A-Infos (en) Russia AIT: Berlin Anarchists vs. Trench Pseudo-Anarchists (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

From September 5 to 8, 2024, the traditional anarchist book fair was 
held in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin. Within its framework, 
discussions were held on various topics, including a very relevant one - 
the topic of anti-militarism and the fight against wars that are tearing 
apart the modern world. Naturally, the Russian-Ukrainian military 
conflict was also discussed, and the organizers of the fair from the 
very beginning confirmed their complete refusal to support the imaginary 
"anarchists" who support any of the warring states.
As noted in the program of the open discussion "on the war in Ukraine 
and the role of the anarchist movement", "one of the central points and 
concerns in holding the Anarchist Book Fair this year is the support and 
defense of anti-militarism, desertion / refusal to serve in all 
soldiers, women and men, treason, sabotage of the military machine here 
and everywhere." On the one hand, the importance of "criticism of those 
imaginary anarchists who beat the drum of NATO's substitutionary war in 
Ukraine, as well as all the so-called anti-imperialist groups who, in 
their false Manichaeism, supported the Russian Federation: the main 
thing is that it is against NATO, and then everything is permitted" was 
noted. On the other hand, other topics related to this and other wars of 
capitalism were discussed" ( https://barrikade.info/article/6526 ).

Even before the Anarchist Book Fair, its initiators and organizers 
explained why they were not going to allow supporters of anarchist 
participation in capitalist, interstate wars. They do not consider such 
groups and such characters to be anarchist.

Here is a translation of this statement:

"WHEN THE EMOLITION OF CONCEPTS SPREADS

Since, unfortunately, we have repeatedly encountered groups that support 
the Ukrainian side in the war between Russia and Ukraine from a 
supposedly "anarchist" position, and in April an article appeared called 
"When Ideology Gets in the Way of Solidarity", in which the ABC Belarus 
expressed surprise that we called them supporters of the war and 
therefore did not invite them to the book fair, we would like to say a 
few words about this now. We have more than once had the dubious 
pleasure of participating in discussions with people who call themselves 
"anarchists" and supporters of the Ukrainian side in the 
Russian-Ukrainian war - people whom some call anarcho-militarists, 
anarcho-nationalists, NATO anarchists, and the like: specifically, we 
are talking about the ABC Belarus, the ABC Dresden, "Operation 
Solidarity" / "Solidarity Collective" and all the groups that support 
the war - although it should be noted that we personally, of course, 
deny their anarchism. Among other things, it has become clear that, 
despite their stated desire for debate, they do not engage in it, but 
rather cleverly ignore every counter-argument and operate at a level 
that can sometimes be safely described as populist and statist. They 
seek only approval, and those who do not give it are accused of 
Putinism, Westpleining, etc. And even if their arguments have changed 
over time, and certainly due to the course of the war in Ukraine, they 
are still largely repeated over and over again. Below we will examine 
these arguments as they were expressed to us and in some cases 
published, and once again explain why these groups that support the war, 
despite all the laudable and important work they have done and are doing 
in the field of prisoner support, are not considered by us as anarchist 
comrades.

