#WORLD #WORLDWIDE #UKRAINE #ANARCHISM #News #Journal #Update - (en) The struggle of #Ukraine : hot in December in full swing!

 Miner's riots sweep across the country ---- On December 2, in the Volyn region,

an international checkpoint "Yagodin" was blocked by the NGO "Union of Miners
with Disabilities of Volyn Labor" from 11:00 to 16:00, demanding not to amend the
law "On Compulsory State Social Insurance". ---- More than a hundred people
walked along the pedestrian crossing , passing vehicles every half hour. The head
of the trade union organization of the Novovolynsk mine No. 9, Vasily Gura, said
that after the adoption of legislative changes, former miners will not receive
regressive social benefits, which are due in connection with industrial injuries
and occupational diseases, but only a pension. He promised more large-scale
actions, if the opinion of the protesters is not heeded.

On the same day, about 100 pensioners from the Ingulskaya uranium mine in the
Kirovograd region protested against these changes in the center of Kropyvnytskyi
(formerly Kirovograd). " We loaded the ore into wagons, crushed the oversized. A
bag of explosives weighs 20 kg, it took 40-60 per shift. It's just that people
will be deceived and we will be left without payments. We are trying to leave it
as it was. I spend a lot of money on treatment, to restore health, because the
work was not easy, "said Sergei Kostyunin, who worked there for 18 years. If the
requirements are not met, the former miners are ready to picket the Verkhovna
Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers.

In the east of the country, disabled miners from Pavlograd came out on December 2
against the pension initiative for the building of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional
State Administration.

The swing at the Dobropolyeugol-Dobycha State Enterprise in the Donetsk region
does not stop . On the morning of December 7, truck drivers and bulldozer drivers
staged a warning strike over non-payment of wages. The security service of the
Almaznaya mine also refused to fulfill its duties; the team considered the
possibility of absenteeism from buses. On the eve, the mining installers of the
3rd and 4th shifts at the Dobropolskaya mine refused to go underground.

But the main confrontation unfolded in the Lviv region. As of December 9, 38
miners in Chervonograd remained underground to protest the non-payment of wages.
Workers on the first shift at four state-owned mines refused to go underground.
Some of the miners also went to the central square of Chervonograd in order to
hold a rally. Others left for Sokal and picketed the building of the State
Enterprise "Lvovugol". The leaders of the regional association of the Independent
Trade Union of Miners of Chervonograd appealed to the central authorities and
people's deputies with a demand to immediately pay people the money they earned.
This is how "Present time" describes the situation:

" In Ukraine, miners have blocked the international highway near the border with
Poland, and also stopped the work of several large mines. Wage arrears have been
hanging for three months. Against this background, the country is facing an
energy crisis due to rising gas prices.

One of the striking mines - "Chervonogradskaya" - is located in the Lviv region.
It employs about a thousand employees. After the shift, 32 miners refused to rise
to the surface and went on strike at a depth of more than 500 meters. The mine
was suspended.

With the help of a special crate, the protesting employees of the mine are
lowered food - borscht and bread. Together with food, journalists descend to the
miners. They go about another kilometer underground to the room where the miners
are sitting - there is no wind blowing in there, so it is not so cold. The miners
say that in order to feed their families, they have to take out loans. There is
nothing to pay them with, says Nikolai. An unemployed wife and two children await
him at home.

"There are a lot of loans. You have to pay for everything. You have to pay for an
apartment. Get dressed. St. Nicholas Day. New Year. You have to live on
something. The credit card is not eternal. Taking a loan in advance is also not
profitable. Interest is growing," explains Nikolai.

"We constantly have to knock out our salaries, - says his colleague Pavel
Trytyak. - We are already tired of it. We get a salary normally, one might say,
three times a year. By Easter, Miner's Day and New Year. . Now we go to Kiev,
then we block the roads. "

Most of the miners stayed underground for more than a day. Some were raised
earlier due to health problems.

