
Also interesting on that link is a very revealing interviews with someone from the “Social Movement”;
The “Social Movement” is the name Trotskyists in Ukraine under:
https://rev.org.ua/sotsialnyi-rukh-who-we-are/
As can be seen they have joined up to be part of the armed forces of the Ukrainian state.
Incidentally, they could seek to gain support on the basis that Trotskyy was Ukrainian.
Yes, the end of the world is nigh, as the original Abiezer Coppe, the 17th century Ranter preached (before he calmed down after it didn’t happen).
The ICC statements on the war have generally been good but there is an odd passage in this one:
“Our solidarity with the KRAS comrades does not imply that we agree with all the contents of the statement, such as the demand for “an immediate end to hostilities” which seems to be a concession to the idea that the two bourgeois camps can make peace.”
I would have thought that, from the point of view of the immediate interest of the workers, an immediate stop to the killing and destruction is what is required. It may not be likely to happen but it’s a demand that any organisation committed to the interest of the working class should make.
Some of the other KRAS slogans are more dubious and/or just as unlikely to occur (calls for strikes, mutinies), not that this is preventing us publishing their statement in next month’s Socialist Standard.
We are not expected to believe that obvious Ukraine state propaganda, are we? And from the sensationalist Daily Mail (though the Guardian and the Independent willingly echo Ukrainian state propaganda too).
Here’s another example of obvious propaganda since we seem to exchanging examples:
“Large numbers’ of Belarusian troops refusing to join Russian invasion: Ukraine
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence says the possibility exists that Belarus’s army may join the Russian invasion, but its intelligence indicates that “a large number of personnel and some commanders are refusing to participate” in the war.”
Here’s more On Luxemburg’s criticusm of the so-called “ right of nations to self-determination”:
https://www.worldsocialism.org/wsm/rosa-luxemburg-and-the-national-question/
Here’s a couple of quotes from her:
‘A “right of nations” which is valid for all countries and all times is nothing more than a metaphysical cliche of the type of “rights of man” and “rights of the citizen”.
When we speak of the “right of nations to self-determination”, we are using the concept of the “nation”, as a homogeneous social and political entity . . . In a class society, “the nation” as a homogeneous sociopolitical entity does not exist. Rather, there exist within each nation, classes with antagonistic interests and “rights”.’
Having had to listen to Biden speak recently as over the Ukraine War I have my doubts that he really is the President ie where the buck stops. He seems so lethargic and just to be reading or saying what someone has prepared for him. He seems to be just a figurehead. So where does the buck stop? With Blinken the Secretary of State perhaps. He’s a boring speaker too who has to read everything he says but he seems more with it than poor old Biden.
A news item in today’s Times suggests that Barys the Buffoon and Liz la Gaffe are continuing to exercise a malign influence on the situation.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/truss-fears-france-and-germany-will-let-putin-off-hook-rbglg9623
Before the war broke out Britain didn’t want to make any concession that might have permitted a diplomatic solution and now they are keen to sabotage the talks on a deal that are going on between Russia and Ukraine. They have publicly declared that they want Russia not only to fail but to be seem to fail. But Russia has already gained that Ukraine will not join NATO and so won’t be seen to have failed and the gruesome twosome won’t be satisfied so don’t want to talks to succeed. They would prefer the war to continue until Russia is somehow defeated. They are classic war-mongers.
The alternative explanation is just as unflattering. They are doing it to save in the one case and advance in the other their miserable little political careers. Despicable even by capitalism’s standards.
These people are all turning out to have feet of clay, though admittedly Albert with his dystopian blueprint always had a head of clay as well.
Looks more like reduced than revamped. They must be having a bad time of it. Or those doing the work of maintaining it are getting tired. Pity really, as the forums were (sometimes) quite useful even good even if populated by some nasty and dishonest anti-SPGB anarchists.
A fuller description of the political party bans
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/3/21/why-did-ukraine-suspend-11-pro-russia-parties
This article should be given the widest possible publicity as it completely refutes the propaganda that the Ukraine state is fighting for “democracy”, “Western values”, etc. The Econonist Intelligence Unit refuses to classify Ukraine even as a “flawed democracy” but only as a “hybrid” between a flawed democracy and an authoritarian regime. This move will mean it goes down a few more notches in that direction.
Zelensky likes to address other state’s parliaments but one state whose parliament he hasn’t addressed is Ukraine’s. That would be a bit embarrassing as the places for a main opposition party with a tenth of the seats and nearly a fifth of votes cast would be empty.
Here is another key passage:
“After the Euromaidan revolution, and Russia’s hostile actions in Crimea and Donbas, however, the pro-Russian camp was marginalised in Ukrainian politics. And at the same time, the pro-Russian label became very inflated. It started to be used to describe anyone calling for Ukraine’s neutrality. It has also started to be employed to discredit and silence sovereigntist, state-developmentalist, anti-Western, illiberal, populist, left-wing, and many other discourses.”
What is ironic (very ironic in fact in view if Barys Johnson’s gaffe) about this is that by the sounds of it as “sovereigntists” some of the banned parties take the same position as the Brexiteers in Britain. But to take an anti-EU position in Ukraine gets you banned.
Yes, we will definitely mention this in the Socialist Standard. Part of the previous English translation will have been made from a German or French translation, so this version, all translated from Russian, will be more accurate.
Confirmation from CNN that it is the Azov Battalion that is holding out in Mariupol at the expense of the lives, limbs and houses of the population there:
“Captain Svyatoslav Palamar, of the National Guard Azov Regiment, said he and his fellow fighters would not surrender in Mariupol.”
“Moscow’s humanitarian promises cannot be trusted, according to Pyotr Andryushenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, and the city is not going to stop defending itself, he said.
“We will fight until the last of our soldiers,” Andryushenko told the BBC.”I don’t know how influential this adviser is but let’s hope that this is just rhetoric and that the mayor has some other, level-headed advisers and that their views prevail. Surely there must be some in authority there who realise what “fighting to the last soldier” will mean in terms of more destruction, more deaths, more bodies lying unburied in the streets.
It is really upsetting what is happening to those who cannot leave Mariupol, because it is so unnecessary for it to continue. But their fate cannot be blamed entirely on the besieging Russian forces. The civil administration there and the defending forces must share responsibility. When it became clear a week or so ago that the military position was hopeless they could have declared Mariupol “an open city”. See the examples here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_city
Instead what we are seeing is the Charge of the Azov Brigade with the remaining civilian population in front of them. It’s not magnificent but it is war.
I am not sure it would be a good idea to let Boris know. It might give him the idea of banning all Remain parties on the grounds that they are traitors and collaborators with the EU against British “freedom”.
Meanwhile more Ukrainian style democracy:
“On Sunday, the Ukrainian leader signed a decree that aims to unite all national TV channels into one platform, citing the importance of a “unified information policy” under martial law.”
I don’t think that Putin has gone so far as banning opposition parties represented in Parliament. Ok, he has prevented some standing for parliament but then at least 4 parties, including the “Communist” Party of Ukraine, had already been banned in Ukraine.
It would be interesting to get the full list of the additional 11 parties that the Zelensky regime has just banned.
Found the list here:
https://www.ukrinform.net/amp/rubric-polytics/3434673-nsdc-bans-prorussian-parties-in-ukraine.html
Opposition Platform – For Life, Sharij’s Party, Nashi, Opposition Bloc, Left Opposition, Union of Left Forces, Derzhava, “Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, Socialist Party of Ukraine, the Socialists, and Volodymyr Saldo’s Bloc.
