#russia war

[eyeswithnohope]

These are not a screenshot from a post-apocalyptic film... it's Marinka, Ukraine after a year of shelling by russia.

[thenuclearmallard]

Indigenous people of Russia deserve to be heard.

[crynwr-drwg]

When ideology gets in the way of solidarity

>>>What follows below is, in my opinion, a very critical read for the Anarchist movement. If you are an Anarchist, I hope that you take a moment to read this statement by our Black Cross comrades in Belarus.<<<

In the 15 years of our collective’s existence, we have gone through several major political crises. During elections, protests, and political repression, the Belarusan anarchist movement has not met with isolation from its comrades. People from all over the world showed solidarity in the struggle against the Belarusan dictatorship and for a just and free society: from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. During this period, we only rarely encountered people who tried to explain to us that the Belarusan regime is not really that bad, and that all the horrors are just liberal propaganda. Since 2014, we have met anti-fascists or anarchists abroad who somehow believed Russian propaganda about the LDNR. But until 2022, we rarely met “experts” on Eastern Europe who confidently told us about a reality that existed only in the realm of political propaganda. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the situation changed very dramatically. Suddenly, within the anarchist and anti-fascist movements, there appeared “specialists” of Eastern European realities who completely denied the facts in favor of a simplistic model of the world. Many discussions of the war as a conflict between NATO and Russia or the fascist regime in Kiev fundamentally ignore objective facts. In this text we would like to discuss how this attitude affects the development of international solidarity and how some anarchists choose to distort reality in the struggle for ideological supremacy.

International of Anarchist Federations (IFA)

In eastern Europe, few people have heard of the IFA, an international anarchist organization founded in 1968 in Italy. At the time of this writing, the federation consisted of groups from Europe, Asia, Central and South America. At one point it even included organizations from the former Soviet Union, including Belarus. With the decline of the Federation of Anarchists of Belarus (FAB), our group became the IFA contact organization in the country. For many years we worked closely together: we visited comrades in different regions and together with other organizations we held infotours in separate countries. Up until 2022, we hardly had any serious political conflicts with IFA member organizations. The invasion of Ukraine has greatly changed the attitude of many International members towards our group. One of the reasons lies in our initiative to hold informal online meetings with International members on the war in Ukraine: the main goal at that stage was to convey objective information about what was happening and to actively combat Russian disinformation. Such meetings were to take place every two weeks. Already at the second meeting, we encountered serious problems when some of the International’s participants started repeating Russian propaganda about NATO, fascism in Ukraine, and so on, almost word for word. The series of online meetings ended rather quickly. On the one hand, the unwillingness of many anarchists to accept objective facts hindered them. On the other hand, some of the International’s participants insisted on formalizing such meetings, which we regarded as a blatant attempt to “bureaucratize” inconvenient information. We encountered the problem of “selective bureaucracy” a year later, when at one of the formal meetings of the International we proposed to invite comrades from Ukraine and Russia to explain the situation in these regions and the possibility of interacting directly with local activists, rather than with information from social networks and dubious groups. The participation of anarchists from Ukraine and Russia was blocked, and after several months of constant attempts to exclude people from Belarus, Ukraine and Russia from discussions of the war in Ukraine, we decided to withdraw from the International.

This situation was the first in a long line of building barriers around the topic of the war in Ukraine by certain “expert” groups that prefer the same simplistic picture of the world. Unfortunately, in some countries, our former internationalist comrades play an active role in maintaining the myth of “NATO against Russia”. The conflict within the IFA has shown us how fragile international ties are in the face of government disinformation programs, ideological dogmatism, and the unwillingness of many anarchists to understand complex international conflicts.

Book Fair and Congress

In the summer of 2023, we applied to participate in the Ljubljana Anarchist Book Fair, where we gave a presentation about repression in Belarus, with a separate block discussing how the war in Ukraine affects anarchists’ political struggles. When we saw the “no war propaganda” signs, our collective members were somewhat confused, knowing that the position of the organizers of the book fair on the war is ambiguous. We never realized who the posters were aimed at, although at one point we were worried that we would be told to remove brochures with interviews about the war from various anarchists in Ukraine and Russia. At the event we met, among others, comrades who had previously organized benefit events and presentations for ABC. Some of them refused to talk to us at all, while others preferred to communicate in the format of political statements rather than dialog. At the anarchist congress in St. Imier we began to speak openly about our fears that our political position on the war in Ukraine was affecting solidarity with repressed comrades inside Belarus: the more we try to question positions that do not take into account the situation in the region, the more “untouchable” we become in certain branches of the anarchist movement, which used to be ready to provide diverse support to comrades from the BUR (Belarus, Ukraine, Russia). In Switzerland we also became aware that we started to be considered as militarists and supporters of the war in Ukraine, although nobody directly expressed it to us. We learned about this perception almost a year after our trip to Switzerland.