What is striking is that these nationalists in anarchist garb constantly 
put forward emotional arguments. They detail the suffering of the 
Ukrainian population and the tragic individual fates of fallen soldiers 
(possibly also female soldiers; so far we have only heard or read about 
male soldiers), who were allegedly anarchists at some point in their 
lives - the latter is difficult to verify, and, in fact, it does not 
really matter. What is important is to show the horrific reality of war, 
any war. Of course, one can also find tragic stories of Russians who 
died in the military because of poverty, or of Ukrainians of Russian 
descent (who some of these people say do not even exist, although the 
Ukrainian government in 2001 counted 17.2% of the population as Russians 
(1) - so either this is just questionable ignorance or ignorance of the 
facts, or perhaps they will call these sources Russian propaganda and 
disinformation too?) who were slaughtered, tortured and killed as 
alleged spies and collaborators. Are their lives less valuable? Or are 
we now going to start counting the dead in wars, determining which side 
has lost more and calling that side the good side and deserving support? 
And do they seriously want us to believe that the Ukrainian army is the 
only army in the world consisting exclusively of squeaky clean men and 
women? Well, at least with the Azov Brigade, they don't seem to deny its 
fascist orientation, but they relativize it, claiming that their 
training camps were the only ones that were easy to get into, so they 
are actually completely normal comrades, with whom you can fight side by 
side. After all, they have the same nationalist goals, and, as with any 
nationalism, one should, of course, devalue the other nation, in this 
case the "fascist" aggressor Russia and, as a consequence, in the same 
breath - all Russians. So much for the solidarity that these people so 
loudly demand, but which is limited by national borders. And the silence 
or denial of fascists in the Ukrainian government also speaks for itself 
... In addition, the atrocities of Russian soldiers are emphasized in 
every possible way, who are supposedly all just ruthless murderers, 
sadists and fascists, whose only goal is to kill all Ukrainians. It is 
claimed that there is no compulsory recruitment in Russia because there 
is no need for it, since all Russian soldiers go to war voluntarily, 
receiving money for it. Since these self-styled "anarchists" do not seem 
to have realized this yet, it should be made clear that most people 
engage in the disgusting profession of soldiers in the first place 
because they are paid for it. It does not take a professor of 
linguistics to understand that the word "soldier" itself is derived from 
"sold", a fee (a word which in turn comes from the solidus, a Byzantine 
coin), and, as we know, a fee is simply another word,meaning payment or 
reward for a specific service. The very name of this profession means 
that someone does something for which they receive money. And it should 
be noted that in all armies, the majority of ordinary soldiers are 
primarily from the poorest strata of the population, who see no other 
way to earn money legally - those who then die first, so that 
voluntariness can only be discussed to a very limited extent. An 
important role in this issue is also played by the fact that the Russian 
army is also staffed by migrants who hope to improve their residence 
status or naturalization, as well as by convicts, which is also the case 
in the Ukrainian army.

In any case, they do not seem to be interested in alleviating the 
suffering of the people in the war zones, as they like to claim. If they 
were, they would have to consistently demand the creation of anarchist 
auxiliary battalions in every war zone in the world, because we must 
show solidarity with all oppressed people, not least those who suffer 
directly from capital's barbaric wars. But no, for them the only thing 
that matters is the suffering of the Ukrainian side. This becomes 
especially absurd when it is now acknowledged that this war can probably 
no longer be won by Ukraine and that conscription on the Ukrainian side 
is encountering increasing resistance (for although Ukrainians 
supposedly all go voluntarily to fight for freedom, there is forced 
mobilization and corresponding resistance against it) - and yet it is 
declared that all "anarchists in Ukraine are firmly convinced that they 
must now continue the fight, because if Russia wins this war, it will 
mean the death of the anarchist movement in the region." We reject this 
logic, according to which death is inevitable one way or another, and 
that is why a kind of suicide campaign should be supported, as a result 
of which even more people will die and even more will lose their 
children, parents and friends. The end of an anarchist movement in one 
region or another has happened more than once in history, and this was 
neither something new nor a complete death - in such cases, these 
movements had to be rebuilt again, as has happened many times before. 
The humanity to which they appeal and which they demand from anarchists 
all over the world, especially in the form of financial contributions, 
is shown by them only very selectively. Russian soldiers, turned into 
murderers by capitalism, in their opinion do not deserve humanity, their 
deaths are of no importance. After all, they claim, the Russians have 
always hated the Ukrainians for centuries ... Confronted with such 
indiscriminate thinking, we are so astonished that sometimes we do not 
even know what else to say about it.

On May 1, 2023, in Dresden one could hear, among other things, the 
following: "We must call for arming the Ukrainian population to the 
teeth, so that thousands of bullets are fired from every window and door 
against the occupiers and their collaborators. If many in the West are 
not prepared to fight for freedom, so be it, but at least supporting 
those people who are prepared to do so is a duty that lies on the 
shoulders of everyone in the so-called First World" (2). And after this 
war cry, which we have heard too often in this and similar forms from 
warmongers at all times and in all places in the world, are they really 
still surprised when we write that they support the war? And how 
senseless is the use of the term "freedom", which serves only purely 
agitational purposes! What kind of freedom is being fought for here?
 Capitalist freedom? The freedom to die for kinder, more humane, or 
even, taking the emasculation of concepts to the limit, more "anarchic" 
oppressors? For this reason, they want to kill "collaborators" and 
"occupiers", assuming that thousands of bullets will hit the target. And 
who is considered a collaborator? People who desert and flee from the 
draft? All people who do not support Ukraine? The nationalist component 
beats out of the word "occupier" again and again. But since it is not 
actions that matter to them, but names, they can claim that they are not 
nationalists, because they do not call themselves that. And all this is 
combined with banners and slogans that reek of the glory and honor of 
the cult of the fallen and martyrs.