"I am very tired," admits Pavel Trytyak. "Yes, all the lads are tired. We have
four or five people taken to the mountain with pressure. The lads have more than
200 pressure." The upper blood pressure indicator in a healthy person of their
age usually does not exceed 140 millimeters of mercury. Chervonogradskaya is not
the only mine in the Lviv region with wage arrears. Three more mines were
suspended. The miners decided to attract attention by blocking the international
highway near the border with Poland. Only cars with children and sick people, as
well as regular buses, are allowed.

Since October 2021, the government has doubled the price of coal, but this will
not save the situation, say the trade unions. Miners are asking for $ 3 million
from the budget - to pay off debts and modernize old equipment. Last week, the
deputies of the Verkhovna Rada considered this issue, but failed the vote.

The Ministry of Energy of Ukraine said that $ 11 million was allocated to help
miners across the country. Salary debts are in all state mines in Ukraine. As a
result, only a third of the required amount came to the cards of the Lviv miners.
The miners hope that the remainder of their wage arrears will be paid off before
the New Year, otherwise they threaten with new strikes. "

Finally, on December 16, at 9:30 am, coal mining workers, together with the
Kirovograd uranium workers of the Vostok GOK State Enterprise, picketed the
Verkhovna Rada, then organized rallies near the Office of the President and the
Cabinet of Ministers in order to return at 15:00 under the Verkhovna Rada for its
extraordinary meeting. Such trips are traditionally headed by the Independent
Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine, led by pro-Akhmetov parliamentarian Mykhailo
Volynets, writes:"A request to the deputies, all residents of mining towns,
caring Ukrainians who understand the importance of ensuring the country's energy
security - to support the protesters. Therefore, miners look out not only for
themselves, for their families. They are practically trying to preserve the
energy independence of the country. Work with your elected deputies on the ground
, in the regions! Ahead is a harsh winter - a cold and hungry life may happen. It
is this autumn-winter-spring period of 2021-2022. Such a critical situation with
the failure of preparation for winter in Ukraine did not exist - the issue is
more global than ensuring the work of state mines. "

Thus, despite the fact that the top of the NPGU goes to such events under
pressure from below, the labor struggle is again used in friction between the
country's largest capitalist and the presidential team, which we will return to
below.

In mid-December, the miners' protests continued . On December 17, workers of the
mining section No. 1 of the Kapitalnaya mine of the State Enterprise
"Mirnogradugol" in the Donetsk region went down on the 1st shift underground, but
went on strike. NPGU announced the adoption of measures to transfer food and
water to the protesters. 15 miners began an underground protest in complete
darkness. At 20.15 the next day, the action continued. The union delivered their
jerseys today. In turn, workers of the 3rd shift of the Novodruzheskaya mine of
the Lisichanskugol state enterprise in the Luhansk region categorically refused
to go underground. The second shift refused to go to work. At 7:00 on the 19th, a
meeting of all four shifts is scheduled at the enterprise.

However, many workers are critical of the actions of the semi-official trade
union. " Why did the Independent Trade Union" from above "not organize a protest
earlier, isn't three months of indebtedness a reason for indignation?" Victoria
Bondarenko asked. "The union also expected that everything would be organized by
itself? before? A very convenient position - to accuse ordinary workers that they
were silent ... "

She is echoed by Oksana Dobryanskaya: " Get out of the Verkhovna Rada and fuck
with them, they zadolbali not do a shit in that parliament. Take Yulka
(Timoshenko, - approx.) And all your lads, and the people will throw off your
shovels. -for these hard workers. Share your salaries and everything will be OK . "
Well, and such a thought from Vitaly Petrishin: " If we did all this together.
It's just that when one of the first mines came to a standstill
(Chervonogradskaya), not all of us supported us. And now we are all separated one
by one. "

Physicians protest in Kryvyi Rih

On December 13, doctors from the 16th city hospital went to a rally , demanding
to pay off salary arrears and payments for the treatment of patients with
coronavirus. The latter paid in part for September, but for October and November
they were not paid at all. In addition, this year, doctors have not yet received
bonuses and payments for health improvement. The delays in payments are
reportedly due to the merger of the two hospitals into one health facility. The
8th city hospital has been in the process of liquidation since May. She
officially ceased to exist in October, after which she joined Hospital No. 16.
Thus, the city authorities wanted to optimize two medical facilities. According
to acting chief physician Igor Krishtopy, the salary and "kovidnye" all will
receive until the end of the week.

