DOCUMENTS War in Ukraine: May Day Coalition Theses
 War in Ukraine – May Day Theses
1) Working people of Ukraine are being attacked by a militarily stronger nation which is not interested in sovereignty or self-determination or the rights of working people in that region. The pro-capitalist regime in Moscow seeks to exercise control over the politics and resources of Ukraine. The regime in Moscow is responding primarily to decades old military pressure and increasing encirclement by a nuclear armed military alliance, led first and foremost by Washington. In Europe, U.S. military, diplomatic, and economic intervention has been unassailable for decades. U.S. bombs have been dropped, U.S. troops have invaded, regime changes have been implemented, ethnic hostilities have been promoted, sanctions have been imposed. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO has expanded from 16 to 30 nations. This substantial growth, from the beginning directed against Russia, has been an ongoing provocation.
2) The regime in Washington is not defending human rights or sovereignty or self-determination or the rights of working people of Ukraine. They never have. The U.S. war makers are defending the interests of the billionaire class they serve. Ukrainians are being used as pawns in an imperial chess game as a means to deepen U.S. control of the politics and resources of that region. The Biden administration has stepped up efforts to politically isolate Russia and China ever since it took office. The sanctions and tariffs imposed by the U.S. and internationally have had economic repercussions in Russia and China.
3) Racism is also playing a role in the conflict. As relief and sympathy are pouring in for Ukrainian refugees, the people of Yemen are being bombed by Saudi Arabia and have been facing a humanitarian disaster of horrific proportions. Millions of refugees fleeing Ukraine are being welcomed with open arms while those from the global south have languished in refugee camps. All NATO members traffic in this duplicity. The treatment of Ukrainians is qualitatively different when compared with the treatment of refugees fleeing conflict and violence in Yemen, the Congo, Sudan, Central America, and Colombia, to name just a few examples. For years the treatment of Palestinians, forced to live in an apartheid system, has been supported by NATO. Black students have been refused exit from Ukraine to make room for white people….
4) NATO members in Eastern Europe have no foreign policy independent of NATO. They have outsourced their foreign policy primarily to Washington. NATO members in Eastern Europe have for decades either ignored or supported the death and devastation inflicted by the U.S. war machine. NATO members primarily serve the wealthy class in each of their respective nations who are aligned with U.S. and Western European imperial interests.
5) The U.S. is already at war. The sanctions being imposed by the U.S. and their European allies are acts of war. They are backed up by military force and the threat of violence if necessary. These sanctions and retaliatory steps by Moscow are hurting ordinary working people in Russia, Europe, and right here in the U.S. The mass infusion of military weapons and aid coming from NATO members, the U.S. in particular, are fueling the conflict. And the devastation and death toll on both sides continues. We saw a similar scenario unfold during the Iraq-Iran war in the eighties. Both sides were devastated and weakened. The corporate elites with Pentagon contracts are laughing all the way to the bank. The inflation we are experiencing is greed driven. The Russians are being blamed. The billionaire class and Biden are being let off the hook.
6) The world is at significant risk of nuclear war. Working people here have no interest in supporting U.S. nuclear weapons and the presence of 100,000 U.S. troops in Europe. NATO would not exist without U.S. presence or leadership. NATO is not defending us. NATO defends the billionaire class of its member countries, which are aligned with Washington. Expansion of the war beyond Ukraine risks the use of nuclear weapons by both sides. We should not trust either side on this issue.
7) A key question is self-determination. Ukrainians in the western region are defending the regime in Kyiv. Masses of Ukrainians in the eastern region reject the regime change imposed on them by the “Maidan Revolution” in 2014 and consider this regime illegitimate. The “Maidan Revolution” was accompanied by significant foreign intervention- political, diplomatic, and economic- led by Washington. That intervention continues today. Mass sentiment against Kyiv in the east is real and not imposed by Moscow. The Ukrainian people were prevented in 2014 from resolving their differences democratically and constitutionally, without foreign intervention. They are prevented from doing that today. Washington and Moscow intervened in 2014 and that intervention continues today.
8) We should not be drawn into the anti-Putin hysteria being organized by the corporate media or NPR (National Pentagon Radio). They serve their masters, the empire, first and foremost. They give unto Caesar what is his. Our voices have been excluded thus far because of this. They want U.S. intervention and war. The “axis of evil,” Saddam Hussein, the Taliban, Mullah Omar, Gaddafi, Kim Jong-un, and Putin are but a few of the focal points in the forever campaign beating the drums of war. The Pentagon keeps expanding. Demonizing a person or people is a means to an end. The end is imperialist control. Pax Americana is the only peace acceptable to the war makers in Washington. This has meant permanent war, not peace. Demonization is a propaganda tactic. It is as old as written history. The same old playbook is being used again and again and again.
9) Boston May Day Coalition Demands:
- Say No to NATO! Remove All U.S. Nuclear Weapons from Europe Now!
- All Foreign Troops Out of Europe and Ukraine Now!
- Self-determination for Ukraine Now!
- End All Sanctions Now!
- Open up Nord-stream 2 Now!
- Massive Implementation of Green Energy Now!
- No nukes, no troops, no to NATO groups!
- No blood for gas!
|
