War and Terror

Against Russian imperialism

A statement from the Russian Socialist Movement and the Ukrainian socialist organisation Sotsialnyi Rukh. Although the majority of the left has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the left camp’s unity is still lacking. We would like to address those on the left who still stick to “a plague on both houses” position that views the war as an inter-imperialist war. It is high time the left woke up and carried out a “concrete analysis of the concrete situation” instead of reproducing worn-out frameworks from the Cold War. Overlooking Russian imperialism is a terrible mistake for the left...

Russia: dissent swells despite de facto martial law

The founding editors of the Russian student journal DOXA, one of the best Russian-language sources on the anti-war movement, are in the middle of their hearings regarding the house arrest they have been under for almost a year. Four of the site’s editors were arrested and put under effective pre-trial house arrest for posting a video in support of student protests in April 2021 , but their trial has been repeatedly postponed, leaving them without internet access or regular social interaction, and banning them from engaging in editorial work for almost a full year. In the hearing which took...

Lithuania cancels Covid vaccines for Bangladesh

It has been widely reported that Lithuania has cancelled a donation of 440,000 Covid vaccines to Bangladesh because of the Bangladeshi government’s abstention in the UN General Assembly vote on Russia’s war in Ukraine. I haven’t been able to find any statement or quotation from the Lithuanian government confirming this, but it seems to be true. It’s a disgraceful and stupid decision. Those who decided on Bangladesh’s stance at the UN will not be hurt by it. Those who will be hurt are people with mostly little influence over such government policy - the working class and in particular the poor...

Support Russia's teachers organising against Putin's war

"Peace to Ukraine, freedom to Russia" Republished from the socialist blog People and Nature . The original on People and Nature also includes an open letter from a Ukrainian teacher. An open letter against Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine had yesterday [7 March] been signed by more than 5000 Russian teachers – and some signatories are facing pressure and threats from their managers. “Violence goes against the very essence of our profession”, the letter states, implicitly supporting teachers who are resisting the propagation of the Kremlin’s military aims and ideology in classrooms. The open...

Russian feminists' manifesto against Putin's war

Russian feminists organised through Feminist Anti-War Resistance have issued this manifesto and call for action against the Russian war in Ukraine. For posters and information to do a solidarity photo in their support on International Women's Day, see here . On February 24, at around 5:30 AM Moscow time, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a “special operation” on the territory of Ukraine in order to “denazify” and “demilitarize” this sovereign state. This operation had long been in preparation. For several months, Russian troops were moving up to the border with Ukraine. At the same...

For IWD 2022 - show your support for women in Ukraine and Russia!

On International Women's Day, 8 March 2022, Russian feminists are organising protests against Putin's war. Read their manifesto and call to action here . Please take a photo in solidarity with women and feminist activists in Ukraine and Russia, send to womensolidarityukraine@gmail.com and/or tweet with the hashtags #IWD2022 #Ukraine #UkraineWomen #FeministAntiWarResistance #FeministsAgainstWar Posters to print off and use: • "Trade Union Women Stand With Ukraine" • "No to Putin's War! Stand with Ukraine!" (this also includes a poster with the main slogan blank so you can print out and add your...

A very short history of NATO

NATO’s history is that of an organisation constrained by the different (often imperialist) interests of its member states. It is dominated by imperialist states, but is not in fact a deployable supranational imperialist attack-force. The motivation for NATO in the late 1940s came from European powers, particularly France and Britain, not the USA. They were responding to the coups against elected multi-party governments in Soviet occupied Eastern Europe in 1948 and the Berlin Blockade later that year. Many thought that the USSR now had designs on parts of western Europe. Powers like France and...

Russians defy arrests to oppose war

Since the start of a widespread invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, the Russian people have mobilised impressively in anti-war protests and dissent. On the first evening, protests in around 60 cities saw enormous numbers of participants, leading to the arrest of over 1,800. OVD-Info reports over 5,000 arrests overall in the days since (at time of writing). None of the protests have been sanctioned by local or national authorities, making the mere act of participation a criminal offence. Police have arrested and abused with impunity, and the government have introduced new measures to dissuade...

What anti-war Russians want you to know

It’s Sunday night in central Moscow, and Rosgvardia, President Vladimir Putin’s personal military force, is out in full force. It’s been four days since war was waged against Ukraine and since then, a heavy police presence has dominated the centre of the city, with paddy wagons for protestors lined up and ready. In metro exits near Moscow’s usual protest site, barriers are up. Everything is in place to make sure any anti-war protests can be quickly contained with perpetrators swiftly rounded up. The Russian enemy On Thursday, 24 Feb 2022, the world woke up to news that would at once grip the...

Against Putin, move to renewables

Official opening of the Power of Siberia pipeline Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has revealed the geopolitical and ecological insanity of a European capitalist class addicted to fossil fuels. Russia is the world’s largest petro-state, controlling one third of Earth’s oil and gas reserves and producing 68% of the world’s domestic gas supply. Fossil fuels constitute around 60% of Russian exports and around 40% of government income. The overwhelming majority of those fossil fuels are bought by European and other NATO countries. The fossil fuel revenue has allowed Putin to amass the third largest...

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.