{"id":9485,"date":"2023-03-02T01:31:19","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T06:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tempestmag.org\/v01_2020\/staging\/?p=9485"},"modified":"2023-03-09T21:40:00","modified_gmt":"2023-03-10T02:40:00","slug":"ukraine-palestine-and-internationalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/2023\/03\/ukraine-palestine-and-internationalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine, Palestine, and internationalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

T<\/span>he end of February marked the one-year anniversary of Russia\u2019s imperialist war in Ukraine. Here Tempest\u2019s Ashley Smith<\/strong> interviews Ukrainian socialist Vladyslav Starodubstev<\/strong>, who will be speaking on a panel organized by the Ukraine Solidarity Network (US)<\/a> and hosted by Haymarket Books on February 25, 2023. Starodubstev discusses socialist strategy in Ukraine, a principled approach to internationalism, and how the international Left can build solidarity among the exploited and oppressed from Ukraine to Palestine.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ashley Smith:<\/span> The Ukrainian left faces a challenge of both joining the resistance to the Russian invasion and seizure of Ukrainian land and staking out an independent position from the elites and the government. What\u2019s your approach in general, and what are the key arguments and initiatives that you make?<\/p>\n

Vladyslav Starodubstev:<\/span> We are acting in accordance with our program and principles. We are in solidarity with what the government does to help Ukraine win the war. We support what Volodymyr Zelensky\u2019s government does on the diplomatic, political, and military front to ensure unity in the war effort. At the same time, we are fighting against its anti-labor and anti-social policies, corruption, and ideological Thatcherism.<\/p>\n

This is important because the government does act in a way that weakens Ukraine\u2019s ability to win. In fact, some of its decisions are so incompetent, misguided, and ideologically driven that they can appear almost as unconscious sabotage. There are many such examples, from lowering taxes on the rich to deregulating the economy, undermining workplace rights, attacking trade union rights, making cuts to social services, and failing to provide housing for millions of people, including internally displaced people. Even worse, despite demands from social movements for the government to build new munitions factories to build up our defense forces against Russia, the government put budget cuts before military preparedness, compromising our ability to defend ourselves.<\/p>\n

Such criticism of the Ukrainian government is in fact commonplace. So, it\u2019s strange for us to hear that one needs to \u201ccriticize Zelensky\u2019s government.\u201d We and many other Ukrainians do that all the time, underscoring the fact of democracy in our country as compared to Russia, where such criticism lands you in jail. We are loyal to democratic institutions, but that doesn\u2019t mean that elected governments don\u2019t deserve criticism and open protest. In fact, criticism and protest is a part of our loyalty to democracy!<\/p>\n

We are supporting the current government in terms of military and diplomatic unity for the victory of the war. But we are highly critical of it in most other areas, especially its neoliberal domestic policies, which disrupt unity in the war effort. They fracture our society, cause social instability, and increase poverty. And we oppose them energetically.<\/p>\n

The same goes for its questionable international positions on Israel or China. For instance, the Ukrainian government initially seemed prepared to abstain on a United Nations resolution condemning China\u2019s horrendous policy toward its Uyghur minority in Xinjiang. Popular pressure on the government forced it to reverse its position<\/a>. This is just one example of how political pressure from below prevented the adoption of harmful and corrupt decisions.<\/p>\n

Such activism is essential to correct and control the government, ensure democracy, and fight for social prosperity. Members of Sotsialnyi Rukh are involved in all these efforts. Even during the war, our organizing has not stopped for one day, even as we all stand united against Russia\u2019s invasion and its occupation of our land. It is essential to do both. We are fighting not only for our survival and independence, but also for a society with the democratic space for criticism and dissent and economic conditions that guarantee better lives for our country\u2019s majority.<\/p>\n

AS:<\/span> One of the areas where you are likely to come into conflict with Zelensky\u2019s government is over its attempt to curry favor with reactionary, oppressive states, in particular Israel. First, why is Zelensky so determined to strike an alliance with Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government, especially when it has maintained friendly relations with Vladimir Putin? Second, how have you challenged this and expressed solidarity with Palestinian\u2019s struggle for national liberation?<\/p>\n

