Ukraine anti-fascist activist detained, beaten

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Vladislav Wojciechowski

On the night of Sept. 12, Vladislav Wojciechowski, an activist with the leftist Union Borotba (Struggle), was detained in Odessa, Ukraine. According to Borotba, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is ready to charge Vladislav with “terrorism”. Explosives were planted by the authorities during the search of the apartment where he lived.

Neo-Nazi “self-defense” paramilitaries also participated in his arrest. Vladislav was beaten, and it is possible that a confession was forced out of him under torture. Currently, he is in SBU custody in Odessa.

Vladislav was at the Odessa House of Trade Unions on May 2. He survived the massacre of 48 anti-fascists there, but suffered a traumatic brain injury at the hands of neo-Nazi militants.

Wojciechowski’s arrest shows that the U.S.-backed Poroshenko regime is not really interested in ending the civil war in Ukraine, but instead continues to persecute its political opponents.

The International Action Center join in demanding the immediate release of political prisoner Vladislav Wojciechowski!

Please contact the nearest Ukrainian embassy or consulate and the White House in Washington, D.C., to demand Vladislav Wojciechowski’s immediate release. Let them know you hold Ukrainian President Peter Poroshenko and U.S. President Barack Obama responsible for his safety.

In the U.S., contact: Igor Sybiga, Chief of the Consulate General of Ukraine in New York, 240 E. 49th St., New York, NY 10017; phone: 212-371-6965; fax: 212-371-5547; email: gc_usn@mfa.gov.ua; website: ny.mfa.gov.ua.

White House Switchboard: 202-456-1414; Comment line: 202-456-1111; submit messages of protest to President Obama online at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments.

Support Center for Antifascists in Ukraine

http://borotba.org/support_center_for_antifascists_in_ukraine.html

The objective necessity of a Support Center for Antifascists in Ukraine in Simferopol:

Currently, it is extremely difficult for leftist forces opposing fascism in Ukraine to work in the territory controlled by the Kiev government, in particular for the most active left organization — Union Borotba (Struggle). In the cities of the southeast, there were mass arrests of AntiMaidan supporters, and today hundreds of people are behind bars. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) now searches and arrests our comrades even for simply posting on social networks (Facebook, Vkontakte), which is classified as “separatist” propaganda.

Under these conditions, cells of Union Borotba and other left-wing, anti-fascist organizations operate semi-underground. Any prominent leader or organizer immediately becomes the object of reprisals. The organization is now able to work only on the network principle — as a network of small, autonomous groups that direct agitation, propaganda and organization, as well as protect themselves from attacks by neo-fascist combatants.

Operation of a central leadership of the organization has become impossible in the territory controlled by the Kiev authorities – there is too great a risk of exposure for such a center and for destruction throughout the network.

This situation creates the need for a coordinating center for Borotba and other friendly organizations and leftist groups outside of Kiev government-controlled territory. An example in this respect is the work of the Russian Social-Democrats of the early twentieth century to create a center abroad to coordinate the activities of clandestine cells.

Activists involved in the anti-fascist struggle in Ukraine, who risk arrest, torture, and even death, need to know that they will not be left without shelter and livelihood if needed, so that they will be able to continue to participate in the struggle for the liberation of Ukraine from the Nazis.

Subjective conditions of the Support Center for Antifascists in Ukraine in Simferopol:

Due to repression of the Kiev authorities against Union Borotba and other left-wing and patriotic organizations, many activists were forced to leave the territory of Ukraine. Currently, about 20 members of Union Borotba from Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk, Kiev and other cities, who left Ukraine under threat of arrest or violence, are in the Republic of Crimea in Simferopol. There are also representatives of other leftist groups that fled Ukraine.

For now, emigrant anti-fascists have only their own scarce resources for rent and other necessities; they do not have jobs or other sources of income. At the same time, our comrades do not want to become refugees and receive Russian citizenship — we want to return to Ukraine and defeat the neo-fascist regime.

Union Borotba, under the direction of Odessa Regional Council Deputy Alexei Albu and coordinator Victor Shapinov, has already started work on coordinating Borotba and other left-wing forces within Ukraine. On July 5-8, the first school for political activists was held near Simferopol, which was attended by 30 people who left Ukraine.

