UKRAINE: Against the regime in Kyiv and the junta in the East! AWU-Kyiv statement on the conflict in the Eastern regions

14.05.2014 by Autonomous Workers Union – Kiyev

There is a continuing confrontation on Ukraine’s territory between the groups of
local and Russian ruling class which play off the working people one against
another and stir up enmity, bringing the country closer to the state of civil war.
The events in Mariupol’ are the embodiment of this confrontation. Many people,

the combatants and civilians, contract military
staff and conscripts, as well as volunteers, have suffered on both sides of
the conflict as a result of the “anti-terrorist operation”.This is a critical situation for working people. The government treats all protesting
Anti-Maidan people alike: soldiers don’t understand who they shoot at, and the ones
who are being shot at don’t understand what they die for. Both sides of the condlict manipulate their

UKRAINE: Excuse Me Mister: How Far Is It From Simferopol To Grozny?

14.05.2014  by AntiDote’s Laurent Moeri

“When the battle is over and the martyrs sleep, the cowards emerge from the alleys to tell us of their heroism.” – Graffiti in Homs, Syria

Prelude – Mission Impossible

What follows is an attempt at the impossible: a critical review of the situation in Ukraine, the involvement of Putinʼs Russia, and the international Leftʼs capacity (or lack thereof) to respond to social uprisings without repeating prescribed narratives. It is written on one sole premise: that the victims of an eventual military escalation in Ukraine will predominantly be ethnic minorities such as the muslim Crimean Tatars, marginalized groups such as the Sinti and Roma, and the working class—while bureaucrats in Brussels and the Czar and his clan in Moscow will continue to further their respective interests. To highlight the likelihood of this prediction, a comparison will be made between events in Chechnya and Crimea.

UKRAINE: Anarchism in the context of civil war

05.07.2014 by Antti Rautiainen

On Friday, the 2nd of May, the House of Trade Unions in Odessa caught on fire. Altogether at least 42 people lost their lives during the clashes in the city, most of them in the fire and the others in streetfights. There is an excellent Russian language, eyewitness account of the events available here.

Events began to unfold when armed pro-Russian AntiMaidan fighters attacked a demonstration organised by football hooligans with nationalist sympathies. This attack resulted in lethalities, but soon the pro-Russians were overpowered. They escaped back to their protest camp in the Kulikovo field, but pro-Kiev demonstrators followed and lit the protest camp on fire. The pro-Russians then escaped to the House of the Trade Unions, which soon caught on fire. The fire spreading, is visible in this video. At the 2 minute mark, you can see a flame behind a closed window, making it plausible that some of the fires were started from the inside. For example, due to accidents with Molotov cocktails which were used by both sides during the fight. However, you can also see pro-Ukrainian nationalists throwing Molotov cocktails, making them at least partially responsible for the fire.

UKRAINE: Report from a visit in Kiev in April 2014

It seems that many perceptions of the Maidan-uprising and the internal dynamics inside and outside the Ukraine are twisted or wrong, especially concerning the aims and direction of the movement, the involvement of the left and the role and importance of the extreme right. The reaction of the left outside of Ukraine has been hectic, superficial, paranoid… to say the least. There are no strong links between the left in Ukraine and other countries (maybe except for Russia), so many left commentators relied merely on the media propaganda. This report aims to clear up misconceptions and explain what is going on.

UKRAINE: Paul Gubariew – a “tribune of the people” in Donetsk, ie neo-Nazis on the side of Putin

08.03.2014

By XaViER

Translation by Tahrir-ICN

We reported earlier exploits of Ukrainian nationalists. Now it turns out that the “other side” is crowded with nationalists and neo-Nazis.

ما الذي يحدث في اوكرانيا…لقاء مع أناركي روسي

بقلم ياسر عبد القوي

ميخائيل هو شيوعي-اناركي روسي على إتصال قوي بالحركات الاناركيه والثوريه في اوكرانيا، في هذا الحوار يوضح كثير من النقاط حول الثوره الاوكرانيه والتدخل الروسي ويصحح كثير من المفاهيم المغلوطه الرائجه إعلاميا.