VS:<\/span> Ukraine\u2019s relations with Israel and Palestine are, to say the least, strange. Ukraine has recognized Palestine as a sovereign state. It has a Palestinian embassy, diplomatic relations with the Palestinian Authority (PA), and was a member of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP)<\/a> until it withdrew in 2020. Ukraine didn\u2019t announce this departure, so it is fair to say that the reason was geopolitical.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, a lot of the government\u2019s actions are guided by stereotypes and geopolitics. Many Ukrainians wrongly see Israel as a role model\u2014a \u201cwar democracy\u201d faced with autocratic states around it. For some people, Israel and Palestine are a civilizational identity issue: they see Palestine as \u201cRussia-aligned,\u201d while Israel is seen as part of \u201cthe Western world.\u201d Worse, some even compare the PA\u2019s role with the Russian occupation of Donetsk, Crimea, and Luhansk. That can lead both the government and the people to take terrible positions.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Ukraine\u2019s diplomacy has actually upheld positions consistent with recognition of Palestine and its claims. But not without contradictions. Just recently, Ukraine voted in committee in favor<\/a> of a UN resolution calling for an International Court of Justice investigation into Israel\u2019s occupation, but did not attend the General Assembly vote<\/a> \u201cin order to give a chance to the relationship with Netanyahu.\u201d The vote in committee is actually consistent with previous votes and cannot be explained as a \u201cpressure on Israel to support Ukraine.\u201d Still, there are enough exceptions that are the product of geopolitical compromises to preserve \u201chealthy relations\u201d with Israel and also in order to get weapons to fight Russia.<\/p>\n

Sotsialnyi Rukh, in contrast to the government and its contradictory positions, is guided by universal principles of human rights and recognition of oppressed nations\u2019 right to self-determination, democracy, and social freedom. We apply these to all nations, regardless of geopolitics. Thus we consistently stand in solidarity with Palestine and its struggle against Israel\u2019s occupation. We regularly post statements and articles<\/a> in support of Palestine, and try to inform Ukrainians about Israel\u2019s crimes against Palestinians.<\/p>\n

We know that the PA position on Ukraine certainly isn’t good. But that is no justification to withhold our solidarity. We hope to play a role in educating Ukrainians about what should be a natural sense of solidarity between peoples, each in their own distinct ways oppressed by imperialism and under occupation.<\/p>\n

AS:<\/span> You were recently on a program with Bill Fletcher, Ramah Kudaimi, and Rafael Bernabe on The Real News Network<\/a> about solidarity among oppressed nations in struggles against imperialism. One of the questions that you addressed was the disproportionate attention garnered by Ukraine compared to other nations like Palestine. Often this is used by campists and others to \u201cwhatabout\u201d Ukraine, counterposing its struggle to those of other oppressed nations, especially those under the thumb of the United States and its allies. How do you approach this issue? How can these struggles be seen as complementary rather than in conflict?<\/p>\n

VS:<\/span> It is true that Ukraine now gets a lot of attention in the media and in the world, far more than other oppressed nations. Those of us in Sotsialnyi Rukh recognize this. For us, it is a responsibility to use this attention to widen the scope of the struggle.<\/p>\n

I perfectly understand the frustration that people feel when their experience is downplayed while Ukraine\u2019s is amplified. There are certainly double standards that flow from geopolitics and racism<\/a>. That inequality of attention can sow distrust and dishonesty. We in Sotsialnyi Rukh see as one of our tasks to ask the question, \u201cWhy such an unequal approach?\u201d, expose the inconsistency, and use the world\u2019s focus on our struggle to highlight those of others.<\/p>\n

We show that the world\u2019s dominant powers and the media do not have an approach of universality, of support for human rights, democracy, and liberty without exception. Such violations of universalism even impact Ukraine. For example, sections of the establishment in the West give undue attention to Putin\u2019s demands, worry about \u201chim losing face,\u201d and ignore Ukrainians and our demands. Against this, we must argue for a principled universalism, regularly violated by all the dominant powers. In doing that, we can provide an alternative that builds global solidarity.<\/p>\n