by Volodymyr Ishchenko, The Guardian, Feb. 7
Neo-fascists have become involved in the Euromaidan protest movement and we can’t turn a blind eye to the danger that presents
A number of academics have expressed their concern about the international media’s misrepresentation of the protests in Ukraine. They say that the media have over-emphasised the significance of the far right in what is a broad and diverse protest movement; and such exaggerations may serve Russia’s imperialist interests in Ukraine. Appeals for balanced coverage can never be irrelevant. But politically liberal academics are turning the real problem upside down. …
If the Ukrainian protests are to lead to any of the fundamental socioeconomic reforms that Ukraine needs, the Maidan movement must decisively break away from the far-right. Instead of downplaying it, instead of justifying and normalising strategic co-operation with neofascists, progressive intellectuals must come clean about the “diversity” of the movement and attack the far right, not those who dare to speak about inconvenient facts and dangerous tendencies.
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