#WORLD #WORLDWIDE #CZECH #ANARCHISM #News #Journal #Update - (en) #Czech, AFED: A3: Expropriate the #oligarchs! (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 If there was a real will, the property of Russian oligarchs abroad would have

been expropriated a long time ago. And why only Russian? ---- Russian oligarchs
have enjoyed life in Italy, Germany, France, Great Britain and other Western
European countries for many years. The money stolen from people went to yachts,
villas, vineyards, huge mansions in the middle of London and much more. The life
of the oligarchs resembled the luxurious times of the monarchs of the previous
century. After the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, there was a brief period when
Russian oligarchs appeared to be paying off their earnings. Every now and then
there was a report about the confiscation of the property of Putin's friends.
However, the enthusiasm of European politicians quickly waned. Yes, 46 of the 200
richest Russians have been sanctioned, but there are still 154 rich people who
continue to enjoy their privileges while the people of Ukraine fight against
Putin's hordes.

After a lot of loud but empty speeches, we found ourselves in a situation where
even the sanctioned persons had not lost much since the beginning of the war. It
turned out that the oligarchs are simply cunning capitalists who can circumvent
Western sanctions. One solution is to simply transfer the ownership of certain
assets to a third party. German, British or French officials are not so stupid as
not to understand where and why the capital of this or that rich person has been
distributed. However, if you attempt a similar method of tax avoidance on a
relatively small scale, you are likely to run into trouble very quickly.

What is important is that, despite political statements, European politicians are
not interested in completely disabling the Russian oligarchs. And this is related
to capitalism itself, which determines the direction of political development in
one or another Western country. The logic is simple: in addition to Russian
capital, there are enough dubious real estate owners in Europe, whose money is
often covered with a thick layer of blood. Whether we are talking about any part
of the world - Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia or South America - capitalists and
dictators love the luxury of London, Paris or Barcelona.

If Europe's political elites were to suddenly act on their proclamations and
actually confiscate large amounts of property from Russian oligarchs, the sheiks
of Arabia or capitalist communists in China would feel threatened and begin
withdrawing their capital. For capitalism, such a dynamic is dangerous because it
can lead to the threat of Western capital. We thus find ourselves in a situation
where we can symbolically confiscate part of the property of the oligarchs and
turn a blind eye to a large part of the property held by hidden companies or
friends and acquaintances.

We can be indignant about this state of affairs for a long time, but billionaires
have been enjoying themselves in Europe for years, and European politicians are
creating the conditions to attract dirty capital. In London, money for foreign
capital can be laundered in a single transfer and property can be bought without
giving a real name. In Germany, local authorities refuse to provide lists of
Russian oligarchs' assets citing "technical reasons". It is interesting that the
EU is willing to spend billions to fight against so-called illegal migration,
build huge fences against refugees, invest in surveillance systems controlling
ordinary citizens, but when it comes to the assets of the super-rich, the state
apparatus does not have the means or time to gather information. Fortunately,
there are journalists who are willing to search for information on Russian assets
even without government funding. Listings of mansions, yachts and other
properties are updated daily. What politicians with a huge apparatus cannot do, a
few journalists with their own resources can do.

In Germany, Austria and Great Britain, local anarchists have begun confiscating
the property of Russian oligarchs to use it for useful projects - from housing
Ukrainian refugees to setting up social centers. And these occupations found
broad support in society. But the state responded to such an initiative by
forcibly evicting the anarchists and prosecuting them. In this way, the
authorities in Western countries show that they are not ready to confiscate the
property of Russian oligarchs, but that they are, on the contrary, well prepared
to protect it with the alleged right of the state to use violence.

This is a very clear message to society from governments that, on the one hand,
feed it nonsense about supporting the Ukrainian people in the war with Russia,
and on the other hand, try to maintain behind closed doors the very status quo
that led to the war. They are afraid that it might turn out that the property of
the oligarchs is not inviolable. Hardly any of them have earned billions through
honest work - these are just fairy tales for people who toil from blind to blind.
People could then find out that when it comes to expropriating some mega-thief
from Russia, it is not a problem even for Babis, Kretínský, Bakal and others.

Inspired by an article on the Pramen website of Belarusian anarchists.

A3 (August 2022) can be downloaded HERE.
https://www.afed.cz/A3/A3-2022-08.pdf

Download, print, share!

The A3 wall newspaper is published by the Anarchist Federation every month. They
are mainly intended for dissemination through plastering in the streets or
posting in workplaces and schools.

https://www.afed.cz/text/7723/a3-vyvlastnit-oligarchy
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