Statement on the situation in Ukraine and Autonomous Workers Union Update - 27/02 - Fifty shades of brown (fr)

The overthrow of the authoritarian regime of Yanukovych by no means signifies for us the 
end of our fight. New dictators hasten to take the place of the Party of Regions. They 
will not hesitate to rely not only on considerably weakened security agencies, but on the 
far right militants as well. The regime of police and prosecutorial arbitrariness deserved 
its overthrow unconditionally, but now there may come a time for a new terror that will 
justify itself ideologically. ---- At the moment, the main power is concentrated in the 
hands of the opposition party ?Batkivshchyna? (?Fatherland?) , which has managed to rally 
a substantial part of the ruling class. Its leader, recently released from prison Yulia 
Tymoshenko, has obvious presidential ambitions. It should be remembered though, that when 
Tymoshenko?s sentence was pronounced, the rally in her support in Kiev gathered no more 
than five thousand people, and all the mass demos of this party had to use paid-for 
extras. Batkivshchyna as well as the Party of Regions has virtually no serious grassroot 
support or activist base, but it has large enough material resources.

In order to stay in power, Yulia Tymoshenko?s team will have to appease the far rightists, 
the Right Sector in particular. Two such attempts have already been made ? the fascists 
who had been imprisoned in cases not related to the Maidan were released after the 
enactment of the according law in the Parliament. New Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has 
promised to introduce representatives of the RS in his ministry. Now we?ll be able to call 
the cops ?Nazis? with a good reason. But Batkivshchyna is clearly frightened of such a 
passionate and uncontrolled element in power. So they will try to get the far-right on the 
hook, not only by buying but also by tying them with blood. Right Sector dreams of 
settling old accounts with subcultural anti-fascists, so they were carefully supplied with 
the Security Service or police dossiers containing personal data. Probably in the near 
future the authorities will close their eyes to violence against the left or racist 
attacks, but will recall it a few months later, when they will need an excuse to reign in 
the uncomfortable allies.
Right Sector leads its own game, and has been doing so for long enough. Today its leader 
Dmitry Jarosh claims entry into power at a very high level, as a deputy prime minister for 
law enforcement agencies. At the same time, as reported by the journalist Mustafa Nayem, 
according to the records found in the Presidential Administration, Yarosh was 
communicating with Yanukovych or his representatives on February 20. Even before that, on 
January 28 the negotiations between the Right Sector and Security Service / Ministry of 
Internal Affairs were officially announced. A day later representatives of the right let 
this fact slip, declaring ?the desire to join the negotiation process.? Probably such 
negotiations actually has been taking place since much earlier, especially when one 
considers the background of all the organizations that were a part of ?Right Sector?: 
?Tryzub? (?Trident?) as well as SNA, and ?Bely Molot? (?White Hammer?) have in various 
forms actively interacted with politicians from both system parties, and with the security 
forces since the 90s ? 2000s.
?Svoboda? (?Freedom?) Party is a competitor for both Batkivshchyna and RS equally. The 
latter will actively infringe on Svoboda electorate and by the time of the election the 
standoff between these political forces will escalate. Now Svoboda has a chair in the 
prosecutor?s office. It is symbolic, because the cops and prosecutors always work closely 
and at the same time hate each other; their interests are very similar, but occasionally 
come into conflict. This is the type of relationship that exists between Svoboda and Right 
Sector.

Security Service is headed by Nalivaychenko who already held the post under President 
Yushchenko. Chief security officer of the country is famous not only for the posthumous 
prosecution of Joseph Stalin for the Holodomor (which looks like a particularly dark 
joke), but also the fight against ?Kremlin-sponsored terrorist organization Antifa.? After 
losing his job, Nalivaychenko worked with the ultra-right (including future Svoboda 
activist Eugene Karas, known under the pseudonym ?Vortex?), trying to create a movement 
?Otpor?, but this project was not successful.

At the same time, in the regions that have not yet submitted to the new government, but 
renounced Yanukovych, their own fascist sentiments are ripening. The Party of Regions 
representatives, who failed to join the parliamentary majority, establish blocks with 
pro-Russian far-rightists and Stalinists. Imperialists and Stalinists, Cossacks and 
Orthodox fanatics ? all together fight against the often imaginary Banderovites, meanwhile 
cracking down on journalists and human rights activists. Brown center is confronted by at 
least as brown regions. The only difference is the historical tradition to which they 
appeal. All of them will focus on their ?fight for traditional values?, appealing to the 
social partnership and at the same time slashing social expenditures.
We take no side in the conflict between the Ukrainian and the Russian nationalists. But 
many protesters against the regime of Yanukovych will be dissatisfied with both the 
rapacious policies of Batkivshchyna, which will hit the pocket of workers, and the 
?national revolution? of Right sector and Svoboda, which will try to take away the 
remnants of human rights and freedoms. It is these people who are indifferent to the 
ultra-right and critical of the system opposition, the ?disgruntled members of the 
Maidan,? who can soon fill the ranks of the left and anarchists.
AWU-Kiev, 24.02.2014