#WORLD #WORLDWIDE #PORTUGAL #ANARCHISM #News #Journal #Update - (en) Portugal (COPOAP) - EMBATE: Ukraine: A people crushed between imperial blocs (ca, de, it, fr, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 Against all fratricidal wars! ---- Against the Invasion and Occupation of Ukraine

by Russia! ---- Against NATO/NATO extension and intervention! ---- Let's block
Portugal's participation in the war and in NATO! ---- End the shipment of weapons
to Ukraine! ---- Recently, the State of Russia formally declared war on Ukraine,
setting the stage for an invasion after 8 years of conflict and civil war. For
us, any military invasion of one state by another state will never be in the
interests of the people. We fully condemn the Russian invasion, and the
escalation of arms both in Russia and in Europe, as well as the resurgence of
xenophobic, chauvinist and anti-socialist sentiments that accompany it, a trend
of our times and of capitalism that comes to materialize with the "crisis" of
refugees, pandemic and now in the global economic conditions of the war.

Capital, State and Imperialism: Foundations of a New Cold War

"Conquest is not only the origin, but also the supreme development of all states,
powerful and weak, despotic or liberal, monarchical, aristocratic, democratic,
and finally "socialist"[...]a more or less avowed object of conquest. But the
medium and especially small states can only defend themselves, even if it is no
less their dream, as is that of the small owner who wants to increase his
property even at the cost of that of the neighbor;" - Mikhail Bakunin, Opera
Complete, Vol VII, The Principle of the State (1870-1871).

The Russian state, like all states, cannot fail to have an interest in war and
imperial expansion, and this is no less than the interest of the Ukrainian state
if it were only possible, nor of the NATO/NATO and EU countries, who use the
Ukrainian people as a disposable pawn to advance their interests in a
geo-strategic chess game. Furthermore, if we look at the capitalist class
structure of Russian and Ukrainian society, and at the allies of their
governments, we cannot be under any illusion that a victory for any of them can
be a victory for the dispossessed, for the status of dominated by the Ukrainian
people, whether by this or that foreign or domestic elite, will remain unchanged,
and no less far from changing.

Capitalism is driven by a logic of expansion and continuous accumulation of
wealth, inevitably generating successive crises. Because resources are finite,
and because the exploitation of populations does not happen without resistance,
the search for new markets and resources is never peaceful, which generates
conflicts, expropriations, internal and external colonial wars. Thus, the
Nation-State is by necessity a warlike state, since in addition to seeking new
resources in a non-peaceful way, it is still supported by its apparatus of police
and military repression, financed by the elites, which makes it a subservient
representative and defender of capital and the ruling classes. The relationship
between the State (legal institutions,

The role of the State, similar to capitalist expansion, is the accumulation of
power (military, financial, cultural-propagandistic) necessary to maintain
control of strategic resources in the hands of its national-dominant classes,
such as mineral and fossil resources, industries profitable, ports and military
bases in prime locations. For this, they use Imperialism, the subordination of
the popular classes of one country by the elites of another (in parallel with
that of the national-elites), as Mikhail Bakunin explains in his theory of the
State, to consolidate, internally or externally, their dominion, either through
coercion, diplomacy, or "temporary peace", or through war.

By this logic, the present Russian invasion is just a continuation of the
dynamics of competition between elites and markets, of class domination, of state
power, and the only way to oppose it, yesterday as today, is the organization of
the exploited classes. . And with State and Capitalism being two dialectically
co-dependent, and fiercely anti-popular, expansive systems, defeating imperialism
necessarily involves the defeat and violent annihilation of both systems by the
people, the working class.