Circumvent segregation

Despite the fact that the government of Ukraine has actually introduced a
lockdown for everyone who does not have a Covid certificate, protests against the
coronadictatorship remain the lot of right-wing conservative political forces,
urban madmen and other interesting personalities, while the simpler public
prefers to bypass these measures quietly . According to the head of the main
department of the State Food and Consumer Service in Kiev, Oleg Ruban, about 10%
of vaccination certificates against coronavirus in the capital "are in doubt."
Similar results are given by opinion polls in two other Ukrainian cities. The
number of fake certificates is growing daily and may already be in the millions
across the country, and dozens of them are identified - although these cases are
constantly being promoted in the media, creating the illusion of inevitable
responsibility.

Reorganization of schools in Nikolayevshchina

On December 8, in Voznesensk, the parents of the students went out together with
the teachers to protest against the closure of schools No. 2, No. 7 and the
Insight lyceum. Local authorities claim that the decision to liquidate
educational institutions has not yet been made, but they plan to do so, with
their further reorganization into one lyceum on the basis of the gifted boarding
school. In addition, the protesters opposed the transfer of the boarding school
to the city community from the balance sheet of the Nikolaev Regional Council. "
If we take a boarding school on the balance sheet, it will pull a lot of funds.
The city will not pull such a large load. boarding school in normal conditions",
- noted one of the participants of the action. Voznesensk city council after two
hours of discussions on the issue of reorganization of schools, did not agree to
accept the boarding school in the ownership of the Voznesenskaya community.

Politicians also "work"

The personnel of the Kakhovsky Plant of Electric Welding Equipment PrJSC in the
Kherson region began to protest over the same wage arrears. As People's Deputy
Vladimir Ivanov writes on his page on December 7, the workers asked him to
intervene in this situation, and also raised issues of power outages in the
hostel. He came to the meeting at the entrance of the enterprise, although he did
not say anything about the results of his care.

Give warmth to the apartments!

Belatedly, we inform you that on November 20, in the Solomensky district of Kiev,
residents of one of the houses blocked the road due to cold batteries, blocking
the passage of cars on Vozdukhoflotsky Avenue. " Also yesterday, the heating and
the mountains (yachuyu) water was turned off, this is already 2 times since the
beginning of the heating season, they give it for 5 days and turn it off. And in
those houses, they did not turn on the heating at all ," they added in the
comments. Patrolmen and television were present, but details were not specified.

 From anti-tuning fronts

On November 25, under the mayor's office of Chernigov, they painted trees on the
asphalt and stood with posters in defense of the Regional Landscape Park
Yalovshchina, opposing the allocation of 3.5 hectares of communal land to the
center of youth tourism. According to human rights activist Alexander Gaspar,
this is the first step towards the upcoming sale and development of this area
with high-rise buildings. The discussion continued in the session hall. Mayor
Vladislav Atroshenko said that a decision is necessary to streamline the land and
that he has no hidden desire to find an investor for high-rise buildings in
Yalovshchina. According to him, the premises of the children's and youth center
can be leased for a symbolic fee to a public organization that will develop
tourism, but maintaining the center at the expense of the budget is not
profitable and costs the city 600 thousand hryvnias per year. And any actions on
this land will take place after public discussions. As a result, the deputies
finally approved the decision amid shouts of "Shame!"

