Take action for anti-fascists of Ukraine and Russia 24th and 25th of May!
International call
Recent months have seen unprecendent levels of repression against anti-fascists in Ukraine and Russia. Anti-fascists have been both framed up and punished for defending themselves against Nazis.
In Ukraine, President proclaimed Antifa to be "extremists" and ordered the law enforcement agencies "to scrutinize political motives" behind the death of Nazi activist Maksim Chayka, who died in Odessa after an attempt to attack 5 anti-fascists with his 15 friends. Referring to Nazis as "patriots", Yuschenko showed his sympathy with them. Soon Ukrainian secret service SBU, controlled by president, announced that a pro-Russian party was behind the death of Chayka. Obviously, this incident is used by various political forces for internal political
struggle. 22nd of April, anti-fascist from Kiev was kidnapped, beaten up and transferred to Odessa, but eventually released. SBU is also claiming, that suspected killer of Chayka is hiding in Russia, and has demanded his extraction to Ukraine. Even if that is the case, it is unlikely that he will face a fair and unpartial court after interventions of the president.
Meanwhile Russia, a country hinted by Yuschenko do be behind Antifa in Ukraine, is also repressing anti-fascists with a vigor. 21st of April,Moscow anti-fascist Aleksey "Shkobar" Olesinov was given one year sentence for a fight in a bar in August 2008 which did not even took place. 8th of May in St. Petersburg,anti-fascist Aleksey Bychin was sentenced to 5 years in prison, for a fight with two Nazis (of whom another was a police officer) in June 2008. 14th of May in Kazan,anti-fascist Artur Valeev was given 4 year prison sentence for inflicting minor wounds to Nazis who attacked him and his friend in November 2008. In Izhevsk, police cooperates regularly with Nazis to fabricate criminal cases against anti-fascists, during year up to 80 anti-fascists have been arrested for different cases and currently there are at least two serious felony cases with 6 defendants going on. In Vladivostok, court proceedings are going on against Yura M., who accidentally killed one of the two Nazis who assaulted him in November 2008. And at last, Artyom Lokutov, anarchist artist from Novosibirsk was planted drugs 15th of May, in a blatant attack against alternative culture in the city as a whole.
Most of the provocations and repressions against Antifa in Russia are organised by CPE, "Center of Counteraction against Extremism", a new police department founded in New Year to replace old UBOP,"Administration of Struggle against Organised Crime". Already before the rebranding, UBOP was notorious for provocations and even murder of
political activists, so change of name was just final confirmation that authorities are rather fighting political opposition than mafia.
But whatever they say, Antifa is not sponsored by powers of the "West", or "East", we may only count on grassroot support around the world. In face of increasing repression, and where a number of victims of fascist violence is mounting (in Russia only, during first 4 months of 2009 at least 23 people were killed and 98 wounded in racist attacks), Anti-fascists are standing firm in front of attacks of both the state and racist groups. Today, international solidarity for anti-fascists of Ukraine and Russia is more necessary than ever!
What to do?
Make an action, big or small, targeted against Ukrainian and Russian authorities in your city 24th or 25th of May. If you do not have embassies or consulates in your city, you may target any Ukrainian or Russian major business, most proper target being the Gazprom corporation, which is pretty much the same as the Russian state. List of Gazprom subsidiaries is available for example here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gazprom%27s_subsidiaries
If you make an action, please report back to abc-msk AT riseup DOT net!
For more information on recent repression:
http://antifa-action.org.ua/
http://avtonom.org/abc (site currently down at times due to server upgrade)
http://www.myspace.com/abcmsc
A call to action in London 24th of May:
http://www.ainfos.ca/en/ainfos22644.html
This text in Russian: http://avtonom.org/index.php?nid=2526
