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News and Views on Ukraine Crisis
Arch-Reactionaries Lead Toronto Demonstration in Support of Ukraine
A large demonstration in support of Ukraine was held on February 27 at Nathan Philips Square in Toronto. The event was organized by the Toronto branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) and included the participation of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.
Freeland, second from left, poses with a scarf “Glory to Ukraine” associated with World War II Nazi collaborator Organizations |
Canadians support the cause of peace worldwide. Freeland with her cronies of the UCC are arch-reactionaries whose aim is not peace, democracy or freedom for anyone.[1] The aim of such forces is to isolate Russia no matter what the costs. When the reactionary military and militias they back use force, they say it is justified. When Russia uses force, they cry bloody murder when in fact they do not give a damn about the use of force or the fate of the peoples of the world as a matter of principle, only what serves their narrow aims.[2] The support of such forces for wars of aggression and crimes committed against peoples everywhere, through killer sanctions and attacks which cause what they call justifiable collateral damage, shows they are up to no good.
Russia launched a military operation in response to stepped up encroachment by NATO, which knows no bounds. Putin called it a measure taken in desperation when all his calls for having the U.S. and NATO recognize its security concerns fell on deaf ears. He has used force to achieve the security guarantees Russia seeks, including the neutrality of Ukraine. Instead of recognizing Russia’s security concerns, the U.S. and NATO continue to fill Ukraine with weapons and special forces and to train troops to push Russia to the brink. Their interest in Ukraine is self-serving — they are clearly using Ukraine as an advance base while making it clear they will not make it a member of NATO which would mean that Ukraine could invoke Article 5 of the NATO Charter and NATO troops would have to go into Ukraine to provide “collective security.” Neither will they let Ukraine into the European Union, at least not through any special expedited process as Ukraine requested on February 28. NATO’s U.S.-led escalation of tensions increases the unpredictability of what will happen, raising the prospects of even more suffering being inflicted on the people of all of Ukraine. In the name of caring for the people of Ukraine, the only options the U.S., Canada and NATO are proposing is condemnation of “Russian aggression” and escalation of NATO troop movements, provision of money, armaments, offers to receive refugees and non-stop warmongering.
Deputy Prime Minister Freeland, who put herself at the head of the Toronto demonstration, is crying for revenge. “I think all of us today should let the people of Ukraine know, the leaders of Ukraine know, how much we admire them. We know they are fighting for all of us,” she said. She issued a threat to Russia, saying that it must end “this barbaric war” or suffer the consequences. “The West is relentless and we will cut the Russian economy off from contact with our own,” she said.
Her remarks exude chauvinism and revanchism. Far from helping to de-escalate tensions, she is ramping them up – a dangerous move. The ability of all countries to have secure borders, to trade, communicate, transport their goods and exchange with others in every field of life peacefully is necessary for relations of mutual benefit. The big powers do not have that aim, as the U.S. imperialists and their NATO alliance are clearly showing.
Notes
1. The UCC is quite distinct from the ordinary Ukrainians who immigrated to Canada and set up their labour temples and other progressive organizations across the country at the beginning of the 20th century. The UCC’s roots are with the war criminals and Nazi collaborators brought into Canada at the start of the Cold War. They escaped justice for their crimes and were brought to Canada to displace the progressive Ukrainian organizations, espouse a reactionary and virulently anti-communist ideology, against Russia in particular, and get it to become official Canadian ideology, committing historical fraud about the causes and lessons of World War II and what is at stake in the world today.
Freeland herself is of Ukrainian descent and linked to the same reactionary circles which lead the UCC. In 2017, the fact that her maternal grandfather was a Nazi collaborator in wartime Poland came to broad public attention. In spite of that, she continues to sing his praises. Both the UCC and Freeland are on the record as supporting the reactionary anti-communist monument being built in Ottawa, that seeks to commemorate Nazi collaborators from the Baltics, Ukraine and elsewhere, who were killed or brought to justice by the Soviet Red Army during World War II. In her capacity as Finance Minister, Freeland saw to it that her government’s 2021 budget included an additional $4 million to complete the monument, since attempts to raise funds privately to cover its total cost of $7.5 million fell far short.
2. A UCC statement issued on February 24, contained the following quote:
“The unprovoked and ferocious war that Russia has unleashed upon Ukraine is an evil unseen in Europe since World War II,” stated Alexandra Chyczij, National President of the UCC. “The resources of the Free World must be marshalled in the defence of Ukraine’s liberty. If Putin succeeds with his assault on Ukraine, the light of freedom in Europe may be extinguished for a generation.”
Other recent statements request special accommodation from the Canadian government for Ukrainian nationals seeking to emigrate or receive status in Canada.
(TML Daily, posted March 2, 2022. Photo: Al-Mayadeen)