On December 13, the population of Cherkassy opposed the development of one of the
oldest streets - Zamkovy Descent. About 200 people came to protest against the
decision of the mayor's office, according to which it is planned to build an
8-storey building there, which will block the view of the Dnieper and the Valley
of Roses from the Castle Hill. Last week, a petition to stop the project appeared
on the website of the Cherkasy City Council. In a few hours, she received 500
votes - the minimum required number. Two days later - more than 1000 signatures.
The street, formerly called Starobazarnaya, was built up at the beginning of the
19th century. Cherkasy merchants lived here - Shkolnikov, Kuperstein, Tsypin,
Grosse. "I came here as an ordinary Cherkasy woman, because I was a little
shocked when I saw a picture with buildings on the social network. I believe that
people, residents of Cherkassy, and not a few deputies should decide on a
building permit , "said Olga Kasyanova, a participant in the action. According to
her, the development of the Zamkovy Descent will lead to the fact that the
recreation areas will turn into another residential area. clear the thickets, the
townspeople will get together and do it themselves.

The next day, a couple of dozen caring people gathered at the call of the public
organization "People's Action" at the building of the State Scientific
Restoration Institute "Ukrzapadspetsrestavratsiya" in Lviv. The executive service
decided to evict him without taking an inventory of the archives and providing
other premises for their storage. Bringing to bankruptcy is called artificial. "
We didn't let him evict him, they moved him to the 21st. There now, these
scientists had to apply to the courts. I hope they will suspend the courts at
least for now, "the libertarian activist Anton Parambul told us. Video:
https://www.facebook.com/blackflagua/videos/1299849153774179/

For deprivatization

On December 9, over 40 female workers and workers of the KP "Cherkassyvodokanal"
went under the mayor's office with a demand to resolve the issue of transferring
the treatment facilities operated by PJSC "Azot" to communal ownership. "The
treatment facilities need to be handed over to the city. What does Azot have to
do with them? We are charged insane fines for them. They were the property of the
city and should remain so. We supply water, we must purify it - both sewage and
drinking water ", - noted the controller of the subscriber department Natalya
Efarova. Also, they called for the shares to extend the contract to the director
of the enterprise, Sergei Ovcharenko.

Although the last point is dubious from the standpoint of supporting workers'
self-government, this event confirms the trend towards establishing local control
over life support systems in the hands of business structures. We are talking
primarily about the companies "Lubnygaz" and "Kharkovgaz", the transformation of
which into KPs are being sought by civil movements to supply the population with
blue fuel at minimal prices. Interestingly, in the second case, the initiative
group covers its activities through an anarchist online magazine.

In addition, the Lviv group of the anarchist collective "Black Banner" joined the
picket of the local branch of DTEK demanding the nationalization of this energy
company:

"Let us recall that in the Frankivsk region, at the Burshtyn TPP, an accident
occurred with a large release of arsenic. Considering that DTEK is owned by Rinat
Akhmetov, most of the consequences of the accident in the "closed area" are
simply kept silent, and people live there in the surrounding villages! As we can
see, the market has already reached the point that the right to private property
is above all other rights, even when it comes to the right to life, because right
now the economic activities of Rinat Akhmetov literally threaten the life and
health of Ukrainian citizens. At the exit, we see a rather punishing situation.
In a country in which the so-called decommunization is being actively pursued,
the opposite process is vitally necessary, namely, de-oligarchization. Therefore,
if now you do not turn in the opposite direction, the consequences can be dire,
unpredictable. We also understand that his opponents can take advantage of the
protests against Akhmetov's arbitrariness, because the coal tycoon fell out of
favor with the Ze-Liberal authorities, which means their foreign leadership. In
this fight between two nasty things, we do not feel sorry for either one, because
it was the national bourgeoisie who, with their own hands, kept the comprador
forces of Poroshenko in power, and then Zelensky. The "enlightenment" and outrage
at Zelensky's activities, which are shown by the buffoons Shuster and Gordon,
look feigned and crafty, because a few months ago they licked the power. The very
same rhetoric of Akhmetov's TV channels changed only towards Zelensky, but they
did not begin to advocate the abolition of anti-popular reforms, they do not
criticize hurray-patriotism and continue to praise pro-American politicians.
Considering the above, the expectation that the national bourgeoisie will be able
to help preserve and strengthen Ukraine's independence is useless. The Ukrainian
oligarchs will be smashed one by one, and they themselves will help external
players to do it. The hopes of preserving independence from any imperialists
remain with the people, who, through grassroots left-wing initiatives, movements
and even parties, will be able to perceive themselves as a subject, not an
object. Therefore, we call on all caring people to join us, together we can
adequately resist the comprador Kraken, which is devouring our ship. movements
and even parties will be able to perceive themselves as a subject, not an object.
Therefore, we call on all caring people to join us, together we can adequately
resist the comprador Kraken, which is devouring our ship. movements and even
parties will be able to perceive themselves as a subject, not an object.
Therefore, we call on all caring people to join us, together we can adequately
resist the comprador Kraken, which is devouring our ship.".

