English translation of our collective’s text regarding the situation in Ukraine and Greece’s involvement. It is our duty to work against Greece’s participation, and to build international struggles against the war, against all capitalist wars. (You can find the text in pdf form as well, in the end of the page).
“Those at the top say: Peace and war are of different substance. But their peace and their war
are like the wind and storm.
War grows from their peace, like son from his mother. He bears her frightful features
Their war kills whatever their peace has left over.”
In the early hours of February 24th Russia decides to invade Ukraine, with coordinated missile attacks and simultaneous raid of the army.
This move marks an escalation of tensions and rivalries in the region, with probably most notable events being the rejection of Ukraine’s 2013 EU accession agreement by then-President Yanukovych -who was pushing for an agenda of closer relations with Russia- and the uprising that followed (also known as the “Euromaidan”), with the active participation of the far right and the support of the Euro-Atlantic bloc, which led to the ouster of the president. The general unrest that prevailed at the time, gave Russia the “opportunity” to invade Crimea and annex it to its territory. It also sparked protests (with the support of Russia) against Euromaidan and the new regime, and riots, culminating in the arson of the Trade Union House in Odessa, in May 2014, by Ukrainian hooligans and neo-Nazis, which led to the horrific death of 42 of people who were burned alive. At the same time, and as separatists declared the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in eastern Ukraine, the unrest escalated into a war, with more than 15,000 killed, and intensified attacks by Ukraine during the past months.
These People’s Republics were officially recognized by Russia on February 21. The causes of Ukraine’s invasion are not found, of course, in the interest for the lives of the people there, but are part of the capitalist system itself, and the intensification of interstate competitions. It is a war between imperialist camps claiming spheres of influence, market shares and wealth-producing resources. Thus, they are constantly upgrading themselves militarily (with military expenditure skyrocketing in recent years), as they seek to expand their interests and gain as much advantage as possible over energy control, transport routes, the raw materials of the area, etc. At the same time, each side has developed its own propaganda mechanisms and its own narratives, trying to persuade people of our class to give their lives for their interests, or to present their aims as “just” or justified.
So on the one hand there is NATO, led by the United States, which after the end of the Cold War is constantly expanding to Eastern Europe and the former countries of the Warsaw Pact, and has been trying for years to reach former Soviet republics and neutral countries that border with Russia. It has also adopted a similar strategy towards China, as it feels that its dominance over the capitalist world being under threat. The US are trying to steer European states in a direction of independence from Russia, e.g. Russian gas, promoting their own liquefied natural gas (LNG) which is more expensive, but is favored by a possible rise in price or by the blockage of Russian gas due to what is happening now. The development of new formations and the transfer of NATO anti-ballistic missile systems to Bulgaria and Romania, military exercises in the countries of the former Eastern bloc, the concentration of forces in countries bordering Ukraine (with reports of 8,500 soldiers on alert and promises of more than 3,000 Washington, even before the outbreak of the war), and of course the US-Ukraine rapprochement for the latter to join the Euro-Atlantic Pact, paved the way for the current situation.
A situation where Russia’s attack obviously does not arise from an anti-imperialist point of view, nor from ideological differences with the far-right regime in Ukraine. On the contrary, the attempt to encircle Russia by NATO forces opposes the aspirations of the country’s bourgeoisie to reclaim the territories and markets to which western capitalism expanded after the dissolution of the USSR, and its efforts to promote its own interests through the capitalist unification of these states [Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), etc.]. The international situation was favorable as, despite the USA moves in the region, their attention is largely focused on China, which is the new emerging capitalist superpower, while on the same time and just like the US, the Russian state wanted to turn elsewhere and to alleviate the social dissatisfaction, caused by the pandemic management.
The region of Ukraine is also very important for other reasons, as it has relatively developed industrial production capacities, rich raw materials and important agricultural lands, as well as energy deposits, while it is also a main route for transporting natural gas from Russia to Europe. At the same time, with the annexation of Crimea in 2014, it was not only the Russian territories and the internal market that increased, but also the right to exploit natural and energy resources in the region, with the Ukrainian EEZ in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov decreasing by ¾ . A fact that had led Ukraine to work out plans for the recapture of the Crimean region, with Sevastopol being an important outlet and port to the Black Sea.
“The twenty-fourth of February 2022 marks a watershed in the history of our continent. (…)
The world afterwards will no longer be the same as the world before.”
