Hello! Today is Sunday, May 8, and we continue our Order and Chaos Trends
podcast. This is episode 53. Here are the highlights of the past week's agenda.----Listen on SoundCloud ---- 1. Parade of non-victory and possible mobilization---- In Russia, rehearsals for the so-called Victory Parade on Red Square andother events scheduled for May 9 are in full swing. According to many analysts,the Russian authorities wanted to end the so-called special operation in Ukraine,if not in a few days, then by May 9th. And now they are feverishly thinking whatkind of victory can be sold to the patriotic public by this date.The fighting is clearly moving into a protracted stage with advances and retreatsof both armies within a few tens of kilometers. But Russian troops still holdseveral areas in the south and east of Ukraine under their control and are tryingtheir best to stake out territory for themselves. They declare to the whole worldthat Kyiv "will have to recognize" "the already established territorialrealities." From the last: in the Kherson region, as in Russia, they are going toblock Facebook and Instagram. And in Mariupol, liberated from peaceful life, thedeputy head of Putin's administration, Sergei Kiriyenko, opened a monument to hisgrandmother, who came out with a red flag to meet Russian soldiers.The media and blogs are discussing whether Putin will announce a generalmobilization on May 9 or in the coming dates, and what its consequences will be.Institutions and companies are compiling lists of employees who are being bookedfrom military service, and there is already a demand on job sites formobilization training specialists.It seems that the announcement in Russia of general or even partial mobilization,for example, the call for reservists, depends on the degree of separation fromthe reality in which Putin and his inner circle are. If Russia is not going tofollow the path of the LDNR and put under arms, regardless of the state of healthand military skills, all males who can be caught at least on the street to bethrown into battle without any preparation, then the mobilized will need sometime to undergo training . And time played against the Kremlin's plans from thevery beginning of the "special operation". And even more so now, when a number ofWestern countries are beginning to supply Ukraine with heavy offensive weapons.Most importantly, general mobilization would once again show the true scale ofsupport for the Russian government and its activities. And not in words, but indeeds. Over the past 2 months, despite the censorship, enough reports have leakedinto the media from professional security officials about refusing to go toUkraine. Conscripts and "soldiers' mothers" are looking for ways to avoid gettinginto military units. Queues of volunteers at the Russian military registrationand enlistment offices also do not line up. On the contrary, more and more oftenmilitary enlistment offices are set on fire. As well as caravans.Even the vast majority of patriotic or revanchist citizens prefer passiveapproval rather than active participation, and mobilization will be evaded by allpossible means. The scale that the evasion of mobilization will take if it isannounced will show, like nothing else, the scale of distrust in the Russianauthorities. As happened recently with universal vaccination against covid, whichis being pushed by the authorities with all their might.2. Pro-Soviet revanchismThe fact that even among patriots there are few people who are ready to activelysupport the authorities does not mean at all that not just conservative, butdirectly revanchist moods are not widespread in society. At least among part ofthe Russian population.On the one hand, this is explained by the fact that in a patriarchal hierarchicalsociety, even affected by modernization, there is always a larger or smallergroup of people who are preoccupied with national pride. That is, not only bypersonal hierarchical position, but also by the greatness of one's nation,country, etc. The fact that they personally do not decide anything and can onlymaintain greatness by watching propaganda programs and comments on the Internetdoes not bother them, but rather pleases them. Most of them are not at all eagerto bear political responsibility and risk their lives.The second reason for the spread of revanchist sentiments, mainly among the oldergeneration, is the negative consequences of the collapse of the USSR and marketreforms. One of the network friends called such people "bruised 90s", in whoseeyes their own well-being in life turned out to be inextricably linked with theimperial ambitions of the Russian leadership. The revenge-seekers so want to turnthe stuffing back, to return to the pre-perestroika years, when they wererelatively well settled, that they are ready to support any bald (or bunker)trait that will give them such an illusion. They are ready not to notice that allPutin's adventures, including the current one, lead the majority of Russians