We still don't know why they think that supporting one side in a war 
between two capitalist states, or defending their home country, whatever 
that is, has anything to do with anarchism. The proletariat has no 
homeland, much less one that it could defend against another nation 
state. The article also doesn't answer the question they asked 
themselves: "Does the Belarus ABC support the war in Ukraine?" It only 
talks about the ignorance they are met with and the fact that their 
analysis doesn't take into account the specific situation, regional 
history and conditions. But they don't say what these specific features 
are that make them think that supporting Ukraine in this war is some 
kind of "anarchist duty". And how could it happen that all these 
"anarchists" suddenly became ardent patriots? We don't know and can't 
get an answer, but it doesn't matter how and why it happened. What is 
much more important and disturbing is that it has come to this and is 
happening now. For they claim that all other anarchist and revolutionary 
groups in Ukraine and Eastern Europe that have a different point of view 
and a different attitude than these sabre-rattling pro-war groups cannot 
be trusted. Of course, this is difficult to verify, but at least in some 
cases it seems to us that everything is moving more in the direction of 
slander and denunciation (should everyone who thinks differently be 
shot?), rather than being serious advice and reasoned references. 
Especially since some of the things published by these groups have now 
also been borrowed or confirmed by the "anarchist" militarists 
themselves... We do not want to go into detail at all about the argument 
that the bet is on the fact that the army has a dormant revolutionary 
potential, as it has manifested itself in history in the formation of 
soldiers' councils. The idea that a handful of anarchists could awaken 
this potential, if it exists at all, seems to us illusory, and this 
illusion is truly dangerous, given the price paid for it. We simply want 
to recall briefly what the aims of these historic soldiers' councils 
were, namely, to end capitalist war and capitalist peace in a 
revolutionary way, not to wage a self-organized war on the side of the 
national state and perish in the process.

For us, anarchists, all wars are capitalist wars and wars of capital. 
The only thing that wars generate is losses, death, poverty and big 
profits in the pockets of capitalists. It is important to fight both the 
capitalist war and the capitalist world, because both are just two sides 
of the same coin. After all, what do these "anarchist" warriors in 
Ukraine want to fight for? To defend a normal capitalist state, because 
it is much better to be exploited and oppressed by Ukrainians than by 
people who consider themselves Russians? We clearly say: "No", this is 
not what we are fighting for, and if others want to do this because they 
think it is right, then let them do it, but we will not support them in 
this or give them a platform, because they act against the fundamental 
anarchist principles. Because the conflict is not between the right and 
the left, but between those who are "for the state" and those who are 
"against the state", and for us, as anarchists, it is very clear whose 
side we are on. This makes us not ideologists or sectarians, as we are 
so often accused of, but rather supporters of a clear and consistent 
anarchism, which should not be diluted by the emasculation of concepts 
and arbitrariness, otherwise anarchism will inevitably and fatally lose 
all its meaning in the end and thereby not only finally lose all 
meaning, but also take on such perverted forms and excesses as we can 
see in groups like the ABC of Belarus, Dresden, etc.

Long live the betrayal of all and every fatherland! For anarchy!"

NOTES:
(1) 
https://web.archive.org/web/20111217151026/http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/results/general/nationality/
(2) 
https://abcdd.org/2023/05/02/1-mai-in-dresden-internationale-solidaritat/
Published: https://anarchistischebuechermesse.noblogs.org/?p=231
English translation: 
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/anarchistische-buchermesse-berlin-kreuzberg-the-friends-of-the-class-war-when-the-exhaustion-of

https://aitrus.info/node/6247
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