Olaf Scholz, German Chancellor
Τhe countries of Europe have not taken a common stand in this situation, with states such as France supporting Ukraine, and the United Kingdom being fully in line with US policies, while at the same time states that are also NATO members, like Croatia and Bulgaria, have opposed the threat of an emerging war, and stated that they will not engage militarily. Germany, which has trade relations with Russia, its main energy supplier, and with the new gas pipeline connecting the two countries (Nord Stream 2) being completed and awaiting licensing, wanted to avoid this situation. while after what has happened, it announced the creation of a special fund of 100 billion euros for its armed forces. Thus, the future of the EU itself is unknown, and sanctions against Russia by EU states after the declaration of war are not common, but differ based on the interests of each country’s ruling class.
Sanctions with huge consequences in Europe, as has the war itself, as Russia meets one third of Europe’s “needs” for gas (with the increase in the price of gas in Europe on the first day of the war reaching up to 57%), while together with Ukraine they cover, among other things, 29% of world wheat exports, 80% of sunflower oil exports and 19% of maize exports, making the risk of not only an energy, but also a food crisis possible. The area is also “rich” in minerals and rare earths, which are necessary in modern industry, and whose price is expected to increase significantly. At the same time, another humanitarian crisis is being triggered, with refugees from Ukraine being already more than half a million.
And Greece? In this landscape, the Greek state has taken and continues to take a clear position. It has been tied to the chariot of NATO’s war machine, while -both during its social-democratic and neo-liberal/conservative periods of administration- it has been transformed into a vast NATO base. It participates in military exercises and agrees in military cooperation pacts with the USA and France, and despite the peaceful profile it seeks to build, it operates as a military passage (Alexandroupolis) and base (Souda), and sends military equipment (Saudi Arabia) and troops outside its territory (Sahel), to satisfy the purely aggressive aspirations of its allies, while seeking to strengthen its own interests in the Mediterranean and to emerge as a leading power in the Balkans. Let us point out here that there are no friendships between states but only interests. This is evidenced, once again, by the recent USA decision to officially cancel the plans for the construction of the much-publicized “East Med“ pipeline, which would kick Turkey out of the business of transporting gas from the Middle East to Europe, with the “risk” of Turkey turning to Russia, something the US apparently wanted to avoid. A move that was completely silenced by the Greek media and the national body of the country.
The Greek state continues to operate in the same way as mentioned, with its Prime Minister making statements for a reaction “corresponding to the unprecedented Russian provocation”, US Ambassador Jeffrey Pyatt announcing the use of the Stefanovikio base to transport American Apache helicopters to Poland, Alexandroupoli being utilized for months as a hub for the passage of armaments and troops in Eastern Europe, and KYSEA (Government Council on Foreign Affairs and Defense) announcing the intention to replace energy supplies from Russia with gas from the TAP pipeline and expensive liquefied natural gas (LNG) of American interests, a move that serves the aspirations of the Greek shipping class, which maintains a huge fleet of tankers, ready to be used in such an event. The last act of greek state’s dangerous involvement in a war that nothing precludes from extending here, is the decision to send two shipments with military equipment to Ukraine, consisting of two C-130 planes each, while at the same time the Russian Foreign Ministry warns that those supplying lethal weapons to Ukraine will bear responsibility, should they be used during Russia’s military campaign there.
Thus, until now, Greece may have become a perpetrator, through its participation and assistance in military missions for the “geostrategic upgrade” of its bourgeoisie, that wanted a share in the new markets created by crimes against the oppressed, but nothing guarantees that it will not be in the opposite position in the near future, with Russia having even warned of retaliation on military bases such as that of Alexandroupoli. The greek state is also investing huge sums in military equipment (for another year in takes the 2nd place in all NATO members, on the expenditure of each country compared to its GD, behind only the USA), while at the same time the death toll from the pandemic is more than 20.000 (a very high number compared to the country’s population) and the public health system has been left to collapse, all basic goods (electricity, water, energy) are gradually privatized, and wages are kept at starvation levels, despite that the cost of living is rising rapidly every week. Together with these, the thousands of cops being hired, in conjunction with the dozens of anti-social bills passed during the pandemic serve to suppress any voice that resists this miserable reality, which is predicted to be even more bleak.
“The war which is coming is not the first one
There were other wars before it.
When the last one came to an end,
there were conquerors and conquered.
Among the conquered the common people starved
Among the conquered
the common people starved too.”