 بداية ما هي حركة (ميدان) وما رأيك فيما يشاع أنها حركة يسيطر عليها اليمن القومي الفاشي كل ما تسعى إليه هو انضمام اوكرانيا للإتحاد الاوروبي؟
– يجب ان نبدأ بأستعراض الخلفيه السياسيه والاقتصاديه للثوره الاوكرانيه، اوكرانيا ككل تعاني من انهيار وانكماش اقتصادي منذ استقلالها عن الاتحاد السوفيتي في 1991، وثورة 2004 البرتقاليه لم تؤدي ﻷي تحسن ملموس لا اقتصاديا ولا سياسيا، أما الرئيس الاوكراني الذي اسقطته الثوره (فيكتور يانوكوفيتش) فقد أوصل الحالة لمستوى جديد من السوء فللرجل تاريخ إجرامي قديم،وقد سجن في عهد الاتحاد السوفيتي مرتين ﻷسباب جنائيه، وهو ينحدر من عائلة متورطة بعمق في الجريمة المنظمه متحالفة مع عائلات اخرى للجريمه المنظمه، الامر يشبه تحالف عائلات المافيا في فيلم (الأب الروحي) هذا التحالف المافيوزي سيطر تماما على اوكرانيا خلال عهد يانوكوفيتش حيث بلغ الفساد مستويات مخيفه، وسيطرت تلك العائلات على كل شىء في البلاد خاصة جهاز الشرطه، حتى رجال الاعمال لم يفلتوا من بطشهم وفسادهم، كان تلفيق القضايا وسجن الناس للأستيلاء على أعمالهم ومشاريعهم سلوكا شبه اعتياديا تحت حكم يانوكوفيتش، إذا هو الفساد السياسي، الانهيار الاقتصادي هو ما دفع الشعب للثورة على يانكوفيتش.

UKRAINE: Statement about the situation in Ukraine from AWU (Autonomous Workers Union).

19.02.2014

Civil war began in Ukraine yesterday. A less than peaceful demonstration clashed with state defense forces and divisions formed by the adherents of the current government near the Vekhovna Rada (Parliament). On February 18, police, together with the paramilitaries, arranged a bloodbath in the governmental quarters during which numerous demonstrators were killed. Butchers from the special divisions finished off arrestees. Deputies of the ruling Party of Regions and their bourgeois lackeys from the “Communist” Party of Ukraine fled from the Parliament through an underground tunnel. The vote for constitutional amendments, intended to limit presidential power, did not take place after all. After their defeat in the governmental quarters, demonstrators retreated to the Maidan. At 6 P.M., the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Internal Security Bureau (SBU) declared an ultimatum to the protesters, demanding their dispersal. At 8:00 P.M., special police forces and paramilitaries, equipped with water cannons and armored vehicles, began their raid on the barricades. Police, the special divisions of SBU, as well as pro-governmental troopers made use of their firearms. However, the protesters managed to burn down one of the armored police vehicles, and it turned out that governmental forces were not the only ones in possession of guns. According to the data released by the police (on February, 19, 4 p.m.), 24 people were killed: 14 protesters and 10 policemen. Thirty-one policemen received gunshot wounds. Even if their estimate of losses on the side of the police is accurate, the number of victims among the protesters was definitely diminished. Maidan’s medics cite at least 30 killed.

UKRAINE: A Harsh Antifascist Confrontation Awaits Us

29.01.2014 translation Tahrir ICN

Supporters of the eurointegration of Ukraine in the center of Kiev

Why the leftist forces in Ukraine do not show their presence on the Maidan.

– People say that in this tent anarchists stay. They’ve been sitting there for several days, do not go out, they are afraid .

– What? Don’t they go out at all?

– Well, no. They go out but very rarely. People say, they were allowed to stand their tent after they built a barricade – activists on the Kiev streets share local gossips.

Regarding the ongoing events in the Ukraine: Statement by Unity Anarcho-Communist Organization Palestine/Israel

The Ukraine is in the throes of a popular uprising, against its regime, which is becoming ever more repressive. Much of the mainstream media presents the image of a confrontation taking place between the two statist political factions in Ukraine: The governing coalition, led by President Yanukovich, which has recently backed away from a trade agreement with the EU, and is developing a close subservient relationship with Russia; and the smaller nationalist opposition, headed by the parties called the Blow, Homeland and Freedom, opposing this development and seeking to attach Ukraine more strongly to the EU.

نيستور ماخنو – الثورة الأناركية

الأناركية – هي حياة من الحرية و الاستقلال الخلاق للإنسانية

لا تعتمد الأناركية على نظرية أو برامج , إنها تحاول أن تحيط بحياة الإنسان في كليتها . إنها تعليم , يقوم على الحياة الفعلية , ينمو متجاوزا كل القيود الاصطناعية , و لا يمكن حصرها بأي نظام

الشكل الملموس للأناركية هو مجتمع حر غير خاضع للحكومة , يمنح الحرية , المساواة و التضامن لكل أعضائه . و توجد أسسه في الفهم الإنساني للمسؤولية المتبادلة , التي بقيت ثابتة في كل زمان ومكان . هذا الحس بالمسؤولية قادر على ضمان الحرية و العدالة الاجتماعية للجميع بواسطة جهودهم غير المدعومة من سواهم . إنها أيضا الأساس للشيوعية الحقيقية

لذلك فالأناركية جزء من الطبيعة البشرية , و الشيوعية هي امتدادها الطبيعي