International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity held a successful 'hybrid' meeting in central London earlier in the month. Speakers from Britain, Ireland, Ukraine, the Russian Federation and Poland spoke on the platform or via Zoom on the topic 'The struggle against Banderite fascism and the future of Ukraine'. This is the contribution from John Maxted from the British No2Nato-No2war campaign.
Since its founding, No2Nato has fought hard to establish itself as the home for all sections of the British anti-war movement, regardless of where they identify on the political spectrum. We recognise that it's only by forging a united front that we can truly stand up for international peace and friendship.
Perhaps most importantly, we understand that the greatest obstacle to achieving and maintaining that peace is NATO and the aggression it has carried out on multiple fronts. This is why it is our mission to see Britain break free from this organisation, as it is effectively incapable of changing course while it remains bound to it.
The UK has contributed £4.6 billion in aid to Ukraine since the war escalated in February 2022. This has come in various forms, ranging from advanced weapons systems and munitions such as Challenger 2 MBTs and NLAW anti-tank missiles to training and technical support for Ukraine’s armed forces, including the large numbers of Banderite Nazis that have at this point spread throughout its ranks at all levels.
This British aid only serves to prop up a failing regime and prevent its total collapse, effectively prolonging the butchery and bloodshed that has come to characterise this horrendous war. In this way, Britain's government has played its shameful part in the deaths of many Russians and Ukrainians
What's more, this comes at a time when the UK is entering a period of recession and can ill afford yet more imperialist military entanglements abroad. The UK is amongst the worst affected countries of both the energy and cost of living crises that have only been stoked on by international developments precipitated by this conflict.
This has resulted in a reality where food poverty for British children has almost doubled in a year, as many households are driven deeper and deeper into poverty from the double whammy of skyrocketing inflation and energy prices, the latter directly driven in large part by the successful US led campaign to drive a wedge between Russia and European clients for its energy exports. This is most prominently the case in Germany, which is now undergoing a process of de-industrialisation as a consequence of the new status quo.
So we see that this isn’t simply a matter of the British government wasting resources that could be better utilised at home rather than propping up murderous ultranationalist regimes abroad, its policy in Ukraine is actively exacerbating the poverty and misery of our own people, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable sections of British society. In this way, it is clear that the struggles of the British, Russian and broader European peoples are linked together and in direct contradiction with the US-led NATO proxy war in Ukraine.
It's precisely this contradiction that motivates No2Nato as it campaigns to sweep away the tenacious remnants of the old Cold War that are now driving us on a path towards a new world war. With its aggressive and predatory foreign policy, our government is now flirting with human devastation on a scale never before seen, all for the reckless self-interest of a vanishingly small elite, an elite that will nevertheless still burn in the nuclear fire along with the rest of us should we ever cross that terrible threshold.
With this in mind, No2Nato is more committed than ever to push back against US led aggression in Ukraine, by any means at our disposal. We carry forward the demand for Britain to invoke article 13 of the North Atlantic treaty, formally beginning the process of our country's withdrawal from NATO.
It is our mission to agitate for this in every town; to bring it to the doorstep of every MP and councillor; to make this demand heard on every campus of every university in the country and to decisively rally the public to the cause for peace.
It is integral that we spare no resources in not only hastening the end of this war, but in laying the foundations for a new international order that will safeguard against a disaster like this ever happening again.
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