To take a stand in war, it is necessary to ponder which class is conducting it and why. Capitalist wars are the continuation of capitalist peace by other means. This war is not a diversion, but a part of the same capitalist system from which it originates. It is organized by the same class, the bourgeoisie of the states involved, and has exactly the same goals as the “peace” that precedes it and the one that will follow, as it expresses the exact same policy, changing only the forms of action. At the same time, it offers a way out of the long-standing structural crisis of over-accumulation in which capitalism finds itself, and which deepens even more after the onset of the pandemic- through the destruction of the labor force, as well as the creation of markets and “growth” that will follow during the period of “reconstruction”, at the expense, of course, of the social needs of the exploited of the area, and not only there.
Such a war is unjust on both sides, and the losers of these antagonisms are those used in the massacres that the capitalists are preparing for their profits, or who are indirectly affected by their consequences, and who have virtually nothing to gain, no matter what is the outcome of an imperialist war. To not mobilize on either side is not just an easy slogan or a solution somewhere in the middle, but the only way to defend the lives and interests of the working class. There are no good and bad states, no less good or bad imperialists. A common enemy, in fact, for all of them are the fighting people who resist inside their countries, and if it is necessary the capitalists will not hesitate to cooperate with each other to face us. As happened 150 years ago, when the French bourgeoisie capitulated to the Prussians to suppress the revolted Paris Commune together, as is the case today in greek territory, with the cooperation of the greek and turkish states to suppress, persecute, and imprison dozens of Turkish and Kurdish who are struggling against them. Wars, the exploitation of our lives, the plunder of nature will not stop by choosing sides in transnational competitions, but by our struggle against the system that gives birth to them.
And the current economic system can only offer poverty, misery and death to the vast majority of society. Especially at this time, when it is in a constant global crisis, and in order to find new markets and continue to accumulate profits, it plunders nature enormously, causes pandemics, spreads death daily in areas such as Somalia, Yemen and the Middle East, it commodifies every aspect of our lives, and intensifies even more the exploitation of the working class.
“General, man is very useful. He can fly and he can kill. But he has one defect: He can think.”
Bertolt Brecht, From A German War Primer
So in this situation, all of us who find ourselves in the base of the social pyramid, who find it difficult to make ends meet as our cost of living is constantly on the rise, who see our lives threatened by the antagonisms of the powerful, must act to stop this war, like all transnational wars. To become the sand in the gears of their war machine, so that no more blood from the oppressed is shed for the interests of their exploiters. Take strength from the thousands of protesters in Russia who took to the streets against the prevailing rhetoric there, defying the harsh oppressive regime against those who resist, and to deconstruct the pro-NATO narrative that prevails here – while at the same time having no delusions regarding “mild” Russian capitalism. We have to state clearly that we will not become their soldiers in the chess games they set up to increase their power, and to act in our own field, against the Greek bourgeoisie and the Greek state. The enemy is within our own country, and it is our class and international duty not to allow them to take part in another war through the ranks of NATO. To block the shipment of weapons and the use of dozens of bases for the transport of soldiers and military equipment. Fight for the closure of all bases, and to sabotage Greece’s participation in the NATO’s killing machine, which is responsible for the blood of millions in dozens of operations in every corner of the earth.
At the same time, we must intensify the social and class struggles against the general attack of the states and the capitalists on the working class. Aim our struggles against the capitalist and authoritarian system that breeds inequalities and wars, exploitation and oppression. Prepare the only just war, class war. In order to build a world of freedom, equality, solidarity and communal ownership. Without borders, nations and armies to separate us from our foreign-speaking brothers and to unite us with our tyrants. To fight so that in Greece, Turkey, Macedonia, the Balkans, the Middle East, Ukraine and all around the world, there is no war between the exploited and no peace between the classes.
CLASS AND INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY WITH THE EXPLOITED
WHO PAY A DEATH TOLL FOR THE ASPIRATIONS AND THE INTERESTS
OF NATO, RUSSIA AND UKRAINIAN STATE
TO PREVENT ANY INVOLVEMENT OF THE GREEK STATE
IN THE IMPERIALIST WAR
T O FIGHT AGAINST MILITARISM,
AGAINST THEIR WAR AND THEIR “PEACE”
Collective of Anarchists from the East Side of Salonica // anatolika.espivblogs.net
English translation of our collective’s text regarding the situation in Ukraine and Greece’s involvement. It is our duty to work against Greece’s participation, and to build international struggles against the war, against all capitalist wars. (You can find the text in pdf form as well, in the end of the page).