In September 2024, I gave a presentation in Dresden about struggles against the right-wing government in Finland. Freedom published a text based on that presentation last September, but due to character limitations I had to skip an introduction to the Finnish party system. This background is...
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Repression targets Chita anarchists already jailed for war resistance and anti-regime graffiti The regional prosecutor’s office for the Trans-Baikal region in eastern Siberia has submitted a petition to a local court to recognize the “Trans-Baikal Left Association” as a terrorist...
Thousands of Russians have been fighting against the invasion to Ukraine. During first month of protests against the war, 15 000 people were detained. Small street actions are still sporadically taking place, although they are heavily persecuted. More than 300 people have been imprisoned for anti-...
Translation: volunteers of Autonomous Action. «» The history of solidarity networks in Russia began in 2013, when activists from Autonomous Action and Antijob, most likely members of the Barnaul cell, found information on the internet about the Seattle Solidarity Networks. After studying...
anarchists in the Ukraine
This does not leave many options for anarchists, in the Ukraine, in Russia, and in the world. The fighting in the East, particularly Donesk, has increased significantly since the writing of this. The first troops sent in refused to shoot people they considered fellow countrymen & women. Kiev, by all reports (outside the Corporate Media) changed the composition of the troops, recruiting Rightist volunteers, who seem to have no problem shooting down Russian speaking Ukrainians. From the most recent videos, etc., it doesn't look as if anybody can get in between the two sides to attempt to calm things down. This volatile situation is highly complex. Are all who reject the Kiev gov't pro-Russian? are they all Stalinists? One recent report, in response to Putin's pulling back from the border & trying to get a postponement on the local referendum, quotes one man as condemning Putin for abandoning them. That's a good sign, but it certainly doesn't mean the shooting will stop.
Should anarchists "sit this one out" since there are fascists on one side & Stalinists on the other? What credibility would they have in the aftermath? It's easy for me to speculate from a few thousand miles distance, and I must admit I've been strongly influenced by the anti-fascist "propaganda" coming in on Facebook. I believe the threat is real, that the resurgence of European fascism is not confined to the Ukraine alone. This we anarchists must condemn & combat wherever & however possible, just as we endeavor to oppose all hierarchical formations (like Borotba). The dilemma facing anarchists today isn't, I think, all that different than the problems faced in the Russian Revolution & Civil War, nor in Spain some twenty years later. It's a Two-way battle on three fronts all taking place in a heavily packed mine field.
andrea salsedo