taken from the CQFD site, monthly critique and social experimentation
https://cqfd-journal.org/Peche-en-mediterranee-quand-le-4312
Mid-November, Kyiv is tired. Donald Trump has just been re-elected to the White House, and with him comes immense uncertainty about the future of Ukraine. Dozens of Russian drones and missiles haunt the nights of the capital, constantly interrupted by the blaring of alarms and the toum toum toum of anti-aircraft guns. As the front line in the East falters, pressure increases on men and women of fighting age. Despite a semblance of normality, more than 1,000 days after the first bombings, war is everywhere. ” I’m tired “sighs Anton in a café in the center, where we come across several young people on crutches or with prosthetic legs. Anti-fascist activist repatriated from the front a few months ago, he doesn’t see how he could “talk about something other than war”.
“Yesterday’s enemies came together to stand up to the demonstrators”
Volunteer from February 2022 to “defend Ukraine against the violence of an imperialist state”, he was carried away into a daily life of trenches, shells and death. Far from its political aspirations, the war has nevertheless become a “necessary commitment” in his eyes. That day, he revealed his fears on the “impossible future” of his country, “caught in an unwanted conflict” and threatened by a spiral “of fears and hatred which will not be able to stop with any armistice”. Direct consequence: very militaristic remarks that he “could never have imagined making a few years ago”, and a future forced to imagine itself exclusively through “the resistance capacity of the Ukrainian army”. Interview.
How do you feel more than 1,000 days after the outbreak of war?
“It doesn’t feel like it’s been 1,000 days, more like 2,000, or even more than that. Some of our guys found themselves in captivity as early as 2014. This war is really dated. But it has changed dimension in 2022: now, it is played out with the army. Above all, I think about how many more days this will last, and how long we can continue to fight. »
How did you come to anti-fascism, and what did it mean to you?
“I come from the hardcore punk scene. In Ukraine, in the early 2000s, it was a small community: far-left stuff is not very popular around here. Our concerts were sometimes attacked by neo-Nazis, so we had to learn to defend ourselves. We organized ourselves in the stands of FC Arsenal in Kyiv by creating an ultra antifa club. We needed spaces, the far right was omnipresent, in the streets and in the stands.
“At Maidan, I think we especially gained experience”
This is where I became a 100% hooligan. I participated in the creation of the Hoods Hoods Klan, a club of ultra supporters driven by anti-fascist values. It was violent, we often found ourselves fighting against the ultras of other clubs, notably those of Dynamo Kyiv. Several of our guys were seriously injured, but we also sent a few to the hospital. »
At the end of 2013, you went down to Maidan Square and took part in the uprising against the pro-Russian regime of President Yanukovych. Very quickly, the ultras found themselves on the front line on the barricades to face the cops and militias. How is it going?
“The ultras are used to being united and between groups, there is a lot of political enmity, which is why we often fight. But at Maidan, we decided to sign a peace agreement between the different ultra movements. Yesterday’s enemies came together to stand up to the demonstrators and resist the police and militias. Of course, political conflicts have not disappeared. »
When did you realize that what was happening was revolutionary?
“I realized it when the fights with the police began, faced with the scale of the repression, when people began to disappear, to be taken to the forest without ever returning, to be tortured1… Europe has a great experience of riots, struggles and revolutions. But in Ukraine, that’s when it started. It was our first time, we had no idea what we could do. At Maidan, I think we mainly gained experience. »
-The war began in 2014, in the East, with the annexation of Crimea and the taking up of arms by separatists supported directly by Russia. What are you doing ?
“After Maidan, when the invasion began, I went to Luhansk, in Donbass, with the Aidar Battalion, a military unit made up of volunteers to fight against the Russians and the separatists. We were just a few antifa people who went there. There were quite a few nationalists and far-right fighters too, especially ultras. In my eyes, resisting this Russian invasion was directly linked to what we were fighting for at Maidan: for our independence, for our freedom from our imperialist neighbor. But I didn’t stay long. There was a ceasefire [accords de Minsk I et II en 2014-2015 pour tenter de mettre fin à la guerre, ndlr]and the army integrated the battalion to which I belonged into the regular army. For me, there was no question of signing a long contract with the national army.
“In Donbass, I saw crazy inequalities, poverty and ultra-rich people to the point of absurdity! »
In Donbass, I saw the explosions, I spoke with people, I saw crazy inequalities, poverty and ultra-rich people to the point of absurdity! You see that, and you understand everything. It is often said that Donetsk and Donbass with all their mines and heavy industries feed the other regions, but in fact it mainly feeds the rich and the rotten people in the region’s government. Afterwards, I toured Europe to different antifa places to talk about Maidan from the perspective of those who experienced it. In Barcelona, we met pro-separatist people, suspicious of us, thinking that we were being brainwashed by the European Union and NATO. They told us that they got their information from independent media, but independent media called Sputnik or Russia Today… Financed by the Russians! We were there to fight against this propaganda and circulate our stories. »
In 2022, the war completely changes in scope, and you decide to go fight. Was it a debate to participate in the war from an anti-fascist perspective?
“For me it was very clear: it was an imperialist invasion carried out by a dictator who wanted to make history. I had to go fight. Our government is not perfect, nor is our country, but for me the question was: “Is this my war?” I live here, the Russians are invading, killing, taking over and destroying everything, so yes, I had to do something. »
More than 1000 days later, the pressure is increasing on those who can be mobilized. How do you experience this? Is the possibility of exile in your head?
“I thought about fleeing Ukraine, yes. It remains a subject that hovers in the back of my mind. War is so exhausting that sometimes I say to myself “fuck that shit, I’m done”. At the beginning, we had comrades, and people from all ultra movements, who went into exile, legally or illegally. I don’t want to judge, it’s up to them to say whether it was a good decision or not. But when you see all these towns and villages completely razed, the violence of the occupation, I still find it difficult to imagine fleeing. And then, for an anti-authoritarian movement to continue to exist, even in times of war, there must be people who defend it from within. Otherwise, politically, you are dead. »
“For me it was very clear: it was an imperialist invasion carried out by a dictator who wanted to make history”
What about international solidarity?
“In our group there are people from Spain, Belarus, Germany, who joined us to fight. Collectives send us cars, equipment like drones, medicines, money…. But even if many war refugees go out of their way to support us, it is decreasing compared to the beginning. What is important is to tell the truth about what is happening here, to tell what it is like to live under the occupation of an imperialist state. We need to talk about it in left-wing circles and anarchist circles. Putin will not stop where he is, people must understand that this will last for decades. We need to broaden our perspective. »
Comments collected by Robin Bouctot
1 Read “Ukraine: the violence of repression reinforces the mobilizations”, Mediapart (01/31/2014).
