The world's intellectual elite appeals not to turn back on Ukraine

Sun Jan 26 17:41:50 UTC 2014

Please read the following article by Anton Shekhovtsov who works on the Ukrainian far right movement:

http://anton-shekhovtsov.blogspot.co.at/2014/01/what-west-should-know-about-euromaidans.html

Many in the West, are asking questions about the involvement of the Ukrainian ultranationalists in the Euromaidan protests in Kyiv. Some allegedly left-wing web-sites, such as the World Socialist Web Site, publish blatant lies about the Euromaidan protests and the role that the far right is playing in them. These web-sites are trying to appease Russian imperialists who are doing everything they can to deprive Ukraine of its already weakened independence.

At the moment, there are two things that the West should understand about the Ukrainian ultranationalists in the context of Euromaidan.

1. As I wrote before, in the article "The Ukrainian revolution is European and national", Euromaidan is, among other things, a national revolution against the Kremlin's imperialism and a nationalist uprising against Russia's destructive influence on Ukraine. The major share of support for the Ukrainian far right comes from those citizens who do not share far right views but urge for Ukraine's true independence. This means that it will only be possible to neutralise the far right after Ukraine gains national independence. The far right is being fuelled by the constant threat to the Ukrainian statehood rather than the alleged growth of extreme right views in the Ukrainian society. As Roger Griffin wrote in his Modernism and Fascism, the rise of fascism may occur, in particular, due to  "occupation, colonization, or acts of aggression inflicted on [a society] by other societies" (p. 104). Thus, a fight against fascism in Ukraine should always be synonymous with the fight against the attempts to colonise the country. Those who separate these two issues or crack down on the Ukrainian far right without recognising the urgent need for national independence will never be successful in their attempts to neutralise the far right. Moreover, they can make the situation worse.

Ultranationalist and anarchist symbols side by side on the battlefield
2. While the Ukrainian far right has indeed endorsed and used violence against Viktor Yanukovych's corrupt authoritarian regime and the brutal police who abuse and torture protesters, they are not the only violent force of Euromaidan. They are joined by many Ukrainian left-wingers and democrats who have become radicalised as a result of the lack of progress of non-violent resistance to the country's slipping into an outright dicatorship. The majority of the protesters who take to Kyiv's dead cold streets are tired of Yanukovych's cynical disregard of their demands and outraged about the police brutality. Their radicalisation is a sad response to the regime's policies and actions which gave an impetus to a non-aggression pact between the Ukrainian far left and far right who are now on the same side of the barricades. Those commentators who associate violence at Euromaidan exclusively with the far right are downplaying the causes of the radicalisation of the Euromaidan protests and - willingly or unwillingly - exonerating Yanukovych's authoritarian regime.

On Jan 26, 2014, at 1:29 AM, Alexander Polunov <apolunov at MAIL.RU> wrote:

> In 2012, Oleg Tyagnibok was included by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in the list of 20 most dangerous world ani-semines
> 
> http://korrespondent.net/ukraine/politics/1447395
> 
> 
> Суббота, 25 января 2014, 13:39 -05:00 от "Oleh Kotsyuba (Harvard Univ)" <kotsyuba at FAS.HARVARD.EDU>:
> Dear colleagues,
> 
> For your information appeal of the international intellectual elite re. the events in Ukraine.
> 
> Very best,
> Oleh Kotsyuba
> 
> http://krytyka.com/ua/articles/maybutnie-ukrayiny
> 
> The Future of Ukraine
> 
> The future of Ukraine depends most of all on the Ukrainians themselves. They defended their democracy and future 10 years ago, during the Orange Revolution, and are standing up for those values again today. As Europeans grow disenchanted with the idea of a common Europe, people in Ukraine are fighting for that idea and for their country's place in Europe. Defending Ukraine from the authoritarian temptations of its corrupt leaders is in the interests of the democratic world.
> 
> We cannot afford to turn our back on Ukraine. The new authoritarians in Kyiv should know that there will be a high price to pay for their repressive policies and for abandoning the European aspirations of the people. It is not too late for us to change things for the better and prevent Ukraine from becoming a dictatorship.
> 
> Passivity in the face of the authoritarian turn in Ukraine and the country's reintegration into a newly expanding Russian imperial sphere of interests pose a threat to the European Union’s integrity. It is a threat not just to the moral integrity of the Union but possibly to its internal institutional integrity as well. Alongside the diplomatic and economic measures taken by individual states and the entire EU, independent democratic initiatives should make efforts to defend victims of repression, support civil society and strengthen independent media.
> 
> The quality of any democracy depends to a great extent on what its citizens know about their country and the world. In Ukraine, the picture of the world is shaped by the authorities, who control most of the mass media, and Russian television channels faithful to President Putin. For the sake of democracy, we must support and strengthen independent and pluralistic media in Ukraine.
> 
> We must help strengthen civil society, especially the new initiatives that have arisen around the Maidan. No matter what the authorities say, the people fighting to keep their country's future open are not foreign agents – the only ones deserving that name are those pursuing a policy of mass repression to quash Ukraine's hopes of becoming a European democracy.
> 
> The letter has been signed by:
> 
> Andrew Arato, Professor of Political and Social Theory, New School for Social Research, United States
> 
> Shlomo Avineri, Professor of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
> Lluís Bassets, Deputy Director, El País, Spain
> Zygmunt Bauman, Professor of Sociology, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
> Gianni Bonvicini, Director of the Institute of International Affairs, Italy
> José Casanova, Professor of Sociology, Georgetown University, United States
> Bogusław Chrabota, Editor-In-Chief of Rzeczpospolita daily, Poland
> Aleš Debeljak, Poet and Cultural Critic, Slovenia
> Tibor Dessewffy, President of the DEMOS Hungary
> Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, former Foreign Minister, Chairman of the Baltic Development Forum, Denmark
> Ute Frevert, Director of the Center for the History of Emotions at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Germany
> Paolo Flores d'Arcais, Philosopher and Journalist, Editor of MicroMega magazine, Italy
> Timothy Garton Ash,  Professor of European Studies, Oxford University, United Kingdom
> Carlos Gaspar, Chairman of the Portuguese Institute of International Relations (IPRI), Portugal
> Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy, United States
> André Glucksmann, Philosopher and Writer, France
> Jeff Goldfarb, Professor of Sociology, New School for Social Research, United States
> Charles Grant, Director of the Centre for European Reform, United Kingdom
> Andrea Graziosi, Professor of History, University of Naples Federico II, Italy
> Tomáš Halík, Professor of Sociology, Charles University Prague, Czech Republic
> Pierre Hassner, Director of the Fondation nationale des sciences politiques, France
> Agnieszka Holland, Film Director and Screenwriter, Poland
> William Hunt, Professor of History, St. Lawrence University, United States
> Suat Kiniklioglu, Executive Director of the Centre for Strategic Communication, Turkey
> Ira Katznelson, Professor of Political Science and History, Columbia University, United States
> János Kis, Professor of Philosophy and Political Science, Central European University, Hungary
