Why would we be surprised? This is a right wing, business friendly
government, installed by a coup, arranged by the US government.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Saturday, August 01, 2015 11:54 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Ukrainian government, bans Communist Party
Brings back memories of the good old days of the House UnAmerican Activities
Committee. "Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Communist
Party?" Many caring, concerned citizens were crucified when they took the
Fifth Amendment. When will the Masses realize that you can't defend your
nation if you can not criticize it?
I remember my proud students at the Training Center, returning from a
perfect outing with their mobility instructor. "Tell me something new that
you learned today. You never learn from being perfect. You only learn from
your mistakes. ."
How will our, or any government learn unless their mistakes are pointed out
to them?
The Ukrainian government has now become a reflection of our own proud
democracy. Ain't the Corporate Empire wonderful?
Carl Jarvis
On 8/1/15, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
http://themilitant.com/2015/7928/792851.htmlparliamentary elections.
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 79/No. 28 August 10, 2015
Ukrainian government
bans Communist Party
BY JOHN STUDER
AND EMMA JOHNSON
On July 24, Ukrainian Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko signed a decree
effectively banning the Communist Party and two smaller groups, the
Communist Party of Ukraine (renewed) and the Communist Party of
Workers and Peasants.
For the last year the government has been seeking a court ruling
banning the CP, so far without success. So Petrenko acted under one of
the "decommunization" laws signed by President Petro Poroshenko May
15, which also makes it a crime punishable by fines and prison to
distribute communist "propaganda" or in any way deny "the criminal
character of the communist totalitarian regime of 1917-1991 in Ukraine."
Poroshenko's capitalist government accuses the Communist Party and
others who oppose its course, including workers protesting lack of pay
and attacks on their unions, of being a traitorous "fifth column" in
the war with separatists who are backed by Moscow.
"After the passage of the decommunization law, the situation for CP
deputies and party members has been tense and more complicated,"
Vladymir Konstantinovych, Communist Party of Ukraine deputy to
Dnepropetrovsk City Council, told the Militant via Skype July 13. "All
the Communist Party's newspapers in Ukraine have been shut down. Two
weeks ago we began our campaign for deputies in the local government.
Now the Communist Party has been denied the right to participate. They
told us we cannot run."
In response to the July 24 decree, CP General Secretary Petro
Symonenko said the party would run in the Oct. 25 local elections
anyway. The party received 13 percent of the vote in the 2012
laws.
The drive to push the party out of politics has gone hand in hand with
physical attacks on its offices and members. There are dozens of
instances of CP national headquarters and regional offices being
attacked and individual members brutalized and harassed.
"Since February last year two CP members in Dneprodzerzhynsk have been
kidnapped and held, accused of being collaborators with the
separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk," Konstantinovych said. "We are
trying to reach agreement with other left-wing groups to form new
political blocs. We created the Left March, an action front. Along
with the Progressive Socialist Party, we established the Left
Opposition to participate in politics."
The Ukrainian CP was formed in 1993, after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Its political views are similar to those of the CP in Russia,
presenting a prettified, nostalgic view of Soviet life under Stalin.
"Without freedom of speech there is no freedom. They attack the
Communist Party and they set a precedent to use against others they
want to silence," said Alexei Simvolokov, chair of the Confederation
of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine in Dnepropetrovsk, who took part in
the exchange with the Militant. "Different left-wing organizations
working for social justice have suffered physical attacks and harassment."
"The situation is very difficult for unionists also," he said. "We
face pressure from the authorities, the bosses and some union people
as well," he said. "After six months the new independent union at the
rocket plant here has still not been recognized as a legal union."
On July 24, the International Trade Union Confederation in a statement
protested draft legislation requiring state registration of
individuals and community groups. It "would weaken the autonomy of the
trade unions and deprive them from protection from external
interference, including by the public authorities."
Halya Coynash of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group published
an article July 25 opposing the ban on the CP and the decommunization
She cited attorney Volodymyr Yavorsky's opinion that the ban is
"manifestly in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights" and
demonstrates that "the new government is infringing the rights of
opposition political parties."
Related articles:
US, NATO expand military exercises on Russian border
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