inthe exact opposite direction from well-being, or even resign themselves tolowering living standards for the sake of illusions about imperial greatness.The pro-Soviet nature of revanchism is also demonstrated by the red banners onRussian tanks, the restoration of monuments to Lenin in the occupied territories,and in particular, Anna Ivanovna, who has become a symbol along with the letterZ, is a grandmother with a red flag from a Ukrainian village who came out to meetthe Ukrainian troops with the flag of the USSR, intermingling them with Russian .According to Ukrainian sources, later the house of an elderly woman was destroyedby a rocket, she herself was taken to Kharkov, where she curses the Russianoccupiers. Russian media write that "grandmother Anya" was taken to Lugansk, andthen to Barnaul. But in any case, the symbol of the "grandmother with a red flag"has long been living a life of its own. Monuments are erected to him, his imageis put on the walls and they are even going to put it on the body of theRoskosmos launch vehicle. I wonder where she will fly?The so-called pro-Russian sentiments that are widespread among part of thepopulation of the post-Soviet space (including in Ukraine until February 24) arealso manifestations of pro-Soviet revanchism. Based on these sentiments, theRussian leadership pursued an imperialist policy. Only it turned out not therestoration of the USSR, but local wars, unrecognized quasi-state formations,and, finally, a full-scale war. The so-called Ukrainian decommunization in theform of a ban on Soviet symbols and names was a clumsy attempt to fight thepro-Soviet desire to return the territories. Unfortunately, in order for thestruggle to succeed, it took a full-scale invasion of Russian troops and massiveloss of life.How to defeat such sentiments in countries that have not yet undergonedenazification, and in Russia itself? In addition to the inevitable collapse ofthe Putin regime, the intensification of the struggle not only for political, butalso for social and labor rights can help here. Pro-Soviet revanchism in the massconsciousness is not tied to the official Soviet ideology of building communism,it is perceived only by a few representatives of pro-Soviet politicalorganizations. Well, and most importantly, a typical revanchist is a couchguardian of imperial greatness, and not at all an active figure who defends hisown and other people's interests in the course of practical work.Revanchism must be countered by real activity to protect the labor and socialrights of workers. We need to unite to solve today's problems and form newpractices of solidarity. Let's look for a decent life not in the past, but in thestruggle for the future.3. Can we repeat? "Immortal Regiment" and anti-war actions on May 9As expected, the Russian authorities are refusing to agree on actions for peaceunder the pretext of covid (). Of course, this does not interfere with officialevents. On May 9, the Immortal Regiment should take place in Russian cities -originally a private initiative, but quickly privatized by officialdom.Throughout the recent history of Russia, the cult of Victory has been one of themost striking manifestations of the desire described above to return the formerterritories. The celebration of Victory Day became more magnificent, morespectacular, more grotesque just as the participants in the Second World War leftthe active age, and then from life. In the Soviet Union, it was hardly possibleto imagine babies in military uniforms and prams in the shape of tanks.This year, the May 9 events were conceived by the authorities primarily as a PRfor the Ukrainian "special operation". The anti-war movement "Spring" invites itssupporters to come to the "Immortal Regiment" with portraits of their ancestorsand the inscriptions "They did not fight for this." There is a certain reason forthis: unlike their descendants, those who survived World War II even as childrenwere not at all eager to repeat attacks under enemy bullets, sitting in trenches,bombings, hunger and overwork.Nevertheless, we doubt that such partisan actions will turn the "ImmortalRegiment" into an anti-war or truly anti-fascist action. Real anti-fascism is nota cult of ancestors, but practical work with today's manifestations of fascism,the fight against chauvinism and all types of discrimination. For example, theFeminist Anti-War Resistance on May 9 proposes to hold the Day of Trouble, theDeath Regiment and the Blood Parade. Look for details in their telegram channel.4. May 6: A lost revolution?10 years ago, on May 6, 2012, in Moscow on Bolotnaya Square, a protest rallyagainst Putin's inauguration, called the "March of Millions", was dispersed. Theprocession and rally were coordinated with the Moscow authorities, thedemonstration took place peacefully and without excesses. Problems began when thecordon of the security forces left only a narrow passage on the way to BolotnayaSquare, where the rally was supposed to take place.The situation threatened to escalate into a stampede, but the protesters managedto break through the cordon. After that, the riot police began to beat and detainpeople, in response, bottles, umbrellas, pieces of asphalt flew, they tore offthe helmets from the fighters and threw them into the river. Someone tried toprevent the offensive of the riot police with the help of iron barriers andoverturned dry closets. Someone tried to beat off the detainees.But the majority of those who came, nevertheless, were in a peaceful mood andonly wanted to take part in the agreed rally. The security forces graduallymanaged to clear Bolotnaya Square and oust the protesters from it. About 400people were detained.In dispersing the "bog protest", the authorities practiced repressivetechnologies that would become widespread in the next decade: cordons, massdetentions and administrative arrests, and the expulsion of a crowd of thousands.Finally, mass criminal prosecution, under which dozens of people fell, includingthose found on video recordings.The Russian protests of 2011-2012, which began in December with rigged Dumaelections, were generally peaceful. The manifestations of radicalism werespontaneous and were rather a response to the actions of the security forces. Soit was when the first formally sanctioned action against electoral fraud grewinto a spontaneous procession. After that, the coordinators of the protest fromsystemic liberals relied on peaceful demonstrations that were fully coordinatedwith the authorities. The resistance of the police on May 6 was also mostlyspontaneous and retaliatory.The actions of 2011-2012 caused a massive popular upsurge, hundreds of thousandsof previously apolitical people came to protest activities. However, among thepolitically organized forces, liberal organizations turned out to be the mostmassive, and the liberals quite quickly made up the majority in all theestablished coordination structures. These so-called opinion leaders had no othergoals than to integrate into the existing power structures, they were hinderedonly by electoral fraud. Therefore, the attempts of anarchists and leftists tointroduce a social agenda into the "bog movement" were unsuccessful.After May 6, the protests against Putin's inauguration did not immediatelydisappear: there was also Occupy Abay, a protest camp that the police did nottouch at first, but subsequently began to massively detain its participants. Inthe summer of 2012, repressions began as part of the Bolotnaya case, at the sametime laws on public events were tightened.If the trend of mass grassroots self-organization and participation in politicalprocesses had overcome the resistance of the ruling regime and had been properlydeveloped, the history of Russia in the last 10 years would have lookeddifferent. And although the regime was frightened, it still survived. And thenthe trends imposed on them developed, which recently reached their almostcomplete completion.5. Repression: There is some good newsDespite all the measures taken by the Russian authorities, anti-war actionscontinue. This means that the number of administrative and criminal casescontinues to grow.As for the good news, the St. Petersburg artist Sasha Skochilenko, accused ofdiscrediting the Russian armed forces, after numerous appeals, was transferred toa double cell. In the previous one, her cellmates mocked her. It seems that anutritionist has been appointed in the pre-trial detention center to supervisethe preparation of gluten-free food for Sasha, but she has not yet been providedwith proper medical care. Consideration of the appeal against the decision totake into custody will take place on May 17, at 14:45, in room 45 of the St.Petersburg City Court.In Moscow, the trial of Pavel Krisevich, who was detained almost a year ago for aperformance on Red Square, began. A second criminal case has been initiatedagainst left-wing activist Darya Polyudova for solitary pickets and posts on theInternet. She remains in the Moscow pre-trial detention center. On May 12 at11:00 Moscow City Court will consider her appeal against detention, room 327.On May 16 at 10.00 am, the Military Court of Appeal in Vlasikha, Moscow Region,will consider the case of the Kanan teenagers. And the transfer of ViktorFilinkov, a defendant in the Network case, to prison is postponed - the trial hasbeen postponed to May 30. Another defendant in this case, Yuliy Boyarshinov,managed to escape the ShIZO. He got off with a reprimand for closing his eyesduring the day. Ilya Shakursky sends May Day greetings! Come support yourcomrades or write letters to them.Well, that's all for today! We remind you that in "Trends of Order and Chaos" theparticipants of "Autonomous Action" give anarchist assessments of current events.Listen to us on Youtube, SoundCloud and other platforms, visit our websiteavtonom.org!https://avtonom.org/news/den-pobedy-i-krah-revanshizma-trendy-poryadka-i-haosa-epizod-53-8-maya
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten