Recently there was an international forum in Korea by the name of “America’s new cold war” with famous leftwing intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky, Bijay Prishad speaking. However, several speakers of the event presented arguments such as analyzing the Russian Invasion of Ukraine being perpetrated by the US in an anti-US and pro-Russian tone. Alexandra, a Russian expat in Korea who has organized anti-Putin and anti-war protests since the war began, contributed her and the response of the organizations with her affiliation.
My name is Aleksandra of the Russian anti-war association, Voices in Korea and the Feminist Anti-War Resistance (Korea). Made up of mostly Russians in Korea, these groups were made through protests against the invasion on February 27th, 3 days after it began. The protest on this day was composed of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarussians and Koreans. Many of those participating who were against the regime and violent acts of Vladimir Putin created Voices in Korea to organize solidarity between Russians and Koreans against the war.
Ever since Voices in Korea was created, we organized peaceful protests every weekend and communicated with other Russian anti-war groups operating abroad. Through SNS we shared and talked about how to help Ukraine, Russian Imperialism and ethnic minorities inside Russia, the tales of Russian citizens being tortured by the police and shared statements, writings of Russians in Korea wishing to express their opposition to the war.
The Korean Branch of the Feminist Anti-War Resistance is a one of the many abroad groups created by the Feminist Anti-War Resistance (FAR) since the start of the invasion. FAR groups operate inside and outside of Russia and conduct independent anti-war activities. Activists in other groups work autonomously; however one of the most important tasks of anti-war organizations abroad is organizing protests that are dangerous to do in Russia.
Recently our anti-war community was shocked by the news of the <The United States Is Waging a New Cold War> forum and the list of speakers of the event. 3 events were opened in this name and held in association between the International Strategy Center(ISC), the Office of the Justice Party’s National Assembly Bae-Jin Gyo along with other organizations.
We wanted to express our opposition to the event and the arguments of the speakers, and the Korean progressive movement hosting such an occasion through democratic methods. And we considered how to react to such events.
First of all, we want to highlight the campism of certain western leftists regarding the theme and selection of speakers for the event. (In addition it is important to mention that there were no Russian or Ukrainian speakers invited, although they are affected by the war the most). Recently we are witnessing the rise of the campist narrative of ignoring the crimes of the Russian state in order to criticize the US and NATO. The campists argue that the world is divided between two warring sides; one being the US-led imperialist aggressors and the other being the opposition to the US the so-called “Anti-imperialists”. This worldview made certain parts of the left ignore and to such an extent, even justify the atrocities of the USSR, PRC and other “enemies” of the US.
Personally, as a person who grew up in Russia, I consider the recognition of modern Russia as an “Anti-Imperialist” power and the campist discourse surrounding it as a very strange phenomenon. This is due to the fact that Russian imperialism is very much alive and well. Through “Anti-US” and “Anti-Imperialist” rhetoric, the adherents of this theory purposely avoid the fact of the Russian state’s oppressive policies toward its own and other people. In many other places, like what’s going on in Ukraine, Russia is enforcing imperialist, racist violence.
Therefore, it is important to recognize that Russia is not representing anti-imperialists and progressive movements, but is a resurgent imperialist power threatening Ukraine.
Throughout Russian history, the oppression and imperialist policies towards ethnic minorities is a foundation that has always remained, the only period it did not exist was the short revolutionary period under Lenin and Trotsky.
And so Russian imperialism has once again become the cause of war.
Visiting Korea, Bijay Prishad; one of the speakers of <The United States Is Waging a New Cold War> event is representative of this campist rhetoric.
Having learned about Prishad the first time through this event, our community looked through interviews of him and his arguments across various social media platforms. Through this we learned of Prishad’s campist position along with his view regarding the war. These views consisted of appealing to Ukraine to surrender, opposing aid to Ukraine and can be generally implied that he is wishing for a Russian victory in the war.
Another article presented Prishad’s argument that Russia was pulled into the situation in Ukraine through the 2014 coup and that anti-Russian elements with the support of the US seized power of the nation.
In addition to this, while Chinese citizens were risking their safety by protesting against the state’s “Zero-Covid” policies following the tragedy of the Ürümqi fire, Prishad posted a picture of him on twitter holding a sign saying “Zero Covid ♥”. Though implications, instead of supporting the protestors, he supported the Chinese state.
Next is regarding another speaker of the event, Noam Chomsky.
We could first witness Chomsky’s hypocrisy as he argued the responsibility of the invasion lied with the US and NATO, his opposition to aid being sent to Ukraine and speaking lightly of Russia’s responsibility.
But we want to ask Mr. Chomsky, even if NATO and the EU were getting closer to Russia’s border, does that justify the shelling of Ukrainian cities?
In addition, Chomsky mentioned the informal agreement between then-US Secretary of State James Baker, President George W. Bush and Premier Mikhail Gorbachev which involved talks if an unified Germany was allowed to join NATO, the US and NATO would not expand eastwards. First of all, despite Russia’s adamant mentioning of this agreement, there are still debates between historians regarding the existence of such promise.
To summarize, the basis of Chomsky’s argument is that Russia had no choice to invade Ukraine due to NATO’s expansion. But the reality is that many Eastern European countries joined NATO to protect themselves against Russian imperialism. The recent admission of Finland and Sweden into NATO is a physical response to the invasion of Ukraine and is a result of Russian imperialism, not the opposite.
It also needs to be mentioned that the controversial (Regarding its existence) agreement between George W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev was one of informality. Is there a reason for preventing a nation forging alliances wished by its people? Due to an informal agreement? Is this not the Americentrist delusion clouding the American leftists from seeing the reality of the war?
This mention of Americentrism leads to our next criticism regarding Mr.Chomsky’s ideology on this war. It is hard not to say that Noam Chomsky denies the sovereignty of Ukraine and sees the fate of its people as one of a pawn on top of a chessboard.
In an interview Chomsky argued that the US was propagating Ukraine to fight with Russia and that because the US tried to pull Ukraine away from the Russian sphere of influence the 2013-2014 Euromaidan crisis happened. This behavior is denying the conscious choice of the Ukrainian people. To summarize, Chomsky can’t even consider the possibility of Ukrainians rejecting the Russian sphere of influence even after decades of ethnic, cultural cleansing.
After seeing the campist rhetoric of Prishad and Chomsky, our community has decided to respond and take action by letting our voices be heard.
Thus we sent a letter protesting the forum to its organizers (Mentioned below). On the evening of December 6th, we also organized a picket protest in front of the venue where it was being held.
Through these actions we wanted to let people know our anti-war stance and support for Ukraine. Through the slogan of <A New Cold War not in imagination but a war in reality> we wanted to let people recognise the Russian violence towards Ukraine.
The picket <We were oppressed In Russia, but we got freedom in Korea freedom. So now we fight for peace in Ukraine and freedom in Russia> signified our gratitude for the freedom we were granted in Korea as well as showing our opposition towards the event’s whitewashing of Russia’s stained reputation.
We believe that this event highlights the campist narrative and by ignoring the reality of what’s going on in Ukraine, eventually supports the Russian propagandist rhetoric. Instead of hosting events such as this, Korean civic groups and progressive parties need to support the brave resistance of the Ukrainian people and must hear the voices of Ukrainians and Russians that are opposed to this war.
Our community is recognizing the need to be further involved in political activities and the most important aspect of this is that we can learn how to do such things in Korea.
“We understand and are worried about the consequences of militaristic expansionism, however unlike the speakers invited to this event, we are much aware of Russia from within We do not have delusional aspirations on brokering a peace with Russia’s authorities who only the language of violence”
We already have been humiliated, tortured, raped, jailed by our own country and today the monster called the Russian state and is escalating the similar unimaginable kind of violence in Ukraine.
Excerpt from the protest letter of the Russian expats in Korea against the war in Ukraine to the organizers of the December 6th, <The United States Is Waging a New Cold War>, December 7th <How the Russian-Ukraine war is affecting the Korean Peninsula> events
From: Feminist Anti-War Resistance (FAR_Korea)/ Russian anti-war association(VoicesInKorea)
To: International Strategy Center (ISC),Office of Justice Party National Assembly
Member Bae-JinGyo, Together Seoul Steering Committee
Date: 2022/December/6th
As Russian citizens who are opposed to the war in Ukraine, we have decided to issue a statement regarding our position on giving opportunities to speakers justifying the Russian invasion of Ukraine and arguing the surrender of Ukraine towards the organizers of this event.
For over 9 months, Russian forces have been destroying key Ukrainian infrastructure, killing, torturing and enacting sexual violence towards Ukrainian civilians. It has been reported that at least 11,000 Ukrainian children have been abducted to Russia since the start of the war. What Russia is performing in Ukraine is enacting fascism and mass genocide.
We could not stand by idly that a war that we did not want was being used by speakers such as Bijay Prishad to further their point of view and that they were receiving opportunities to do so.
“We understand and are worried about the results of militaristic expansionism, however unlike the speakers invited to this event, we are much aware of Russia from within We do not have delusional aspirations on brokering a peace with Russia’s authorities who only the language of violence”
We already have been humiliated, tortured, raped, jailed by our own country and today the monster called the Russian state and is escalating the similar unimaginable kind of violence in Ukraine.
We respect the bravery and resistance of the Ukrainian people and most of us see the need for Ukrainians to arm themselves from the menace called Russia. Many Russian feminists, anti-war activists are taking immense risks by supporting Ukraine. However, certain parts of the leftists in places with the right to freedom of speech (Such as Korea, the US and the EU), are presenting campist narratives without consideration of voices in the Russian anti-war movement and Ukrainian resistance to the war.
They onlook the tragedy in Ukraine while they compare Ukraine’s right to protect its sovereignty to that of Nazismand refuse to recognize the existence of the purposeful killing of civilians in Ukrainian cities. Since when did the concept of victim blaming apply to entire nations? Why are you trying to find justification for this war and all the killed people? Why are you arguing that Ukraine, the victim of this war must surrender for the sake of peace?
We want to highlight that dividing the invader and victim is of utmost importance. We can witness the standard reaction of an offender – Russia and Putin, that is DARVO(Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender).
The offender denies the fact that they have performed violence against the victim and attacks them when they try to bring them to justice, proceeds to argue the fact that they are the real victim and attacks the victim. An example of this would be if a rape victim wanted to bring their attacker to justice, they must defend themselves in a court of law and prove their innocence.
Similarly with Putin, he denies his crime and even if he admits, he proudly argue that it was necessary and that it was not his fault and proceeds to act in a mockery manner. In 2014 he denied the fact that Russian forces were stationed in Crimea, only later did he admit their existence but justified it. And ever since has continued to deny the existence of Russian military presence in the region.
For the sake of logic, we ask a simple question: “Out of all the places in Ukraine, why was Crimea the first to be annexed?” For a long time there were various theories inside and outside of Russia and across various SNS platforms. One of the largest of these was that the people of Crimea did not hold favorable views towards Ukraine and that they spoke the Russian language, and that it was an “illegal present” by Kruschev to Ukraine and thus they wanted to return to their motherland.
However the answer is clear as day; Crimea was annexed in 2014 because Russian forces already had a presence in the region. Out of all the factors this was the most important one. The 2014 pro-Russian protests mostly happened in places with Russian military presence while those did not, saw failure during the “Novorossiya” projects.
For those who wish to attack the victims of, for whatever reason they do, can be rebutted with a simple argument. The scale of antagonism relies on the competence of Russia’s war machine. Arguing what pushed the invaders to invade is a pointless cause.
Even if Putin wins this war, him and his fellow dictators will keep using violence as a way to achieve their goals. That means more war and more pain resulting because of it. Due to this a Ukrainian victory in the war is a beneficial result to us as well.
Recently we are witnessing the rise of the campist narrative of ignoring the crimes of the Russian state in order to criticize the US and NATO. The campists argue that the world is divided between two warring sides; one being the US-led imperialist aggressors and the other being the opposition to the US the so-called “Anti-imperialists”. This worldview made certain parts of the leftists ignore and to such an extent, even justify the atrocities of the USSR, PRC and other “enemies” of the US.
However, it is important to realize the events occurring across the world and speak about it properly. Thus Russia is an invader and the country that has started this conflict while Ukraine is a victim that is trying to protect its nation.
We cannot tolerate giving those who call Ukrainians “Neo-Fascists” a platform to voice such arguments. A government protecting its citizens and its lands is a sworn duty, not an expression of fascism.
Fascism is the shelling, rape, POW torture, and slaughter of children and civilians.
Supporting Russia’s propagandist narrative is supporting these actions as well.
Supporting an immediate ceasefire signifies that all the deaths of those who were murdered in Mariupol, Irpin and Bucha were meaningless. Those who criticize NATO’s military aid to Ukraine is saying that the Ukrainian people, who in the middle of chilling December living with no heat or light for over 30 hours, have no heart. Thus this means that they have forgotten all those who died and are ready to become citizens under a fascist power.
We, the Russian community in Korea who oppose the war, express our support for the bravery and will of the Ukrainian people protecting the integrity of their land. A ceasefire without Putin on trial is non negotiable! An open support for Russia’s government is a support for fascism. And thus we express our clear opposition to giving those that are against these views a platform to speak on!
Impeachment to Putin!
No to War!
2022 December 5th
Feminist Anti-war Resistance in Korea, Russian anti-war association in Korea <Voices in Korea>