We have received several questions recently asking what is the “official position of Antifa” related to the ongoing war against Ukraine by Russia.
Not being an organization, there is no official “Antifa position.”
It is the position of the antifascists who manage this page and its associated Antifa identities online (both Facebook and Twitter @WeAntiFascists) that Russia is engaged in an unprovoked and unjustifiable attack that has included brutal murders of women and children, and that must end immediately and sanctions/reprisals against those responsible must be swift and severe.
We’re aware of the various arguments, the concern regarding Azov, etc., and on careful examination find those concerns to be largely matters of attempting to divert attention from the Russian attack. We acknowledge that reports regarding the fascist history of the Azov battalion in particular and a scattering of far-right paramilitary groups within Ukraine generally are factually accurate and of concern.
However, we also assert emphatically that the idea the existence of Azov somehow justifies Russia’s invasion is laughably stupid.
We oppose fascism, including the fascists of Azov. That said, there is a clear aggressor in this situation, there are neo-fascist organizations inside and outside of every government and nation on earth and Ukraine’s is not particularly notable beyond its existence. Our objection to Azov and other far-right and neofascist elements within Ukrainian government or public service must be understood as a far lower matter of acute, present priority than ending the aggression of Vladimir Putin, particularly his repeated attempts to further terrorize his way to power by threatening the use of nuclear and biological weapons.
It must also be understood clearly that our objection to Azov and other neofascist elements in Ukraine in no way mitigates the simple fact that Russia’s invasion is not justified by any valid ethic, principle, or situation. Russia is wrong, Putin is wrong, this entire action is rooted in nothing but a craven attempt to return to sub-twentieth-century tactics of warfare to compete for resources intended to personally enrich Vladimir Putin and his friends.
With that said, we speak only for ourselves as this group of antifascists; others may have different takes on the matter.
Speaking strictly to the Russian spin on all of this, that Ukraine represents some threat to them or that they are trying to “denazify,” we reject the reasoning just as we would reject an invasion of DC on the basis of the reality – of which we note anyone with military, intelligence, or police experience is well aware – that there are loosely organized neofascist elements within the US military and police, and some of our military units don’t have entirely noble histories either.
As experts in propaganda, disinformation, and other forms of political communication, we’re a bit surprised at the sloppiness and predictability of Russia’s propaganda efforts and public relations spin on all of this, and reflect with great concern on what the readiness of a significant percentage of Americans to accept it as written suggests about the state of education in this country.
The entire Russian argument/rationalization is an obvious and clear attempt to combine the “reasoning” offered by Hitler for his annexation of Poland with a maliciously misapplied backup argument based on the Bush Administration justifications for the 2003 US invasion of Iraq…and that argument of debatable validity in the original application anyway, relying as it did on the manufacturing of questionable threats to justify military action (e.g. the whole Nigerian uranium debacle) while refusing to acknowledge the known truth that we believed Iraq had the capacity for manufacturing WMDs because we sold them the stuff to do it throughout the 80s and 90s (cf. the so-called “Reigle Report,” 1993-ish, maybe ’94, senate hearings related to Gulf War Syndrome) and simultaneously deliberately crafting a narrative connection between Iraq and the 9/11 attacks against the US without ever actually asserting that connection outright. (A Washington Post poll in Feb of 2003 showed fully 70% of Americans at that time believed Iraq was directly involved in perpetrating 9/11, but never once did any US official make that direct claim.)
In short, it’s propaganda. Bovine excreta. Piffle. Vaporware. Lies and distractions.
In the end, while we absolutely acknowledge that Ukraine has its own issues to address (as do we all), we absolutely reject the idea that any of those issues validate, rationalize, or justify any of Putin’s acts of war against that country.
WeAntiFascists stand with Ukraine.