Tasks of the Support Center for Antifascists in Ukraine:

1. Coordination and management of the cells of Borotba and friendly leftist organizations.
2. Ensuring secure communication channels and delivery of funds for anti-fascists in Ukraine.
3. Training new political activists who came to the resistance movement in the wake of the AntiMaidan protests. Creating a cadre of powerful left-wing political forces, which will be an essential element of the political system of the new Ukraine, liberated from fascism.
4. Create a press center of left and the anti-fascist forces in Ukraine to inform the public about the fight on the territory controlled by the Kiev authorities
5. Creating promotional materials (leaflets, videos, etc.) for use by the left and anti-fascist forces within Ukraine. Maintain a constant videoblog for leftist forces of Ukraine, expandable to a full-fledged online channel.
6. Translation of materials of the antifascist resistance to foreign languages. Spreading global awareness of the fight by the anti-fascist forces of Ukraine. Dissemination of accurate information about the repression and killings of activists.
7. Maintaining a register of crimes and human rights violations by the Kiev government and its controlled ultra-right units.
8. Liaison between the leftist forces in Ukraine and worldwide.
9. Ensuring evacuation of Ukrainian comrades who risk persecution or violence where they live and work.

We, the representatives of Support Center for Antifascists in Ukraine appeal to all progressive movements and organizations as well as individual activists for help. Any, even the most modest, help would be greatly appreciated by the Ukrainian antifascist emigrants.

Demand independent investigation: U.S./EU exploits plane shootdown over Ukraine

Statement by International Action Center:

Demand independent investigation: U.S./EU exploits plane shootdown over Ukraine

In the aftermath of the horrific crash of a Malaysian Airlines civilian jet that killed 298 people on July 18 in the war zone of eastern Ukraine, the governments of the United States and European Union are cynically trying to exploit the incident for their own imperialist gains.

President Barack Obama has blamed Russia, claiming that the shoot down was the result of the civil war in Ukraine and asserting that Russia instigated the war. However, in reality, the war was caused by the aggressive policy of U.S. and EU imperialism.

In order to install a regime that would cater to International Monetary Fund dictates, force austerity on working-class Ukrainians, and bind Ukraine to NATO, the imperialist powers supported a d’état that relied on vicious, openly pro-fascist forces. The aggression from Kiev–including the bombing of southeastern cities, the killing of civilians and the forced exile of tens of thousands to Russia–makes the resistance of the people of Ukraine inevitable and completely justified.

The cause of the crash remains rooted in speculation as of now. However, it is highly unlikely that the popular resistance forces in Ukraine have weapons capable of shooting down a plane at the altitude, and it is clear that neither Russia nor the resistance have any motive in downing a passenger aircraft. There are also many questions surrounding the role of the U.S.-supported Kiev government’s rerouting of the civilian aircraft to a trajectory directly over the war zone.

In fact, the only one who could possibly gain from the shoot down are U.S. and EU imperialism, and they have wasted no time in attempting to manipulate the situation. Progressives in the U.S. and around the world must remain vigilant to the threat of increased aggression on the part of these warmongers.

We demand an independent inquiry into the cause of the plane shoot down. And we demand that the U.S. and EU end their bloody intervention in Ukraine.

Syria’s Election: STOP U.S. INTERVENTION

Following is the statement of the International Action Center on the upcoming election in Syria:

The Syrian people are holding a presidential election June 3. What makes this election unique is that it can help protect the sovereignty, even the existence of this country. It can help end the bloody war that has drained the lifeblood of the country. It is seen as an essential step toward national reconciliation.

For the past three years, Syria has been under attack by the U.S., NATO and by the U.S.-allied absolute monarchies that govern Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. They are fighting a proxy war with mercenaries and reactionary sectarian forces that Washington itself recognizes are terrorists — when they’re not carrying out U.S. plans.

Washington’s stated goal is “regime change,” that is, to eliminate the government led by Bashar al-Assad. What “regime change” really means is the destruction of Syria. To bring this about, the U.S. and its allies have financed a war that has killed over 150,000 people and displaced one-third of the 23 million Syrians.

Washington claims they want “democracy” in Syria. But U.S. wars have never brought democracy. Just destruction. Think of what U.S. intervention has brought to Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and the Balkans. Think of the fascists that U.S. intervention put in positions of power in Ukraine. The worst thing that can happen to the Syrians would be for the U.S.-NATO-Saudi forces to win.

Election observers from the U.S. are expected to join observers from the BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa — and Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador and other countries, representing the overwhelming majority of the people of the world. This election is a national expression of the fact that the Syrian people are determined to chart their own future.

U.S. anti-war activists, including from the International Action Center and other anti-war organizations, are participating as election observers in Syria. They participate knowing that the overwhelming majority of the U.S. population is against another war. Any such war will not only harm the people of Syria, but also the U.S. population. As Martin Luther King Jr. said in 1967, the bombs that drop on Vietnam — or on Libya or Syria, we need to add — also drop on the inner cities of the United States. They attack the working people in the U.S.

Self-determination for the Syrian people!

We need jobs, health care and housing, not endless war!