Partner organizations

Before touching on our “commitment to militarism”, we would like to briefly discuss how Western anarchists and leftists find “alternative” partners in the region to confirm their political views. In the situation with Ukraine, the main partner of the antimilitarists was the odious media group “Assembly” from Kharkiv, which prefers to disassociate itself from the rest of the anarchist movement and actively cooperates with the group of Vadim Damye, a Russian historian who has been spreading the myth of a fascist Ukraine since 2014. If you want to know more about the “Assembly”, ask Ukrainian anarchists. In the case of Belarus, the situation became quite strange, as anti-militarists and pacifists suddenly started working with the controversial Olga Karach, a “professional” NGO activist with a dubious background, which was already entrenched before the events of 2020. People familiar with the political environment of Belarus have heard about Karach, and understand the danger of political interaction with this person: disinformation for Olga serves as one of the tools for building political power and raising money. It turns out that the organization “Our House”, which Olga leads, is actively involved in creating a myth about a mass movement of deserters inside Belarus, who want to leave the country in an attempt to avoid mobilization. In November 2022, there were allegedly already tens of thousands of such evaders [2]. How many such souls Karach sold to the Western left remains a mystery to this day. Using the example of the above-mentioned organization, it becomes obvious that in their search for new “partners” in Eastern Europe, leftists and anti-authoritarians are ready to work with dubious figures, as long as they confirm the facts necessary for their picture of the world. The criterion of trust becomes not an attempt to understand the real situation in the region and a desire to support the struggle, but rather interaction with those who confirm already existing misconceptions. With this approach, some activist groups risk falling into the trap of fraudsters primarily interested in the money side of things. The inability or unwillingness to delve into certain issues makes anarchists easy prey for those who traditionally “dipshit” liberal and center-left political forces.

Does ABC-Belarus support the war in Ukraine?

A few months ago, ABC-Belarus applied to participate in a book fair in Berlin with an info table and/or presentation [3]. The organizers of the fair stated that they planned to pay much attention to the issue of the war in Ukraine. The response to our inquiry came categorically negative and contained the following wording: “…You are in favor of the war in Ukraine, so we have nothing more to say…” And it is obvious that this perception of anarchists from the BUR resisting Russian imperialism continues to strengthen in the minds of a part of the anarchist movement. Instead of critical analysis and attempts to build a dialog, we again and again run into a wall of blatant political ignorance. As a result, ABC-Belarus will not go to the fair in Berlin (our last talk in the city concerning the situation with repression in the country happened before the full-scale invasion began), and the organizers of the event will be able to conduct debates in an atmosphere of general “consent”, having secured themselves from the opposition of people who directly carry out activities in the BUR region. As the war in Ukraine continues and Western activists become “tired” of the topic, we expect this approach to our collective to only increase, and “weeds” of misinformation and outright lies to grow in the place of solidarity. We will not knock on the closed rooms of social centers in the west and try to tell the story of our struggle or repression against our comrades. We have plenty of room to direct our energies as it is. But do the people who censor solidarity groups realize that they would then have to take it upon themselves to support the repressed comrades with their own forces, if they are really committed to the ideas of internationalism and anarchism? It is then also the responsibility of such groups to inform the broader anarchist movement about the repression and to raise money for basic support for those who continue the struggle in prison. In turn, we want to express our gratitude to those who are still supporting our collective and our comrades in Belarus, in Ukraine and in other Eastern European countries. Despite all challenges and obstacles, it is you who show an example of international solidarity and readiness to stand shoulder to shoulder in the most difficult moments of our struggle, no matter how many kilometers and walls separate us!

[cupidscrule]

Reminder !! There is still an ongoing war in Ukraine we can't fucking forget about!! Children are dying !! Why do you guys only care about something for like a month!!

Just because it isn't trending anymore doesn't mean it's over. Don't fucking forget

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

A video clip from the late Russian dissident, Alexei Navalny, condemning the war in Ukraine while in prison and calling on Russians to continually oppose it. The title says, Navalny on the criminal war in Ukraine.

In it, while quoting Tolstoy, Navalny made the important point that despots need war. And war fuels and maintains despotism. Fabricating a "national enemy" and "foreign threats" is a well-worn tactic of dictators, used to distract and fool the population and justify maintaining authoritarian control.

The answer to why Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago is simple: to preserve his dictatorship. His convoluted excuses about Russia's historical claims (which have no legal validity once Ukraine has declared independence), Western threats from NATO, and his deliberate exaggeration of neo-Nazism in Ukraine, were all concocted to mask this central reason.

Therefore Russia is being bankrupted both financially and morally in order to keep Putin in power. As Zelenskyy correctly said, 'Putin doesn't care who dies, as long as he retains his position.'

Foreign wars also provide dictators with a cover for continuing and enhancing their terrorist deeds at home. Both Alexei Navalny and Boris Nemtsov were murdered in the middle of a Russian war; Nemtsov, during the time that Russia was sending mercenaries into eastern Ukraine to stir up provocation and steal more territory.

Two years into Russia's illegal war against Ukraine, the world must ensure that Putin's delusions of impunity come to an end. He and his terrorist regime have violated all morality, and they have been allowed to get away with it for too long. How many times have foreign powers promised punishment against the Russian terror state, and delivered nothing?

Every failure to punish Putin and his regime enables him to continue fortifying his terrorist state, from murdering political dissidents, to stealing more and more Ukrainian territory. Avdiivka has now fallen to Russian occupiers, and the amount of Ukrainian territory stolen by Russia totals between 16-18%. Once such territory has been stolen, it is then filled with munitions and booby traps, which explains why the Ukrainian counter-offensive last year failed. The plain truth is that it is and will be extremely difficult to reverse Russian occupation.

Punishment of Putin's regime, which should be maintained regardless of what happens in Ukraine, is the key to restoring peace and security abroad, as well as holding him accountable for all of his domestic crimes. Total non-recognition of Putin as a "leader", multiple cases against Russia in international courts, a permanent international arrest warrant on Putin (irrespective of whether Ukrainian children are recovered from Russia or not), and enhanced sanctions that last beyond the war are desperately needed now to isolate and undermine the Kremlin.

STOP THE WAR!

[deaddee-anime-brownfanlady]

[moscowfic]

Which side are you on in the Ukrainian-Russian conflict?

Neither of us, as I have said to me that war has no head and no head, I do not see what is the need to choose sides in the war but anyway what do I care? Whoever it is, my country starts paying the price somehow JAJAJAJA So I really don’t give a shit, but I just want that issue to end once and for all.

[1emonmint]

Greetings from Ukraine!

(the text below is translated through google translator, so I apologize in advance for possible mistakes)

In my house, for the third day now, the electricity has been turned on for no longer than 3-4 hours. Outside the window is -1°C. It’s really cold in the apartment, and obviously the heating cannot be turned on without lights. I am sitting in the kitchen now, turning on the cookstove to make it a little bit warmer. Already dreading the gas bills that await me at the end of the month.

And of course, for the same reason I can't work. How am I supposed to make money for a living? I guess it's time to be super frugal. I wanted to lose weight for a long time, you know))) (that’s not funny at all)

What happened? - you ask. The russia attacked my country 267 days ago and continues to terrorize the civilians. 3 days ago, the russian military (not putin, but many, many russians who perfectly understand what they are doing and why) fired more than 80 cruise missiles at us. People died, many people. About 40% of the population of Ukraine remained without electricity for an unknown amount of time. Days? Weeks? Who knows.

What do I want by writing this post? Just so you remembered who is to blame for this.

This is not a "conflict in Ukraine".

This is a horrible illogical stupid war started by russia and russians. And they are the only ones guilty of all of this.

[skipp3r]

With every stupid blue checkmark you buy on twitter you could donate 8 dollars to the UNHCR to help ukranian refugees instead of paying a multi billionaire who allegedly supports the russian invasion. Just saying.

[eyeswithnohope]

Sooo, I haven't posted anything recently, got some things to do, but I couldn't not show you that.

I got things like that daily. But.. the person on the video is a russian who claims himself a soldier. That's why I decided to post this story.

The story starts after I reposted fundraising for some military medical equipment. I think he got offended, so he responded. Next translation of the dialog from the video. R- for russsian bastard. A- for me.

R: When will you, khokhly, all die?

A: *post a story about him* Don't worry, only after you:)

R: Die, slut

A: Are you already mobilized? Did you take trash bags?

R: voice message: " Of course, I mobilized and of course I took it. And do you know who I took it for? for the Khokhls' fuckers, whom I kill every day. And if I don't kill them, when it's real, I cut off their balls, while they are still alive. So, such bastards as Ukrainians, won't born any further.

I posted this on tik tok, but I got immediately blocked. Now, I managed to get my account back. But, it's still forbidden for me to spread this story.

I got things like that 2 or 3 times a day. These simple russians wish me to be bombed, to die, to get raped.

I already reported him on Instagram and so did my friends, but it seems not enough for. I want people know about this person.

[thenuclearmallard]

Indigenous people of Russia speak up!

[workersolidarity]

🇷🇺🇺🇦 💥RUSSIAN FORCES CONDUCT STRIKES ON THE WAREHOUSE OF THE ARMED FORCES OF UKRAINE IN THE VICINITY OF KUPIANSK💥

#source

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[asterocky]

while western europe whined and cried about not humiliating putin, the 2.8 mln people of lithuania crowd funded 5 million euros in 3 days to buy ukraine a military drone - byrakyar. we live in a wicked timeline.

[blueiskewl]

Happy New Year Russia

HIMARS rockets head to the Russian front lines.

[deaddee-anime-brownfanlady]