12) WORLD PEACE COUNCIL DENOUNCES ODESSA MASSACRE

 

Statement of the WPC regarding the massacre of Odessa and the developments in Ukraine

 

            The WPC denounces strongly the recent massacre of Odessa where reactionary fascist groups, set on fire the locked Trade Union building of the city, with hundreds of protesters seeking protection inside the building on Friday 2^nd May 2014. The clear murderous attempt was completed when the protesters were trying to escape from the fire by jumping from the windows of the mentioned building and the armed gangs were beating and shooting these people to death.

 

            The Kiev interim regime, which came to power by a Coup d’état and by the open imperialist intervention of the USA and the EU clearly favours and supports such actions and armed groups. The hypocrisy and double moral reached highest levels when the USA and EU refer to the “rule of law and respect of the constitution”

 

            After having trampled everything through an armed coup. The regime has even sent troops to several cities in the eastern part of Ukraine to combat people in protest to the authoritarian and fascist regime, who express their discontent with the regime generally and its  attitude towards ethnic and language minorities along with the revanchist actions against the history and monuments of the resistance, restoring the rule and symbols of the collaborators of the Nazis in Ukraine.

 

            We denounce firmly the authoritarian harassment of political parties and leaders who oppose the regime, which led even to the exclusion of the Communist Party of Ukraine from Parliament sessions, after earlier attempts to physically attack its leaders and the occupation of its Head office.

 

            The European Union and its governments, hand in hand with the US administration bear heavy responsibilities for the developments in the Ukraine, pushing the country into an internal armed conflict for their geostrategical interests and competitions with Russia in the region. The open support to fascist and chauvinist forces and policies is aggravating the situation which is provoking the sentiments of the Ukrainian people and the whole region, stimulating ultranationalist feelings by many people.

 

            The US administration is further escalating the tension by the remarks of the Secretary of State John Kerry on 29th April in Washington who openly invokes in the case of Ukraine the article 5 of the NATO treaty which refers to “an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all”, considering the Ukraine NATO territory, when it is not a member of it! The WPC observes with deep concern the military preparations of NATO in several neighbour countries, while many US and European military agents are already in the country triggering the tensions in support of the Kiev regime.

 

            We express our solidarity with the Ukrainian people, the peace loving and anti-imperialist forces who oppose the affiliation of their country to NATO and their inalienable right to decide freely and democratically about the future of Ukraine, free from any foreign political or military intervention and domination.

 

            The peoples of Ukraine and of the region can live in peace together!

 

            NATO and EU out of the Ukraine!

 

            World Peace Council Athens, 8th May 2014 ●

(The above article is from the May 16-31, 2014, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)