A particular development of this concept necessary to understand the
Russia-Ukraine conflict highlights the role of the transnational bourgeoisie, in
particular the one that controls finance and investments, which tends to support
the formation of transnational blocs governed by institutions, legal, political,
financial. and military, which facilitate capital accumulation and a more
strategic recourse to warfare. It is these organizations such as the EU/EU,
NATO/NATO or OTSC/CSTO (Russian alliance) that we will characterize later on.
Contrary to the idea that the formation of blocs suspends rivalry between states,
states continue to maintain and reproduce power relations even between states of
the same bloc, even using the integration of their markets and new frontiers for
the domination of the popular classes of one country by those of another country
or multinationals. The member states of a bloc remain united only for their
colonial and imperial attacks on third parties, to counter the possibility of
insurgencies against capitalism (as is the case of Turkey's invasion of Rojava),
or by coercion (the threat of war). ). With the emergence of a new Sino-Russian
bloc, which fights for hegemony in the international system, the conflict with
the current hegemonic bloc during the restructuring of this system becomes
inevitable. to counter the possibility of insurgencies against capitalism (as in
the case of Turkey's invasion of Rojava), or by coercion (the threat of war).
With the emergence of a new Sino-Russian bloc, which fights for hegemony in the
international system, the conflict with the current hegemonic bloc during the
restructuring of this system becomes inevitable. to counter the possibility of
insurgencies against capitalism (as in the case of Turkey's invasion of Rojava),
or by coercion (the threat of war). With the emergence of a new Sino-Russian
bloc, which fights for hegemony in the international system, conflict with the
current hegemonic bloc during the restructuring of this system becomes inevitable.

In fact, the only salvation of the Ukrainian people lies in their
self-organization and preparing the offensive against domestic elites, Russian or
Euro-American, during or after the war, since the reactionary government in Kiev
will only seek peace by submitting to the Russia, NATO/NATO, or both to some
extent to self-preservation.

Roots of Inter-imperialist Conflict: The Restructuring of Global Capitalism and
the European "Security" Architecture
We must then characterize Europe's security architecture in the post-Cold War
period, and the current moment of profound changes in the international
geopolitical system. This includes NATO's policy of eastward military expansion;
the economic and political expansion of the European Union; the EU's and UK's
economic dependence on the US, Russian fossil fuels and wheat from the Black Sea
basin; the decline of US hegemony, leader of the Western NATO-Allied bloc; and
the rise of a new imperialist bloc headed by Russia, China and their allies -
which together form the various roots of the European and global stage of a new
cold war, that is, of an economic-financial war, in support of armed conflicts
without a direct confrontation of the main geopolitical powers and the
re-emergence of the nuclear threat.

On the one hand, the Russian invasion marks the final break of the ceasefire,
which has never been fully complied with by both parties (pro-Russian separatists
and the Ukrainian army) since it was agreed in Minsk (2014) and the abandonment
of diplomacy with the West, replaced by an expansionist and markedly
interventionist policy, with strategic precedents in the wars in Kazakhstan,
Georgia and Moldova (Transnistria region), or in its intervention in the war
between Armenia and Azerbaijan, where in all these cases, similar justifications
and republics -puppet were spiked to your sphere of influence-domain. This larger
war is only possible due to the crisis climate of American hegemony, evidenced by
its withdrawal and defeat in Afghanistan, and the realignment of Russian policy
on the Moscow-Beijing axis, since through bilateral agreements with China, Asia's
regional hegemonic power at the economic and geopolitical level, Russian economy
and politics can find in emerging markets and bilateral (China) and multilateral
(OTSC/EAEU) security pacts a more advantageous for its medium-term objectives.
The threat of using nuclear weapons in the event of open war must be seen as a
real danger of apocalyptic dimension. Although quite improbable, it is remarkable
since its strategic and mainly tactical use (bombs of relatively small size) is
increasingly considered by policy makers. Russian economy and politics can find
in emerging markets and bilateral (China) and multilateral (OTSC/EAEU) security
pacts a more advantageous situation for its medium-term objectives. The threat of
using nuclear weapons in the event of open war must be seen as a real danger of
apocalyptic dimension. Although quite improbable, it is remarkable since its
strategic and mainly tactical use (bombs of relatively small size) is
increasingly considered by policy makers. Russian economy and politics can find
in emerging markets and bilateral (China) and multilateral (OTSC/EAEU) security
pacts a more advantageous situation for its medium-term objectives. The threat of
using nuclear weapons in the event of open war must be seen as a real danger of
apocalyptic dimension. Although quite improbable, it is remarkable since its
strategic and mainly tactical use (bombs of relatively small size) is
increasingly considered by policy makers.