> Zenon E. Kohut, Professor of History, Peter Jacyk Centre for Ukrainian Research, University of Alberta, Canada
> David Koranyi, Diplomat, Former Undersecretary of State, Deputy Director Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center, Hungary-United States
> Bernard Kouchner, Former Foreign Minister, France
> Ivan Krastev, Chairman, Centre for Liberal Strategies, Bulgaria
> Marcin Król, Professor of History of Ideas, Warsaw University, Poland
> Mark Leonard, Director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, United Kingdom
> Sonja Licht, President of Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence, Serbia
> Tomasz Lis, Editor-In-Chief of Newsweek Polska weekly , Poland
> Adam Michnik, Editor-In-Chief of Gazeta Wyborcza daily, Poland
> Marie Mendras, Directeur de recherche, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France
> Dominique Moïsi, Conseiller spécial de Institut français de relations internationales (l'IFRI), France
> Alexander J. Motyl, Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University-Newark, United States
> Piotr Mucharski, Editor-In-Chief of Tygodnik Powszechny weekly, Poland
> Aryeh Neier, President Emeritus of the Open Society Foundations, United States
> Kalypso Nicolaïdis, Professor of International Relations, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
> Ton Nijhuis, Director of the Duitsland Instituut, The Netherlands
> Zbigniew Nosowski, Editor-In-Chief of Więź magazine, Poland
> Claus Offe, Professor of Political Sociology, Hertie School of Governance, Germany
> Andrzej Olechowski, Former Foreign Minister, Poland
> Monika Olejnik, Journalist, Poland
> Andrés Ortega, Author and Journalist, Former Director of Policy Planning, Office of the Spanish Prime Minister, Spain
> Ana Palacio, Former Foreign Minister, Former Vice President and General Counsel of the World Bank Group, Spain
> Šimon Pánek, Director of the People In Need, Czech Republic
> Anton Pelinka, Professor of Political Science, Central European University, Austria-Hungary
> Víctor Pérez-Díaz, President of Analistas Socio-Políticos (ASP),  Spain
> Marc F. Plattner, Editor, Journal of Democracy, United States
> Ruprecht Polenz, Former Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the German Bundestag, Germany
> Adam Pomorski, President of the Polish PEN Club, Poland
> László Rajk jr., Architect, Designer and Political Activist, Hungary
> Joachim Rogall, Executive Director of the Robert Bosch Stiftung, Germany
> Adam Daniel Rotfeld , Former Foreign Minister, Poland
> Jacques Rupnik, Directeur de recherche, Sciences Po, France
> Saskia Sassen, Professor of Sociology, Columbia University, United States
> Gesine Schwan, President of the Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance, Germany
> Richard Sennett, Professor of Sociology New York University, United States
> Narcis Serra, President of the Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals, Spain
> Martin M. Šimečka, Journalist, Editor of Respekt weekly,  Czech Republic
> Sławomir Sierakowski, Director of the Institute for Advanced Study, Poland
> Aleksander Smolar, Chairman of the Board, Stefan Batory Foundation, Poland
> Timothy Snyder, Professor of History, Yale University,  United States
> Andrzej Stasiuk, Writer, Poland
> Fritz Stern, Professor of History, Columbia University,  United States
> Frank E. Sysyn, Director of the Peter Jacyk Centre for Ukrainian Research, University of Alberta, Canada
> Jerzy Szacki, Professor of Sociology, University of Warsaw, Poland
> Monika Sznajderman, Publisher, Publishing House Czarne, Poland
> Roman Szporluk, Professor of Ukrainian History, Harvard University, United States
> Paweł Świeboda, President of demosEUROPA – Centre for European Strategy, Poland
> Paul Thibaud, Philosopher and Writer, France
> Nathalie Tocci, Deputy Director of the Institute of International Affairs, Italy
> Jordi Vaquer, Director of the Open Society Initiative for Europe, Spain
> Tomas Venclova, Poet and Writer, Yale University, Lithuania-United States
> António Vitorino, former European Commissioner, President of Notre Europe-Institut Jacques Delors, Portugal-France
> George Weigel, Writer, Ethics and Public Policy Center, United States
> Michel Wieviorka, Directeur d’études,  École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, d'études, France
> Adam Zagajewski, Poet and Essayist, University of Chicago, Poland
> Jacek Żakowski, Columnist,  Polityka weekly , Poland
> Slavoj Žižek, Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, University of London, Slovenia-United Kingdom
> 
> - See more at: http://krytyka.com/ua/articles/maybutnie-ukrayiny#sthash.FUWDRg5m.dpuf
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> -- 
> Alexander Polunov
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