via Alasbarricadas.org: We translate this post published by the Russian Autonomous Action website, which clarifies the position of the Kiev anarchist militia.. now into English by The Free
avtonom.org
Our new author Batur Ozdinc is an anarchist from Turkey and a member of AKA (Ankara Anarchy Collective). Over the last 25 years he has written and translated numerous articles on the anarchist movement. We present a translation of the new text from him.
A group of Ukrainian anarchists from Kiev have announced that they have joined the popular resistance against the Russian occupation and have created their own armed group. This news has caused much controversy in anarchist circles. Without knowing all the circumstances, one might think that this group is pro-NATO, disoriented national anarchist, or even supportive of neo-Nazis. But this is not the case at all.
According to the statements they made before and during the war, these people know very well what NATO, capitalism, nationalism and imperialism are and they are against all of that. For me, however, these people are nothing more than a group of comrades in the middle of a battlefield trying to save themselves by maintaining their convictions.
Personally, as many anarchists probably share, I believe that the “Russian state” (whether or not we separate it from Donbass) has no “right” to invade Ukraine on the pretext of its NATO tutelage.
In this sense, the resistance of the people of Ukraine (I mean civilians, not the Ukrainian army) can be considered “correct”. However, in every war there are two sides, and now both are in favor of capitalism, although one of them seems more despotic and imperialist. In addition, it is the State and the capitalist machinery that confront civilians by imposing nationalist ideas. In some cases this leads to bloodshed and even genocide, as happened with the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire or with the Jews and Gypsies in Nazi Germany. Although seemingly innocent on the surface, ‘civil resistance’ can lead to lynchings and murders of other nationalities and even the creation of a new ‘nationalist’ state.
Supporting the Ukrainian “side” now is not the same as siding with the revolution in Catalonia in 1936 (the so-called Spanish Civil War), when the existence of the institutions of capitalism, religion and the state was questioned. Nor does it resemble the processes that are taking place in Rojava (northern Syria) under the influence of Bookchin’s writings. Ukrainian society may be more “democratic” and open (than Russia) in the liberal sense, but Ukraine remains a capitalist state.
On the other hand, the anti-Russian sentiment, fueled by the Western media, is turning into a form of racism, an aggression towards the people of Russia and its culture in general, not only towards Putin, the Russian state or imperialism. I think this is something that we as anarchists should oppose, emphasizing that NATO is no less bad (and in some cases can be more bad) than Russian imperialism.