The USA, convinced of its exceptionality and manifest destiny (ideology of the
primitive colonial expansion of the USA that still figures in the conservative
discourse), allowed itself a series of actions in foreign policy that do not
tolerate the other powers. This goes in the opposite direction of the
Gorbachev-Baker and later non-East NATO-NATO expansion agreements, an agreement
that has been ignored 14 times since 1990. More concretely we have to realize
that by placing around 150 of their tactical nuclear bombs 5 European countries,
using the Black Sea and eastern European territories to conduct military
exercises, but also, by placing air bases capable of supporting nuclear missions,
ballistic facilities, and the presence of NATO and US military on the borders
with its rival, the USA has done everything to intentionally escalate this
conflict. The expiration and non-renewal of the INF treaty (1988-2019) on arms
control that banned missile launch sites - short-medium and intermediate range,
ballistic and remote-guided - by the Donald Trump administration, potentiates a
situation increasingly most dangerous for the people of europe
https://embate-copoap.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/3/0/133054878/mapa2_orig.png

On the other hand, the goals of the Russian state, with its own military
alliance, are no longer moral or progressive - it aims to maintain its military,
economic and political hegemony in the region. After the annexation of Crimea in
2014, the State of Russia is now seeking to bring two Russian-majority puppet
republics, Lughansk and Donetsk, into its sphere of influence-domain. In this
way, the imperialist war against a weaker State is inevitable and part of the
very nature of nation-states as warlike states, where non-submission to a
stronger power, integrating into an imperial bloc, implies their subjugation by
the force of a of these blocks.

Finally, the EU's economic dependence on the US market, on wheat from the Black
Sea basin to feed people and animals, unable to leave the country either by sea
or by land, and even on Russian fossil fuels, puts it at a disadvantage in this
war. The cancellation of economic agreements with Russia, sporadic service
interruptions of oil and gas pipelines such as Yamal-Europa, or the canceled
Nordstream 2, foreshadow a worsening of economic conditions in western-aligned
countries. The elites of the countries of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries(OPEC) and the USA (whose standard currency, the petrodollar, has until
now always involved its economy in the export of oil) will be the main
beneficiaries of this sudden increase in European indebtedness. Still, not
everything is so clear about how this war will affect oil markets. Saudi Arabia,
an ally of the US, has shown interest in starting to use the Chinese currency,
the Yuan, and simultaneously, India, has shown interest in using the Russian
currency , the Ruble, for transactions related to the oil business between these
countries. nation states. This situation makes clear the discontent of states in
the external sphere of the West, given the perceived weakness of the Western
bloc, especially after its recent defeat in Afghanistan.

This conflict demonstrates how the concerns of various socialist militants and
anti-war scholars, about the fragile foundations of the European security
architecture, founded on NATO/NATO, which has always excluded and sought to
exclude Russia from collective pacts, proved to be correct. The yearnings for
greater financing of the war industry and military missions by the high military
dignitaries of both blocs, is in accordance with their chauvinist and imperialist
class interests, added to the perpetuation and expansion - of territory and
influence - of the states that these represent. They manage, in the exercise of
their essential function to capitalism, to control the external agenda of the
states and sustain the existence of their executives, legislatures, judiciaries
and capital accumulation.

Chronology of the Ukrainian Civil War and Characterization of Military Forces
To better proceed to the analysis of what led to the invasion of Ukraine, we must
characterize the present conflict based on the material reality that the peoples
of Ukraine face today, establishing a link between what is happening now and how
we got here. We know that those who are persecuted, suffer and die in this war
are not the elites who ordered it, but the peoples of Ukrainian territory:
Ukrainians, Russians, Belarusians, Tatars, Bulgarians, Roma, Hungarians,
Moldovans, Poles, Jews, Armenians, Greeks and the various Circassian peoples,
among others, who have suffered at the hands of Russian and Ukrainian far-right
armies and militias. There are also students, economic migrants and people
refugees from imperialist, African, Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian wars who
have arrived in Eastern Europe,it has been difficult for them to leave the
country . It is trans women prevented from crossing the border . Are those who
are recruited or forcibly recruited, legally or paralegally, including child
soldiersused by both forces, and all civilians prevented from fleeing Ukraine,
male and between 18 and 60 years of age, under penalty of imprisonment. We
reiterate that our party is neither that of the imperialist war of Russia and its
alliance, the CSTO-CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) that comes to
help, nor that of the equally imperialist interests of the power established in
Kiev aligned with NATO. -NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), organization
that has been supporting the Ukrainian state, supremacist armed groups and
escalating the situation with Russia. Our party fights for a Ukrainian people
free from the influence of NATO, the extreme right, the bourgeoisie, and against
Putin and his United Russia Party government.