Spontaneous expropriation

According to the calculations of regional gas suppliers, households'
self-connection to gas networks is showing explosive growth . If in 2020 167 such
cases were detected in the Kharkiv region, then in 11 months of 2021 - already
more than a thousand. And since the Kharkiv region is not yet among the leaders
in terms of debts for blue fuel, we suspect that in other regions there are at
least no fewer such tie-ins.

The fourth labor conflict since the end of November spilled over into the streets
of Kharkov

On the morning of December 14, under the control of KP "Kharkivvodokanal", an
accumulation of municipal equipment was noticed on the roadway, blocking the
entrance to the territory of the enterprise. " There is a meeting in the office
today with the authorities, so everyone rushed there, " the employees told one of
the passers-by. The vodokanals were delayed with their salaries for a month, so
they put them on a bit. But everything was resolved promptly: as of 14:40, they
had already been settled.

Campaign raid

The capital's cell "Black Banner" walked the streets with leaflets. In the
communiqueonly the increase in tariffs can be interpreted as a crime. We call on
all grassroots movements to support the flash mob # protest_not_check, together -
we will win! "

Individual sabotage

On the night of December 12 to the payment terminal on the street. Les Serdyuka
in Kharkov was approached by a 41-year-old man, who had previously been
repeatedly convicted of mercenary crimes. With the tools he brought, he drilled
holesin the building and took possession of cash in the amount of 37,150 hryvnia.
Investigators have established the guy's involvement in committing about 40 such
thefts on the territory of Kharkov. The opera took him hot, the material evidence
was seized. Under Part 3 of Art. 185 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the suspect
is shining from 3 to 6 years. How much money the craftsman stole in previous
times is not reported. However, it can be assumed that the total amount is more
than he could have earned in the same 6 years, therefore this occupation turns
for some into a kind of work. The only difference is that the "salary" is
uncertain and instead of the risk of an accident in the workplace, there is a
risk of imprisonment or death.

On the night of December 13, on the eve of the judicial professional holiday,
someone damaged three cars belonging to them. On line "102" in the morning
received a message from the head of the garage that a citizen beat cars on the
street. Moskovskaya in the Pechersky district of Kiev, which the judges of the
Administrative Court of Appeal use as official ones. Parked Toyota Camry, Toyota
Corolla and Volkswagen Passat were damaged. Criminal proceedings on hooliganism
have been opened, the identity of the pogromist is being established.

At the turn of this and last months in Ternopil, cops detained a 40-year-old
driver who was punishing deer for three days in parking in different parts of the
city. He burned two cars and broke glass in three more; also set fire to the
garbage container. The amount of damage, according to preliminary estimates, is
several thousand dollars.

In addition, in Poltava on November 23, a resident of the private sector of the
village of Dublyanshchina stabbed a locksmith of the Poltavodokanal KP, whose
team was carrying out a planned shutdown of debtors and revealed an illegal water
connection in his house. The victim was taken to the hospital, but he told the
cops who arrived at the call that he would not write a statement and testify, so
a criminal case was not opened. It is not known whether the utility worker was
ashamed to be the servant of the moneybags, or was it just too lazy to waste time.

Information prepared by anarchists from Ukraine
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca