Revolutionary greetings,

Contemporary anarchism exists at the intersection of several movements that oppose oppression: anti-capitalism, antifascism, anti-racism, ecological movement, feminism, free speech advocates, lgbt activism, etc. Having said that, being a member of those movements does not automatically excuse any and all actions of the people. We should criticise ourselves, because only then can we move forward.

Recently i have come across the news about antifa people helping out with Russian conquest of Eastern Ukraine and defending their position by claiming that they do so to oppose the spread of fascism in the occupied territory; here i will attempt to explain the fallacy of such position. The antifa group in question calls itself "8th International Brigade Carlos Palomino", however this is not going to be a critique of their specific actions nor will i attempt to talk about their tactic, rather i will express my opposition to the entire strategy chosen.

The very first thing that we need to recognise about Russian occupation of South and Eastern Ukraine is that it has nothing to do with opposition to fascism in that country. Russian government has zero-tollerance to any opposition to pro-Russian nationalist, pro-Russian racialist, or pro-Russian imperialist ideas. Antifascists are commonly labeled as terrorists and thrown in jail, one of the best recent examples of that is Alexandr Kolchenko, who was arrested in Crimea and accused of plotting terrorist acts in an obviously made up case, his real crime was that his antifascism was directed against pro-Russian fascists who were in the area.

Which brings me to the next point, that Russia doesn't only lack any drive to oppose fascism, but it actively supports fascists and fascist ideologies on the territories that it controls. Slavic Union (aka SS), the russian neo-nazi group, has long been rumored to volunteer in much of south and east ukraine. Cossacks, who have traditionally been the most racist of the Russian force groups, are given complete carte blanche in their behaviour in the occupied territories.

And even within Russia-proper police often refuse to even listen to the claims about attacks by racists, and are often too busy with checking the papers of anybody who doesn't look like a russian. Although Russia criticises Ukraine for attempting to promote Ukranian language, i would challange anybody in Russia to find the country-wide TV or Radio station that broadcasts in anything other than Russian.

The laws that deal with the rights of minorities in Russia have been discussed to death already; but now in the occupied territories it is only getting worse. In Lugansk 2-5 year sentence for homosexual sex have recently been approved, and in some cases it can be upgraded to death penalty. In Crimea the Russian government officials have vowed to have no public visibility for LGBT people. And although Kremlin often tries to claim that it just supports the wishes of the local people, whatever those are; it openly destroys any sort of action that does not further its imperialist agenda.

What Russia has become good at, is painting a picture of itself as a fighter against USA and fascism. This has drawn some people to mistakenly conclude that in order to oppose US imperialism and neo-nazism they need to show some sort of support to Russia. Such propaganda model in part is based on that of the United States, and it is very strange how so many people fail to recognise the similarities. Russia today is declaring to the world "You are either with us or with the terrorists!" and the same people who were criticising such idiotic dichotomies just years ago, completely accept them now.

So what are the reasons why Russian forces are now in Ukraine? The answer is relatively simple, Ukraine has managed to kick the pro-Russian corrupt president Yanukovich out of the country. That ex-president actually managed to build himself a personal zoo on his manssion, he has sucked the money from the same regions that today are apparently fighting to join Russia. But even though the people managed to kick out the president, they were unable to resist the military invasion by Russia, and that was due to the long time that Ukraine was an openly neutral country. The military in Ukraine simply cannot stand up against Russian one, because Ukraine has depended on USA, Russia, and UK to protect its borders, two of these countries are refusing to do anything except sanctions and one of them is actively working towards the occupation.

In this situation it is of course easy to jump on the bandwaggon of the side that is most likely to win the fight. But just like no feminist in the right mind has defended the US invasion of Afghanistan, should no antifascist support Russia in its attempt to annex territory after territory from Ukraine.

None of the above should be taken to mean that i believe no nazis are in Ukraine. I know that there are, and i know that in some parts the fascist movement is a big problem. I also know that i give fully support to Russian people who would want to fight against right wing take-over. However, the fight to prevent the rise of fascism in Ukraine should not become the fight to further Russia's imperialism, and it should be lead by Ukranian people themselves; and until the Russian invasion Ukraine was actually doing a much better job at it, than Russia has.