Eric Zuesse



On 23 September 2014, the Ukrainian Ministry of Social Policy announced official civilian slavery, via an obscure press release, headlined "The Government has extended the list of community service under martial law"; and they announced it there, in bureaucratic phrases, that seemed crafted so as to be ignored:

In connection with the situation in the east of the country, the Cabinet meeting today amended the procedures for the involvement of able-bodied people in community service under martial law. This was disclosed by Minister for Social Policy Lyudmila Denisova.

The Minister said that the existing arrangement was approved in 2011. However, today the document needs to be improved, to meet the current socio-political challenges and necessity of liquidating consequences of possible military aggression.

Lyudmila Denisova said that, in particular, the Procedure now defines the term "labor service" to mean that the people [will be] involved without mandatory consent, subject to enforcement operations, [in work that is of a] defensive nature, as well as man-made [i.e., war-related] disaster management, natural and military nature, during mobilization and wartime. [The tortured phrasing here might be due to these drafters' desire to avoid amplifying upon that phrase 'without mandatory consent,' which refers to the key new legal feature, the legal application of slavery to regular Ukrainian civilians, to be selected according to vague criteria, which might apply to most of the civilian population.]

The Minister said that the category of persons who may be involved to perform such work, covers all individuals who are self-employed.

In addition, the list of community service performed in wartime, will include types of work that are aimed at ensuring the defense of the state (including repair work conducted at state borders, airfields, and fortifications). Also covered will be other work related to emergencies of an industrial, natural or military nature, as the need arises during the period of martial law (analysis of debris, roads, etc., and work performed in connection with the provisioning of supplies to the Armed Forces and other military formations).

Note:

Community service involves working age population, including persons who are not subject to conscription, who have no age and health restrictions preventing them from work under martial law (in addition to able-bodied persons involved in work in the defense sector and for the sustenance of the population, and enterprises booked for the period of mobilization and wartime to carry out work of a defensive nature), namely:

- Unemployed and other unemployed persons [that's what it says: 'unemployed and other unemployed'];

- Workers operating under martial law in firms that are not involved in the implementation of mobilization assignments (orders) and not enrolled in abnormal (non-military) civil protection units - in order to transfer such workers in an amount that will not lead to a complete stop [of private industrial] production;

- Persons engaged in subsistence agriculture [i.e., small farmers];

- Students in higher education, and students of vocational schools;

- Everyone who is self-employed.

Each of these categories of persons [will be] entered into fixed-term employment agreement.

The official announcement says nothing about pay, nor about labor negotiations of any sort, but only that these people will be "entered into fixed-term employment agreement ... without mandatory consent," and "subject to enforcement operations." The mystery as to how there can be 'agreement' without 'mandatory consent' (a beautiful oxymoron, for morons) is not answered, especially since it is "subject to enforcement." So, the underlying presumption here seems to be that 'consent' is not 'mandatory' in order for there to be 'agreement,' and that the Government has the right to "enforce" that 'agreement'. This seems Orwellian, but that's the way it is. America calls itself a 'democracy', and yet now imposes this type of government, and condemns Russia as being not 'democratic'. So, perhaps the Obama team has been teaching its Ukrainian stooges how to be Orwellian.

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