The point, surely, is that it doesn't have to be dropped, but that the way we engage has to be rooted in our principles (anarchist or whatever) rather than in rallying behind the flag.
) and by and large they will be of little significance to what's happening in Ukraine or Russia or Finland etc etc.
I think practical stuff across communities outside Ukraine is going to be very important in terms of not abandoning people to the far right. For example the other week I went to a free concert in town organised by Ukrainians already living in the UK but with people performing from w/c communities here and people who had fled other wars from countries such as Vietnam. I think that stuff is hugely important. Also the thing with the union refusing to unload Russian oil etc.
This part is important.
But what does or should that actually mean in practice for those of us (and I'm assuming that's most of us posting here) who are living in Britain or "the West".
I'm not attempting to say Russia is unique, but even those who run our governments usually possess a certain degree of morality and empathy. Russia, and China and North Korea and Myanmar and others, are at an extreme where there is hardly any concern for individual citizens even of the majority ethnic grouping. History does matter and Russia has lots of it.
I'm not sure it is about dropping it the problem (as always) is about applying that to complex real word situations.
I don't think we are advanced enough stage to start leaning yet. The teacher is still trying to get us to sit down pay attention and stop screaming at each other.
Lots of people got that wrong, me included. I do think kebabking has a point. Why did we get that wrong? That is an important question, and a lot of the analysis that might have sounded good two weeks ago needs to be ripped up now.Dont feel you have to listen to me though, I didn't actually think this war was going to happen
Hey Circassians: No war but the class war!
See. Didn't work did it?
as a kuhnian I’d say this is exactly how science has actually been done. Develop a theory, apply it, fiddle around a bit around the edges. Have your theory challenged, fiddle a tiny bit more, then reject every ongoing challenge as fundamentally wrong until your position collapsed and no one talks about it any more
Neither did forming a "national army" and fighting the Russians mano a mano.
peopleandnature.wordpress.com
Yes, I'm sure there is that tendency. It's not my view, though. Leave or hide is of course an option. So is stay and fight. And anyone's decision to stay and fight should not automatically be assumed to be a nationalist response.
Yes, that is bonkers.
That was mostly a response to LDC's post. Saying 'let the Russians in then organise from there' isn't actually saying anything at all. Patronising, I think, is the kindest word I could use for anyone actively giving that advice from afar.
LDC wasn't putting that idea forward as their suggestion though, they explicitly said they had argued against that idea from others they'd been talking to.
Simon Pirani's blog has a piece on Syria and Ukraine. Some good other links at the end.
Why Ukraine is a Syrian cause
By YASSIN AL-HAJ SALEH, a Syrian writer and political dissident. Republished, with permission, from the DAWN website In the week since Russia’s invasion began, Syrians opposed to President Ba…
No. Just that sometimes wars are waged with genocidal intent, or potentially so. if you are being attacked it's maybe too late for such a mobilisation and analysis can wait till later. At least that's how those in the firing line may well see it.
