Saturday, May 28, 2022

Does Ukraine Need To Be Denazified? — Iain Davis

There is a lot of debate over the role of neo-Nazism both in Ukraine and and in today's world, where it also goes by the name "fascism," although "fascism" is often used more broadly to include those that do not express specifically Nazi ideas, dress, or paraphernalia, but rather Nazi-like ideas and behavior. Sometimes there is a fine line here. Russia regards the West as primarily fascistic rather than as Nazi or truly liberal, as do many in the West on both left and right, as well as many in the Global South. 

For example, American or Western "exceptionalism" can be viewed as an expression white supremacy and the right to rule the rest based on it, whether this is conscious and intentional or not. For some it is conscious and intentional but in an environment of cultural racism is so endemic that many do not even realize it or cannot see it when it is pointed out to them. It has been an issue in the US since the founding owing to the incorporation of slavery into the Constitution. The US fought a civil war over this and that war is still smoldering, occasionally breaking out into violence.

This is a major subtext of contemporary politics and geopolitics. Ukraine is just one instance of this issue rearing its head violently.

Regarding Ukraine, not all those accused of being Nazi are readily identified as such, but rather as fascist. However, many are readily identifiable as Nazi and some of those are in positions of power, and they were put there with the connivance of the West, the US in particular after the Maidan.

The following is a recently published article exploring this phenomenon in Ukraine. It is a bit longish and detailed, so good weekend reading.

UK Column (13 My 2022)
Does Ukraine Need To Be Denazified? 
Iain Davis
https://www.ukcolumn.org/article/does-ukraine-need-to-be-denazified