The Russo-Ukrainian War that started in February has now cost as many as 15,000
Russian and Ukrainian lives, if not more, in addition to tens of thousands maimedand millions displaced. As anarchists in Australia, we oppose this imperialisticwar just as we oppose all imperialist wars. In the wars of the ruling classes, itis the workers that are thrown into the meat grinder. By the same token we opposethe Russian state just as we oppose all states, which exist only to ensure thereproduction of the capitalist system and the ongoing exploitation of workersacross the globe. ---- Opposition to one set of capitalists and imperialistinvaders does not mean support for another. Our solidarity is with the Ukrainianand Russian workers being sent to the slaughter, not the states that facilitatethat very slaughter.As anarchists living across the globe from this invasion our solidarity andsupport remains little more than platitudes put to paper. We can send money tothose struggling and we must fight to ensure that Australia increases its refugeeintake (and expands it to all refugees, not just those fleeing Europeanconflicts), but our biggest responsibility remains fighting against our ownruling classes. Australia has participated in most imperialist conflicts of thepast century (WW1, WW2, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, the list goes on) andit will surely trail after the US into its next imperialist endeavor. Australiahas also been at the forefront of escalating tension with China in theAsia-Pacific region, building up its military and increasingly intertwiningitself militarily with the US, to the extent that our government is now lobbyingto build nuclear submarine bases along our east coast in a move that would placeus at the forefront of a nuclear conflict should one erupt.The most significant solidarity and support we can provide to the workers acrossthe world is to continue to work to build up the sort of organised working classpower that can threaten capital and its capacity to wage war, which can haltcapital's ability to manufacture and transport arms at will, and which makes theprospect of imperialist conflict too risky for states to continue pursuing. Apowerful, organised and militant working class is the best defense againstimperialist wars and holds the greatest potential to end them, a potential wehope to see fulfilled by Russian and Ukrainian workers in the months to come.Our government and media have already begun to beat the drums of war. Thisconflict has only fueled the propaganda drive of the Australian government tojustify an increased military build-up and to further bolster its imperialistalliances such as AUKUS and for general support of NATO. We must counter thispropaganda as best we can with a clear message of opposition to NATO, AUKUS andany escalation by Australia and its allies in Ukraine, or any other flashpointacross the globe. That is, we need to oppose all imperialist wars and allimperialist states. We must oppose all arms deals, all military build-ups, eachattempt by the Australian government to fuel the likelihood of a globalimperialist war in which the workers on each side are the ones that lose. Now isthe time to build an anti-war movement that avoids campism or taking any sideswith imperialist powers.Down with NATO, down with Russia, and down with the entire capitalist-statesystem. No war but class war.These must be the slogans of the anarchists, and we must endeavor as much aspossible for them to become the slogans of the entirety of the working class. Inour view this is the only position that is consistent with anarchism.Freedom News, a UK based online anarchist press, originally established by thefamed anarchist Peter Kropotkin and his comrades in 1886, has recently publishedtwo articles; Fuck Leftists Westplaining and A Thousand Red Flags, which presenta different view than the one we outlined above.As the Anarchist Communist Group has already responded to A Thousand Red Flags,we will focus on Fuck Leftist Westplaining. As it is a difficult article tosummarise we've included extensive quotations in order to show that we are notnitpicking out of context, however at its core a few messages can be seen ascentral. Most directly is the notion that leftists in the west should "shut thefuuuuck up" about NATO. The article argues that non-Eastern Europeans cannotproperly understand NATO, nor the drive of Eastern European countries to wish tosecure membership to it.The article states that:... in your heads, NATO and other Western organisations are always on the wrongside, and always perpetrators of everything bad in this world. You could, ofc,google it, but who would bother if you have such intellectual figures as NoamChomsky with his disgraceful, relativising stances to tell you what to think...We[here referring to Eastern Europeans]see NATO in a completely different, and Idare say much more nuanced way. We are not fans of it, and we can agree with youon many, many reasons to criticise it. But when you say "Fuck NATO" or "End NATOexpansion", what I hear is that you do not care about the safety and wellbeing ofmy Eastern European friends, family and comrades. You are happy to put my mum atrisk for cheap political points you would not even be able to act on, you bastards...When you talk about "expansion", with everything this word implies, really, youare referring to this process in which Eastern Europe, for the reason of othercountries making decisions over our heads in 1945, quite literally tip-toedaround Russia petitioning it to allow us do what we wanted to do...Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary joined NATO in 1999, the Baltic countriesfollowed in 2004. And for now, I want them to stay there, and it doesn't havemuch to do with politics tbh. It is a self-preservation instinct, but this isanother thing you will just not get. You talk more about "NATO expansion" thanyou talk about the fact that you are the funding members of it...Further, you talk about how you desire to stop "NATO expansion" but you don'treally mention what, exactly, would be a viable alternative to it. This is notacceptable at all, it just shows your privilege of growing up in a country whereyour life story was not littered with, how exciting, tantrums and aggressions ofvarious scales of this great, unpredictable force that assumes it can throw itsway anywhere where there is no NATO. So tell me, how exactly will you assure oursafety? What is this NATO alternative you are advocating for? ...There is a significant amount to attempt to unpack in the above quotation, notall of which can be tackled in this article but suffice to say we disagreestrongly with the arguments presented, constituting in our opinion a very poorgrasp of the fundamentals of anarchism as a revolutionary working class movement.Now is not the time for the socialist movement to "shut the fuck up" about NATO,but to be yelling loudest about it (which in no way means that we should lessenour denouciations of Putin). Earlier in March several ACM members attended arally in solidarity with Ukraine which saw around 200 people attend. Throughoutthe crowd of this rally were signs and banners calling for NATO to institute ano-fly zone over Ukraine. Such an act would likely constitute nothing short of athird world war, and possible nuclear escalation. When no fly zones are spokenof, it is often obvious that those calling for them have little understanding ofwhat they entail or what the likely outcomes would be. We can certainlyunderstand the immediate drive to save Ukrainian lives, but the escalation of thewar by further imperialist intervention is not something we can shut up about associalists. We must be loud and clear about our opposition to such a move andattempt as much as possible to talk about this, to win people over. Escalatingthis war won't save lives, it will cost more.A further point we feel it important to rebut is the implicit notions of NATOmembership as being in the best interests of the workers of Eastern Europe. Whilewe can certainly understand why there may have been significant support for suchmembership across the region after the fall of the USSR, mass support does notnecessarily mean that such a position is correct. Support for such movesgenerally stem from capitalist propaganda and the encouragement of nationalistrivalries. These exact same factors fuel Australian workers' support for AUKUSalliance, and military buildup in the Asia-Pacific in order to defend us from the'peril' posed by China. Just because a significant portion of Australian workersfear China and support AUKUS and Australian-US militarism does not mean such aposition in fact constitutes a correct one, nor benefits workers.One should also remember that while NATO may be seen by some as a protectiveforce against Russian imperialism, for millions across the Middle East NATO,along with its lapdog Australia has been the invader, the brutal imperialistmurdering citizens, and demolishing infrastructure. If NATO is a protective forcefor Eastern Europe, then we would be forced to admit that a bloc made up ofChina, Russia, and other nations in opposition to NATO is equally essential tothe countries upon which the west sets its sights. In short, we would be forcedto support the buildup of opposing imperialist blocs on the path to inevitablecatastrophic conflict just as we saw occur in the lead up to the First World War.The solution for imperialism does not lay in support for imperialist blocs, butin the strength and solidarity of the international working class. Understandingthe factors leading to support for imperialist projects does not mean condoningsuch support nor change our fundamental task in opposing such projects.Fuck Leftist Westplaining's fundamental arguments are essentially the same asthose presented by the governments of Australia, the US, and every otherimperialist force to justify the very capitalist-imperialist system that thesocialist movement seeks to overthrow, and which lays at the root of the currentwar in Ukraine and all wars across the globe. Campism, whether it is Stalinistsproviding support to brutal dictators such as Assad and Putin because they opposethe west, or 'anarchists' supporting NATO as the defenders against Russian orChinese aggression, needs to be tossed out and rejected as the anti-working classdross that it is.To be clear this article is not an attempt at playing 'what aboutism'. Thevarious ways that NATO contributed to this war, and the brutal invasions andoccupations by NATO forces over the past 50 years, in no way lessens or excusesthe actions of the Russian state. Nor should anarchists fall into the trap oflooking down their noses at people who in a period of fear and desperation havelooked towards a force such as NATO for protection. We can understand such aposition, and we can have sympathy for it, but we still need to argue against it.We must continue being clear that peace will not come from support forimperialist powers, but the internationalism of the working class. This is ouralternative to NATO.So no, we will not "shut the fuck up" about NATO, because doing so would meanbeing silent at the very time when the socialist movement needs to be at itsloudest about imperialism and the need to reject all attempts at allying theworking class with its rulers, rather than the workers of the world. This mistakehas been made before and we can't afford to make it again.https://www.acmeanjin.org/articles/now-isnt-the-time-to-shut-up-about-nato_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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