Ukraine and the Rebirth of Fascism in Europe
The violence on the streets of
Ukraine is far more than an expression of popular anger against a
government. Instead, it is merely the latest example of the rise of the
most insidious form of fascism that Europe has seen since the fall of
the Third Reich.
Recent months have seen regular
protests by the Ukrainian political opposition and its supporters –
protests ostensibly in response to Ukrainian President Yanukovich’s
refusal to sign a trade agreement with the European Union that was seen
by many political observers as the first step towards European
integration. The protests remained largely peaceful until January 17th
when protesters armed with clubs, helmets, and improvised bombs
unleashed brutal violence on the police, storming government buildings,
beating anyone suspected of pro-government sympathies, and generally
wreaking havoc on the streets of Kiev. But who are these violent
extremists and what is their ideology?
The political formation is known as “Pravy Sektor” (Right
Sector), which is essentially an umbrella organization for a number of
ultra-nationalist (read fascist) right wing groups including supporters
of the “Svoboda” (Freedom) Party, “Patriots of Ukraine”, “Ukrainian
National Assembly – Ukrainian National Self Defense” (UNA-UNSO), and
“Trizub”. All of these organizations share a common ideology that is
vehemently anti-Russian, anti-immigrant, and anti-Jewish among other
things. In addition they share a common reverence for the so called
“Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists” led by Stepan Bandera, the
infamous Nazi collaborators who actively fought against the Soviet Union
and engaged in some of the worst atrocities committed by any side in
World War II.
While Ukrainian political forces,
opposition and government, continue to negotiate, a very different
battle is being waged in the streets. Using intimidation and brute
force more typical of Hitler’s “Brownshirts” or Mussolini’s
“Blackshirts” than a contemporary political movement, these groups have
managed to turn a conflict over economic policy and the political
allegiances of the country into an existential struggle for the very
survival of the nation that these so called “nationalists” claim to love
so dearly. The images of Kiev burning, Lviv streets filled with thugs,
and other chilling examples of the chaos in the country, illustrate
beyond a shadow of a doubt that the political negotiation with the
Maidan (Kiev’s central square and center of the protests) opposition is
now no longer the central issue. Rather, it is the question of
Ukrainian fascism and whether it is to be supported or rejected.
For its part, the United States has
strongly come down on the side of the opposition, regardless of its
political character. In early December, members of the US ruling
establishment such as John McCain and Victoria Nuland were seen at
Maidan lending their support to the protesters. However, as the
character of the opposition has become apparent in recent days, the US
and Western ruling class and its media machine have done little to
condemn the fascist upsurge. Instead, their representatives have met
with representatives of Right Sector and deemed them to be “no threat.”
In other words, the US and its allies have given their tacit approval
for the continuation and proliferation of the violence in the name of
their ultimate goal: regime change.
In an attempt to pry Ukraine out of the
Russian sphere of influence, the US-EU-NATO alliance has, not for the
first time, allied itself with fascists. Of course, for decades,
millions in Latin America were disappeared or murdered by fascist
paramilitary forces armed and supported by the United States. The
mujahideen of Afghanistan, which later transmogrified into Al Qaeda,
also extreme ideological reactionaries, were created and financed by the
United States for the purposes of destabilizing Russia. And of course,
there is the painful reality of Libya and, most recently Syria, where
the United States and its allies finance and support extremist jihadis
against a government that has refused to align with the US and Israel.
There is a disturbing pattern here that has never been lost on keen
political observers: the United States always makes common cause with
right wing extremists and fascists for geopolitical gain.
The situation in Ukraine is deeply
troubling because it represents a political conflagration that could
very easily tear the country apart less than 25 years after it gained
independence from the Soviet Union. However, there is another equally
disturbing aspect to the rise of fascism in that country – it is not
alone.
The Fascist Menace Across the Continent
Ukraine and the rise of right wing
extremism there cannot be seen, let alone understood, in isolation.
Rather, it must be examined as part of a growing trend throughout Europe
(and indeed the world) – a trend which threatens the very foundations
of democracy.
In Greece, savage austerity imposed by
the troika (IMF, ECB, and European Commission) has crippled the
country’s economy, leading to a depression as bad, if not worse, than
the Great Depression in the United States. It is against this backdrop
of economic collapse that the Golden Dawn party has grown to become the
third most popular political party in the country. Espousing an
ideology of hate, the Golden Dawn – in effect a Nazi party that promotes
anti-Jewish, anti-immigrant, anti-women chauvinism – is a political
force that the government in Athens has understood to be a serious
threat to the very fabric of society. It is this threat which led the
government to arrest the party’s leadership after a Golden Dawn Nazi
fatally stabbed an anti-fascist rapper. Athens has launched an
investigation into the party, though the results of this investigation
and trial remain somewhat unclear.
What makes Golden Dawn such an insidious
threat is the fact that, despite their central ideology of Nazism,
their anti-EU, anti-austerity rhetoric appeals to many in the
economically devastated Greece. As with many fascist movements in the
20th Century, Golden Dawn scapegoats immigrants, Muslim and
African primarily, for many of the problems facing Greeks. In dire
economic circumstances, such irrational hate becomes appealing; an
answer to the question of how to solve society’s problems. Indeed,
despite Golden Dawn’s leaders being jailed, other party members are
still in parliament, still running for major offices including mayor of
Athens. Though an electoral victory is unlikely, another strong showing
at the polls will make the eradication of fascism in Greece that much
harder.
Were this phenomenon confined to Greece
and Ukraine, it would not constitute a continental trend. Sadly
however, we see the rise of similar, albeit slightly less overtly
fascist, political parties all over Europe. In Spain, the ruling
pro-austerity People’s Party has moved to establish draconian laws
restricting protest and free speech, and empowering and sanctioning
repressive police tactics. In France, the National Front Party of
Marine Le Pen, which vehemently scapegoats Muslim and African
immigrants, won nearly twenty percent of the vote in the first round of
presidential elections. Similarly, the Party for Freedom in the
Netherlands – which promotes anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant policies – has
grown to be the third largest in parliament. Throughout Scandinavia,
ultra nationalist parties which once toiled in complete irrelevance and
obscurity are now significant players in elections. These trends are
worrying to say the least.
It should be noted too that, beyond
Europe, there are a number of quasi-fascist political formations which
are, in one way or another, supported by the United States. The right
wing coups that overthrew the governments of Paraguay and Honduras were
tacitly and/or overtly supported by Washington in their seemingly
endless quest to suppress the Left in Latin America. Of course, one
should also remember that the protest movement in Russia was spearheaded
by Alexei Navalny and his nationalist followers who espouse a
virulently anti-Muslim, racist ideology that views immigrants from the
Russian Caucasus and former Soviet republics as beneath “European
Russians”. These and other examples begin to paint a very ugly portrait
of a US foreign policy that attempts to use economic hardship and
political upheaval to extend US hegemony around the world.
In Ukraine, the “Right Sector” has taken
the fight from the negotiating table to the streets in an attempt to
fulfill the dream of Stepan Bandera – a Ukraine free of Russia, Jews,
and all other “undesirables” as they see it. Buoyed by the continued
support from the US and Europe, these fanatics represent a more serious
threat to democracy than Yanukovich and the pro-Russian government ever
could. If Europe and the United States don’t recognize this threat in
its infancy, by the time they finally do, it might just be too late.
Eric Draitser is the founder of StopImperialism.com. He is an independent geopolitical analyst based in New York City. You can reach him at ericdraitser@gmail.com.
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