Polish fascists are joining with pro-Russian right-wing extremists

German version of this post: "Polnische Faschisten verbünden sich mit pro-russischen rechtsradikalen Extremisten"
French version of this post: "Falanga rejoint l’internationale fasciste de Poutine et Assad"

The pro-Russian right-wing extremist movement in the Donetsk oblast is now supported by a Polish fascist group called "Falanga". It is not the first Polish extreme right organisation that is trying to undermine democracy in Ukraine - in the beginning of February, Hungarian Jobbik and Polish Ruch Narodowy (National Movement) tried to promote pro-Hungarian and pro-Polish separatism in Western parts of Ukraine.

With Falanga, the situation is a little bit different, although there is little doubt that Falanga would support the demise of Ukraine and Galicia consequently joining Poland.

Under the leadership of Bartosz Bekier, Falanga is a part of the broad, partially coordinated pan-European extreme right movement that is, in particular, openly supportive of the Kremlin's anti-Western policies and ideas.

Falanga on the march; Bartosz Bekier is featured on the left. Warsaw, 2011

Bartosz Bekier in Donetsk, May 2014

The Ukrainian far right Svoboda party: From the margins to the mainstream and back again?

The Ukrainian far right Svoboda party: From the margins to the mainstream and back again?
Anton Shekhovtsov

The far right All-Ukrainian Union “Freedom” (Svoboda) has been making headlines since 2012 when it became the first Ukrainian far right party to enter the parliament and through 2013-2014 when it took active part in the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine and later secured a few ministerial posts in the interim government. Despite the increased media attention even internationally, Svoboda is a giant with feet of clay, ready to fall.

Writing in 2011, a year ahead of the parliamentary elections in Ukraine, I stated in one academic paper that the entrance of the far right Svoboda party to the Ukrainian parliament in 2012 would “spark negative feelings on the part of the Russian minority and contribute to the activization of pro-Russian nationalist movements that could garner support from Russia and advance separatist activities in the largely Russian-speaking regions, such as the Crimea”. Although my prediction seems to have turned out to be right, I missed an important point which lies outside conventional political science: it was not Svoboda’s electoral success in 2012 per se that later energized the pro-Russian nationalists, but rather the portrayal and representation of the Ukrainian far right in general and Svoboda in particular in the Russian media engaged in the extensive information war against Ukraine.

Svoboda's flags at a Euromaidan protest in Kyiv, January 2013

Ukraine's presidential election and the far right

The results of the presidential election that took place on 25 May 2014 partly confirmed the political trend that had emerged already during the Ukrainian revolution of 2013-2014: despite the active participation of the far right in the revolution, its political role became comparatively marginal. In the presidential election, which led to the landslide victory of democratic candidate Petro Poroshenko already in the first round (54.70%), Svoboda’s Oleh Tyahnybok obtained 1.16% of the vote, while the Right Sector’s Dmytro Yarosh won 0.70%.

True, the results of the presidential election have debunked Putin's narrative about "the fascist coup in Ukraine" - a narrative in which only the Western unreformed left believed anyway. Yet what do we make of the far right's apparent failure in the election? And, eventually, whither the Ukrainian far right?

Oleh Tyahnybok (Svoboda)	Dmytro Yarosh (Right Sector)

Extremism in South-Eastern Ukraine

Extremism in South-Eastern Ukraine

Extremists have hijacked the Anti-Maidan protests in South-Eastern Ukraine. and their extremism and ultranationalism is fomenting violence and hatred.

Праворадикальная угроза в Украине

Праворадикальная угроза в Украине состоит не в том, что крайне правые могут прийти к власти в Украине, а совсем в другом. Попробую объяснить это максимально просто, "на пальцах".

1. ЕС невыгодны санкции против России, потому что они ударят также и по самим европейским странам. Единственным "спасением" от санкций как для России, так и для ЕС является возможность показать, что Украина не является демократической страной. Или, по крайней мере, значимый элемент украинской власти не является демократическим. Эту возможность могут представить украинские крайне правые.

Short film: "Christian Orthodox Fascism in Russia"

Here's a short film on the curious trend within contemporary Russian fascism, namely the (Christian) Orthodox fascism. Unfortunately, the video is only available in Russian language.

 

Nazis and Stalinists thrive on May 1 in Moscow

I share the deep concern expressed by Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs over the Nazi/Stalinist orgy in Russian cities on the 1st of May:

"The glorification of Hitler along with the glorification of Stalin, slogans of revanchism, xenophobia, intolerance, anti-Semitism and great-power chauvinism - all these dangerous phenomena, which are developing in the Russian Federation against the background of persecution and repression of all manifestations of democracy in the Russian society, are a challenge to civilised humanity."

This is how some Russians celebrated the International Workers' Day on the 1st of May in Moscow:

  

Nazis