During EUROMAIDAN (2014), which began as a just movement of protest and
insurrection against the Ukrainian government aligned with the Russian state of
Yanukovych, in a situation of acute economic and social crisis for the people,
there was a use of extreme right groups in the Ukraine who sought to redirect
their economic concerns towards their nefarious objective - to sharpen relations
between Russian and Ukrainian citizens, but also of other cultural and national
groups, with particular emphasis on the Roma-Roman people , resulting in
aggressions and deaths, the attacks on the LGBT population  and trade unionists .

Similar to the support with weapons and resources that the US gave to jihadist
groups in the Arab Spring, replacing socialist and liberal movements with
Islamo-fascist movements, NATO decided to repeat the recipe for the cake in
Ukraine in 2014, supporting far-right groups. in the territory, making the
alliance between conservatives, ultraconservatives and fascists the main driving
force of the current government born from the pro-Western and pro-NATO coup in
the country. One of the first actions of this new chauvinist parliamentary
composition in 2014 was, by majority vote, the abolition of the law that makes
official, in certain regions, the languages of minorities that are spoken by at
least 10% of the local population, which despite vetoed, it was ruled
unconstitutional in 2018.

In this scenario, we had an advance of fascist groups: On the Ukrainian side, the
Azov Battalion, Aidar, C14, Right Sector, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists,
and recently other territorial militias where they have greater or lesser
expression. In the case of Azov and Aidar, we witnessed their conversion into
fully legalized arms of the armed forces, under the aegis of the Ministry of
Interior and Defense despite their relative autonomy and occasional
insubordination, and exposing the historical insignia and ideology of the
Ukrainian collaborationists of Nazism. German with impunity. In the current
climate of war , weapons from NATO countries continue to reach these groups,
particularly from the United Kingdom despite its condemnation in the West prior
to the invasion. On the other hand, among Russian separatists, far-right militias
such as the Viking Battalion, Storm Group Rusich, Russian National Union, openly
inspired by the Nazis, also operate, supporting the separatist republics of
Donbass. On both sides are faced with infamous mercenaries, known for their war
crimes and financial corruption, as is the case of Blackwater/Academi (Americans)
and the Wagner group (Russians).

However, the existence of small anti-fascist and anarchist militia groups for the
self-defense of the population is notable, not officially aligned with any of the
States, and their presence is scarce. These groups have been attacking Russian
soldiers and pro-Ukrainian fascists, and we consider it positive that they do
everything necessary to protect civilians of our class, and for that we cannot
fail to salute. However, we are opposed to any collaboration with the bourgeois
armies and their war.

Recently, several sources have reported civilians trying to flee the biggest
stages of the war being intimidated into staying, presumably as human shields, as
in the case of Mariupol, and others mentioning extra-judicial executions by
neo-Nazi militias.on the pretext of fighting "Russian saboteurs". In the attached
video, soldiers in identical Ukrainian uniforms can be seen attacking a family
and other civilians in cars at a checkpoint allegedly set up by neo-Nazi forces.
In addition, images have emerged of renewed attacks on the country's Roma
population, in particular women, which include being tied up, half-naked and
humiliated with antiseptic dye in the face, for the fabricated charge of sabotage
or theft in markets. We leave some of the images in hyperlinkhowever we will omit
the most shocking video that our investigation found circulating on social media,
of torture with the throwing of stones in order to break bones and the complete
stripping of a presumably gypsy woman. We also report that other videos with the
same violence of crimes perpetrated by both the Russian and Ukrainian army
circulate on social media.

Furthermore, in a recent official communiqué by Ukrainian President Zelensky, 11
parties, many of which are proclaimed to be left-wing, had their activity
suspended., in addition to the 3 communist parties already banned in December
2015, for "collaboration with the Russian State", putting an end to the
democratic facade of bourgeois democracy and demonstrating the ferocity of the
"witch hunt" in force in the country. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense asked
civilians without uniform or as a legal minimum, currency or military
identification, to launch Molotovs against Russian tanks , handing over some of
them himself, a suggestion that is both suicidal and cowardly, an example of
those who hide in rooms of fortified wars and orders the people to die for
themselves, as a criminal, as it is a war crime to encourage the mixing of
combatants dressed as civilians.

Because of the fascist presence on both sides, because of their crimes against
the people, and also because we speak of Capitalist States with a warlike and
fratricidal interest at the service of bourgeois elites and imperialism, our
grouping characterizes both armies as essentially reactionary, and any attempt to
support for one of these by workers' organizations will necessarily be against
their best interests. It is, however, the position of some organizations and
individuals of the "liberalized" socialist left to support one or the other of
the States, both in the field of anarcho-communism and Marxism-Leninism, but with
little expression in Portuguese territory. Even so, the insistence by
social-democratic organizations, such as the Bloco de Esquerda, in calling for
NATO's common sense and denunciation,

Reactionary Escalation in Western Europe, Militarism and Anti
-Socialism The European member states of NATO prepare for the continuous
escalation of this conflict, during and after this war, with the arms race
already underway and, for example, with an unprecedented tripling since World War
II German military budget , betting on drone-bombers, jets with electronic
warfare capabilities and nuclear bombing support missions, and with the extensive
reinforcement of military forces on the eastern borders.

This situation is not new in Europe and only brings to foreign policy what has
already been applied in terms of domestic policy in recent years. This includes
the strengthening of the militarization and judicialization of politics that we
have seen across Europe since the beginning of the refugee crisis, the greater
patrol and closure of borders, a situation that has intensified since the attacks
of the Islamic State that served as a scapegoat. and subsequent generalized
justification. Added to this is the militarization of the health response to the
Covid-19 pandemic, making the health crisis and the much-needed public policies
to contain and improve public services a stage for the worsening of the security
and border crisis, as several militants have been coming. to point in
Portugal:Communiqué from RELL, RAM-Lx and other movements against the
militarization of health, in 2019 .

We must bear in mind that among the biggest winners of this war are the European
arms industries of the EU and Russia and their beneficiaries in the financial and
academic-technological sector. Since the war began , their stock market prices
have continued to increase , which demonstrates that the continuation of the
conflict is in their greatest interest.

On the other hand, we also see civil society organisations, non-governmental
organizations and spontaneous coordinations of the population throughout Europe
organizing themselves in an unprecedented movement of solidarity with the
Ukrainian population which, without questioning the necessity or urgency of the
situation, this it had no parallel in the case of other military occupations, as
is the case of some current ones such as the state of Israel to Palestine,
Morocco to Western Sahara, Saudi Arabia to Yemen, or from Turkey to Afrin.

In addition, NGOs, media and embassies have called for the collection of
charitable funds, many of which are aimed at arming and escalating the conflict..
It is worrying how much of this help from society is mediated by States as a form
of war propaganda. However on the ground both powers use humanitarian actions as
a media weapon, a trap that many fall into supporting without understanding the
harmful effects of charity directed by the State, very different from solidarity
between peoples and self-organized, which fortunately also exists.

We close with a note of support for the militants of the Revolutionary Left, Em
Luta and the Portuguese Communist Party, who, precisely positioning themselves
against the Russian invasion but also against NATO, were physically attacked (ER;
EL), and had their intervened offices (paint, graffiti) in Beja (PCP) among other
locations, during the anti-war demonstrations by pro-Ukrainian and pro-NATO
nationalists.
https://embate-copoap.weebly.com/blog/ucrania-um-povo-esmagado-entre-blocos-imperialistas
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