10) CANADIAN TROOPS HAVE NO PLACE IN UKRAINE CONFLICT
Speech by organizers of the Victory Day commemoration held in Vancouver, BC, on May 9, 2015
Dear friends.
On May 9, 2015 and the days surrounding it, progressive humanity celebrates the 70th Anniversary of the end of the World War II. It was the bloodiest war in history; 46 million people perished, among them 30 million were unarmed civilians. In May 1945, the Nazi regime of Germany capitulated, conceding defeat by the Allied Forces. These forces were made up of the armies of 53 countries, notably the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United States of America and Great Britain. Canadian military were part of the Allied Forces, too.
World War II began on September 1, 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Meeting weak resistance, the Third Reich in a short time occupied most of continental Europe. It established there its “new order” and took control of the human and material resources. Hitler and his clique were getting ready for their main task – to destroy the Soviet Union, to enslave and eliminate its peoples.
On June 22, 1941, without declaring war and in violation of the Treaty of Non-aggression signed by Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939, the armed forces of Nazi Germany attacked the territory of the Soviet Union all along its western borders. Along with the military actions against the Red Army, German air forces carried out massive air raids on Soviet cities, industrial facilities and transportation hubs. It marked the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union against the German-fascist occupants. This bloody and merciless fight with the enemy continued for almost four years, resulting in the defeat of the Third Reich. In May 1945, the Red Army hoisted the red banner of Victory on the top of the Reichstag in Berlin. May 9 was declared the great national holiday.
This great and long awaited victory was achieved by the peoples of the Soviet Union at a cost that is today impossible to measure. As a result of the German aggression and occupation, over 26 million Soviet people died. That includes 8 million Red Army soldiers who fell in the battlefields. The German command carried out a scorched-earth policy in the war against the USSR. Cities and villages as well as industrial, scientific and transportation infrastructure were subjected to the total destruction. Nazi Germany caused staggering damage to the Soviet Union and its peoples – some 30% of the national wealth was destroyed; in the occupied regions the number was about 67%.
Today, we celebrate the great contribution the Allied Forces made to defeat Nazi Germany and its allies. At the same time, we should not forget that the main burden of war against German Nazism and fascism in Europe fell on the shoulders of the peoples of the Soviet Union and its Red Army. For three years until the Anti-Hitler Coalition opened the Second Front, the Soviet Union had been fighting the Wehrmacht’s military might practically alone. In four years of war, the Soviet Red Army destroyed over 80% of the German’s military machine. Not only did the Red Army push the invaders off the Soviet territory, but, at the cost of the Soviet soldiers’ lives, it liberated the major part of Eastern and Central Europe from the German occupation. Here are the numbers of the Soviet worriers fallen for the freedom in Europe:
Poland - 600,212, Romania - 68,993, Czechoslovakia - 139,918, Austria - 26,006, Hungary - 140,004, Germany - 101,961, Norway - 3,436, Yugoslavia - 7,995, Bulgaria - 977.
We will never forget the soldiers-liberators of the Red Army and the Allied Forces!
Yet, along with joy and sorrow, the celebration of today’s Victory Day brings a feeling of bitterness and alarm. There are relentless attempts to rewrite the history of World War II, to whitewash and rehabilitate fascism and Nazism. Last year, the USA and the Harper government along with NATO installed in Ukraine a neo-Nazi junta. Presently, this country is reigned in lawlessness and terror. People are arrested on the slightest suspicion of disloyalty to the “new” authorities. Many disappear without a trace. The open opponents of the regime are murdered demonstratively. Tens of prominent public activists and journalists have become targets of the political terror in Ukraine. The Kiev regime has launched a ruthless military offensive against the regions which declared their independence from the “New Order” in Ukraine. As a result, over 6,000 have died, tens of thousands have been wounded and over one million have been displaced.
Currently, a ceasefire is being observed in Ukraine. However, the Poroshenko government is not keeping secret that it is preparing for revenge. Its plans they are being pushed by the United States and NATO. The Harper government alone has already given Kiev over half a billion dollars to continue the war and has announced that it will deploy to Ukraine 200 Canadian troops. These actions do not help at all to normalize the situation in Ukraine, and a smallest spark is enough to turn this local conflict in eastern Ukraine into a regional war.
In World War II, Canada was fighting Nazism and fascism along with the Allied Forces. The sons and daughters of Canada were giving their lives for peace and freedom. However, today, the Canadian government is on the wrong side of history. The Harper government, is supporting the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine in every possible way. In November 2014, out of all countries on the globe, it was only Canada, the United States and Ukraine which voted against a United Nations resolution combatting the glorification of Nazism.
On this 70th Anniversary of the Great Victory, in the memory of the Canadians who died fighting Nazism and fascism, in the memory of all the victims of World War II, we demand that the government of Canada in no uncertain terms condemn any forms of neo-Nazism and neo-fascism, including those that are happening in Ukraine. We also strongly declare:
NO Canadian money, NO Canadian weapons for the war criminals in Kiev! Canadian troops have no place in the conflict in Ukraine!
Dear friends. In conclusion, please allow us to congratulate you on the Day of the Great Victory. Long live the victory of the anti-Hitler coalition in World War II! Our eternal gratitude goes to the soldiers-liberators of the Red Army and the Allied Forces! The memory and the glory of their feat will live for ages! Long live world peace!
(The above article is from the June 1-15, 2015, 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.)