UNDERSTANDING UKRAINE
By Phil WIlayto
Coordinator, Odessa Solidarity Campaign
This May 2 marks 11 years since a mob led by members of openly fascist organizations set fire to the House of Trade Unions in Odessa, Ukraine, murdering at least 42 people opposed to the violent coup that had taken place the previous February.
On March 13 of this year, the European Court of Human Rights, the international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights, announced the results of its investigation into the massacre, which had been requested by relatives of some of the people who died that day, as well as three survivors.
The ECHR unanimously accused the “relevant authorities” of “failure to do everything that could reasonably be expected of them to prevent the violence in Odesa (sic) on 2 May 2014, to stop that violence after its outbreak, to ensure timely rescue measures for people trapped in the fire, and to institute and conduct an effective investigation into the events.” The ECHR also faulted the authorities “in respect of one applicant … concerning the delay in handing over her father’s body for burial.”
The firebombing of the union building was captured on many cellphone cameras and widely viewed online. Many of the assailants’ faces were clearly visible. And yet, 11 years after this atrocity, no one has ever been punished for their part in the murders.
Unfortunately, but predictably, the ECHR report received little coverage by Western media. The massacre goes against the dominant narrative that Ukraine is a peaceful, struggling democracy that has been the victim of an unprovoked attack by Russia.
In fact, the United States government was deeply involved in the 2014 coup, which, relying of neo-Nazi stormtroopers, overthrew a pro-Russian president and replaced him with a pro-U.S/NATO one.
Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO, under the leadership of the U.S., has been steadily expanding eastward. Incorporating Ukraine, with its 1,200-mile land border with Russia, would have provided a perfect staging area for any attack on Russia. That expansion, along with the 2014 coup and the subsequent government attack on the people of the Donbass region, is what led to the Russian intervention in February 2022.
Much of the U.S. public, including some in the antiwar movement, have been confused about this situation, which has now become more complicated with the reelection of Donald Trump as president of the United States.
Trump is no friend to Russia. This would-be dictator’s goal isn’t peace, it’s world domination. For him, today’s friend can be tomorrow’s enemy. Trump’s less hostile approach to Russia is simply an attempt to break up the growing cooperation between Russia and the People’s Republic of China, which the U.S. views as its main economic competitor, and so, necessarily, its mortal enemy.
As a result of Trump’s slash-and-burn approach to domestic policies, there is now a rising chorus of popular opposition. Unfortunately, due to the influence of the pro-war Democratic Party, one of the charges being raised is that Trump is abandoning NATO.
Trump should abandon NATO, along with the goal of the entire U.S. ruling class to dominate the world in the interests of U.S. corporations. And the whole U.S. public should oppose Trump, for all the suffering he is causing people here at home, especially immigrants and trans people, and work to promote a foreign policy that respects the right of other peoples to forge their own roads to freedom, justice, democracy and peace.
Promoting the memory of the Odessa Massacre of May 2, 2014, is one way to support those goals, while honoring the memory of those who died on that tragic and infamous day.
Odessa Solidarity Campaign 