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Title: Anarchism and war Author: Dmitry Mrachnik Date: 23 September 2017 Language: en Topics: war, Ukraine Source: Retrieved on 5th February 2022 from https://www.nihilist.li/2017/09/23/anarchism-and-war/
Among leftist pacifists, it is widely believed that those Ukrainian
anarchists who took an anti-Russian position, had made their choice
under the influence of state or nationalist propaganda. Allegedly, life
in an aggressive, authoritarian environment, broke their will and forced
them to obey. I would like to stop this nonsense, because the anarchists
came to the anti-Russian position not because of, but in spite of
propaganda.
The authority shout like on bullhorn that Russia violated treacherously
our sovereignty. Are state borders an argument for those who profess
anarchist views, after all? Absolutely not. The state and its
jurisdiction is not a value, and the more this state comes to freedom,
the more resistance it deserves. In the current conflict, the Russian
state is the more terrible enemy of freedom, and therefore, logic and
common sense force to oppose it, first of all.
Nationalists (far-right, ethnic, integral) told that now «vile katsaps»
exercise power over the native Ukrainian lands. But this could not be an
argument. What the hell are «native lands»? Crimea is the native land of
the Crimean Tatars, but is this an argument to overlook? Never.
The argument for the anarchists was that the state and nationalist
propaganda hadn’t been saying about from the very beginning, and it
basically hadn’t known about. The occupation of the Crimea brought for
the millions of local residents a police state, that strangled civil and
political rights, started demonstrative and non-compulsory repressions
against those who did not want this. With the arrival of the Russian
punitive system in Crimea, arrests and unimaginable prison terms for
pro-Ukrainian activists took place, banning the Crimean Tatars’ national
representation — the Mejlis as a «terrorist organization», abductions,
searches, pressure and intimidation of dozens of activists of the
national movement and their families. For hundreds — thousands of
indigenous people of the Crimea, who have suffered from oppression and
genocide for the last hundred years, discrimination became a reality
again. Bans and restrictions, not only in politics, but even in national
culture, leapt with renewed vigor.
The state began to talk about the persecution of the Crimean Tatars only
when society was tired of screaming about. As for the nationalists, they
do not dwell on such things much, even now. They do not care about
freedom in the Crimea, much less about the fate of the Crimean Tatars.
Units of the nationalists speak about these things out loud, but
hundreds of others turn their noses up, trying to come up with something
more suitable to justify the domination of Ukraine over the Crimea. The
Crimean Tatar people are not profitable for them — they need the
Ukrainian Crimea, and not the Crimean Tatar. They don’t say a word about
freedom in Crimea. What for? Freedom is not their cup of tea.
When Russian agents and mercenaries invaded Donbas, state and
nationalist propaganda did not say anything about the actual power of
the military, the neglect of human rights, the power of the church and
the fascist gangs prosperity, the outbreak of crimes motivated by
national and religious intolerance. Of course, the state and
nationalists spoke out about crimes against the whole Ukrainian state,
but this is only a small part of the violence that took place in the
occupied Donbas.
My comrades and I adress triumph of fascism in the so-called people’s
republics directly, we blow the lid off the lies and conspiracies of
pseudo-left movements that spread the news about the «anti-fascist» and
«workers’» uprising of the Donbas against the «junta» far and wide.
Subsequently, the process of ending the «people’s republics» support by
the left from around the world began.
Due to the circumstances, the anarchists were not only permissible, but
it was also necessary to join the ranks of the armed formations. Not to
«defend the territorial integrity», «take revenge» or «cut Russians»,
but in order to protect the freedom that remained in Ukraine, and return
it to where it was expelled by the aggressors.
In the struggle against dictatorship and political terror that Russia
establishes in the occupied parts of Ukraine, the anarchists’ goals
correlate to the state’s and nationalists’. After this, they go their
separate ways. We need a free and wealthy Ukraine without
corruption-bureaucratic authority or power of the rich. The state needs
clear control over public life and the uninterrupted possibility of
criminal enrichment for its functionaries, as the Russian regime
arranged on its territory. Nationalists want the triumph of the
Ukrainian nation by Russia prescription that were also implemented there
— with the power of the church, the racist gangs’ impunity, the
persecution of dissent and repressions of the political opponents.
Thus, to continue talking about the fact that «anarchists were led
around to propaganda» is a lie. Anarchists have their own agenda and
have strong opposition to the disgrace that the state is making or the
far-right is offering. But while the goals of both states and
nationalists have remained dreams, Russia’s goals have already been
translated into reality and tied around our neck.
It doesn’t matter how much we hate being in the same field with our
natural enemies within the country, how much we argue or fight against
them, our desires aren’t important here. There is a real threat that we
will all gone, if the Russian state and its nationalists enter our
cities. We will be destroyed under the Russian opposition tacit consent
and the restrained protest of the Western countries community.
Anyone who believes that anarchists cannot take up arms in the face of
threats: a police prison country and the complete extermination of
dissent — is deeply mistaken. Anyone who promotes pacifism, the end of
resistance and prevents the struggle against totalitarian occupation, —
by his actions, endangers the other people’s lives. Well, those who
trumpet about «anarcho-nationalists» who «supported the fascist
Ukrainian state» are the enemies who deserve punishment.
If anyone cares about freedom in Ukraine — leave it with its
speculations about ideological purity and don’t interfere, do something
useful. No one will send the Pacifists to the front. Mobilization hasn’t
got so many tools to get those who, for ideological reasons, don’t want
to fight. Well, if you don’t live in Ukraine, just forget about this
country. Internationalism, to which you can relate, is the equal
cooperation of people in solving common problems, and not the privilege
for somebody to poke their nose into the others people’s business.