====================================================================== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. ======================================================================
Although I feel that it is quite wrong to view the Maidan protests in Ukraine as either a manifestation of fascism on the rampage or a Western plot (despite very real fascist involvement and Western interference), the results cannot be cheering for any left-winger. It appears that most of the protesters were largely concerned with the high-handed, corrupt nature of Yanokovich's government and had illusions in the EU's ability to offer some sort of economic rescue package to Ukraine and in the EU as a democratic outfit. The protests were certainly legitimate in their complaints about the government, and I feel that the Ukrainian left-wingers who tried to intervene in the protests were correct to do so, rather than merely write them off as reactionary or naive. What we have before in Kiev us is a government majority that has openly declared in advance its acceptance of austerity as a quid pro quo for EU assistance, has attempted to impose restrictions upon language rights (retracted after receiving EU advice), and -- this must be worrying to any left-winger -- given several ministerial posts and state jobs, some of which are not at all ornamental, to outright fascists. I also feel that the Russian intervention in the Crimea should be opposed, just as its war with Georgia and its interventions in Chechnya should have been opposed, as big-power bullying. That, however, does not mean that one should support the opposing regimes or movements. The rise of both Ukrainian and Russian nationalism in Ukraine poses a great danger. The break-up of the Soviet Union led to what were administrative borders becoming national ones: for several decades prior to 1991, the border between Russia and Ukraine was little more than that between two US states or British counties; it made little practical difference whether the Crimea was in Ukraine or Russia. Now Moscow and Kiev have different currencies, foreign policies, trade relations, etc; the dynamic of international relations is pulling them apart. Russians and Ukrainians have been mixing socially in Eastern and Southern Ukraine for decades; there have been many mixed marriages and friendships, there has been the rise of an unofficial linguistic mix of the two languages, Sirzhik. One could be a Russian within Ukraine; a Russian-speaking Ukrainian; and so on without bother. The tragedy here is that now, with an assertive Ukrainian government that includes ultra-nationalist, anti-Russian fascists facing an assertive Russian one, people are being forced to choose. Identity is becoming more important. We saw what this led to in Yugoslavia. Ukrainians and Tartars in the Crimea are feeling decidedly uncomfortable with the surge of Russian nationalism; the rise of Ukrainian nationalism, not only fired by fascists but by so-called liberals who wished to restrict language rights for non-Ukrainians and to promote Bandera as a good patriot (this was Yushchenko's shtick a couple of years back) will have the result of making non-Ukrainians feel insecure. In the sort term, I feel that the Crimea question will most likely be settled by Putin accepting a concession by the Rada of wide-ranging autonomy for the peninsula, with an increased stay for the Russian fleet, and at least formal guarantees for non-Russians. It will effectively be a Russian exclave in Ukraine. I suspect that the big Western powers are quietly trying to get this accepted in both Moscow and Kiev. This will prevent things blowing up, although the hard-line Ukrainian nationalists will cry it's a sell-out. I don't think that Putin will get much stick from Russian ultras. In the longer term, however, this rise in rival nationalisms will have a poisonous impact upon Ukraine and lead to outright chauvinistic government policies, militant nationalist activities and responses, and persecutions of minorities. That is why I feel that left-wingers should not support either the Russian or Ukrainian governments: both are playing an incendiary role. It is now that left-wingers must oppose all forms of nationalism and take a stand against the rise of rival chauvinisms that threaten to turn one citizen of Ukraine against another. The current government in Kiev is a big a problem in this respect as Putin's in Moscow. That the Kiev government is offering austerity gives the left in Ukraine a chance to promote class politics: and it is class politics that offer a positive alternative to the rise of divisive, poisonous nationalism. Paul F ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
