What are Ukrainians Fighting For?

[newthinking]

Repelling Fascism
What are Ukrainians Fighting For?
by HALYNA MOKRUSHYNA

What is truth? Can it be absolute? There is a saying in Ukrainian which says: “Everybody has her/his own truth”.

Ukrainians have their own truth – they are fighting a war against imperialist Russia, against “Rascists”(a play on words – Russia plus fascists). A patriotic drive sweeps across the country: people collect money to buy equipment and uniform for their sons, husbands, brothers who are going to the east to fight in war. Ordinary Ukrainians, whose earnings have been cut in half by inflation and a nearly fifty per cent depreciation of the national currency, are sending text messages to urge donations to support the Ukrainian army.

The high command of the Ukrainian army sends the sons of the Ukrainian nation to the meat grinder in Donbas [the region of southeast Ukraine where the war is raging] unprepared, underequipped and ignorant about the current situation on the battlefield. Those who present themselves to the recruitment centers are told they must buy their own ammunition.

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In the spring of last year, Ukrainian soldiers and Donbas rebels were sitting at the same table–eating the same food, drinking the same vodka and singing the same songs. These are the words of one of the officers of the Ukrainian army, who was born in Donetsk. He pronounced them during Skype talks with a leader of the insurgency, Alexei Mozghovoi, that were broadcast on the Internet. These local talks were initiated by the Ukrainian side in the hope of finding a peaceful solution to this absurd, fratricide war. There are other signs of Ukrainians reaching out to rebellious Donbas.

This war is absurd. When one watches videos of the ruins in Donetsk and interviews with local people, they are all saying: “We do not want this war. Stop it!”

The Ukrainian President recently stated that he will restore the ‘Ukrainianness’ in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. What ‘Ukrainianness’ does he mean? A European one, to which western Ukraine believes to have belonged all throughout its history? Judging by his speeches, this is what Poroshenko means.

Halyna Mokrushyna is currently enrolled in the PhD program in Sociology at the University of Ottawa and a part-time professor. She holds a doctorate in linguistics and MA degree in communication. Her academic interests include: transitional justice; collective memory; ethnic studies; dissent movement in Ukraine; history of Ukraine; sociological thought. Her doctoral project deals with the memory of Stalinist purges in Ukraine. In the summer of 2013 she travelled to Lviv, Kyiv, Kharkiv and Donetsk to conduct her field research. She is currently working on completing her thesis. She can be reached at [e-mail].

Complete article :

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/01/23/what-are-ukrainians-fighting-for/

[KoKo]

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