17. Dezember 2019
PDF: https://bit.ly/34vrjaS
1. You have been elected head of the Union of Left Forces in Ukraine. Can you explain the characteristics of this political entity and its main objectives?
The Union of Left Forces is a full-fledged party with units in almost all regions of Ukraine, comprised of ordinary, interested, active, intelligent people. Of course, the work of recruiting passionate people, active and young, will be enhanced as much as possible, and we see in this development a drive for the revival of leftist ideas in Ukraine.
Today, the Union of Left Forces is, in fact, the only active left-wing party in Ukraine; all others either dissolved themselves, were destroyed by the Poroshenko regime, or banned as communist.
The party is 11 years old, its goal is very simple — to come to power, to make Ukraine a normal, social state of the people, under the people, working for the people. Because the current state machine is the antithesis of the rights and interests of the people of Ukraine. I think that no country in Europe has suffered like Ukraine has over the past five or six years. A few figures: 2 million fewer pensioners after five years of Poroshenko’s rule. Eight million fewer pairs of hands — these people left the country. The country is collapsing from within. The internal retail market has decreased by four times. According to the estimates of Swiss researchers, the savings of Ukrainians decreased by half, this is the official figure. The growth of debt, the impoverishment of each family, the reduction in purchasing power of every Ukrainian by four times.
The state machinery, unfortunately, has worked according to an ideology which is not characteristic of a normal person, is not needed, is artificially imposed. Empirical evidence has shown that the leftist idea is a natural one, suitable for a person from the moment of birth. People need to be among their own kind, to participate in society, to help each other. A person helps an elderly person, or a poor person, or helps an animal — that is normal, we want to do it. A person needs to be among his own kind, participate in society, celebrate, communicate, help. For mutual assistance, for protection, for the proper distribution of wealth, for justice, people created a state.
And what the rightists, the so-called neoliberals or libertarians, teach is: every man for himself, the strongest will survive, others will die out, man is a wolf, the state should not help anyone, the weak should not be helped. It is an anti-human, non-human idea. It is imposed, artificial. A natural, divine idea is a humane idea, about the person as part of society, and we are working for this. We need a state that will work for society, because the state once, many thousands of years ago, was created by people, by society, in order to protect public interests. Otherwise there is no sense in this add-on, it is not interested in the people, in Ukraine today it simply crushes a person and takes his possessions.
2. Your predecessor, Vasyl Volga, faced severe restrictions and was beaten by right-wing radicals while police stood by. Do you expect better conditions for you under Zelensky?
Yes, unfortunately, the Poroshenko regime rested upon illegal, armed paramilitary formations, which had a free hand, and tried to suppress and repress any dissent directed against militarism, against war, against the plundering of the country. In Ukraine in recent years, the Nazis (they call themselves nationalist, but in fact they are Nazi or pro-Nazi movements) have gained some strength, and the case that you cited is not the only one. And the party is well aware that this still exists in Ukraine, it is beneficial to certain oligarchs, and, by the way, the party consider the oligarchy one of the main enemies of the state of Ukraine. And we understand that, gaining strength, and this is inevitable, the Union of Left Forces will be confronted with attempts to attack it and counter it, including physical attacks. Therefore, understanding these risks and challenges, the party will be engaged in ensuring its own security and the safety of party members and events held by the party. We must be good with our fists. I am sure we will be able to give a fitting rebuff to any gangster attack on us.
3. Zelensky inspired great hope, especially for changes in relations with Donbass and Russia. He reopened the path for the Minsk talks. Do you think he will be able to fulfill the Minsk agreement and bring peace to Ukraine? Or is separation inevitable?
Despite the fact that the new president essentially handed over management of the national economy of Ukraine to the hands of foreign agents, agents of the World Bank, the IMF, the divisions and organizations of Soros, and other external structures that are absolutely not interested in the fate of Ukraine, I still continue to believe that Zelensky sees it as his mission to bring peace to Ukraine, to end the war and prevent the breakup of the country. I want to believe that. And I want to say that in the short period of his presidency, he has done much more for peace than his predecessor: he was able to exchange prisoners, return the detainees sent by President Poroshenko to the outright massacre of sailors. He was able to establish some kind of dialogue with the President of Russia, to make sure that heavy weapons were withdrawn from the contact line. These are not words but action, and I wish, of course, like all normal people (and such are the vast majority) that he succeeds in this as quickly as possible. I am sure that the Normandy format will be to the benefit of Ukraine, to the benefit of peace. I want to believe that Zelensky will fulfill the Minsk agreements. To date this is the only document approved by the UN, that is, a document that has received legal status, which prescribes the proper and effective options for ending the war.
4. What do you think of Minsk as a whole? And will Ukraine be able to maintain equidistance between Russia and the European Union, ensuring its self-determination?
The Minsk agreement is the only legal document that the international community has accepted and legitimized to date, that specifies how to stop the war, and what each side should do for this. I am sure that it needs to be taken and executed — and then peace is possible in Ukraine.
As to the question of Ukraine’s equidistance from the EU and Russia, I would say that, of course, it is important that Ukraine maintain its independence, which it has carved up and sold off in recent years. Of course, it is important that Ukraine does not enter into any block, it is important so that it regains good relations with its neighbors. It’s great that we have developed a closer relationship with the EU, but relations with traditional neighbors and partners need to be renewed. We should not forget that Russia is still the largest trading partner of Ukraine on the European continent, if we consider each European country individually. And for the security of Europe itself, including energy security, it would be excellent for Ukraine to establish normal partnerships, primarily with Russia and other former Soviet republics. Properly negotiate with its neighbors, find common ground, no one will change geography, it is what it is. You must be able to make friends, and not fight, especially if it’s not in your own favor, not in favor of Ukraine, but in favor of Western capital, which is just cashing in on a crumbling country.
5. Zelensky announced radical neoliberal reforms, including the privatization of land and enterprises in full at the request of the IMF, and so on. Will that hurt his popularity? Can we expect popular resistance?
I repeat once again, that, unfortunately, the current government, appointed at the request of President Zelensky and voted in by his mono-majority in parliament, is a government that absolutely does not represent the interests of Ukraine. Moreover, almost three-fourths of its members come from international financial institutions that have nothing to do with Ukraine, they have an exclusively parasitic attitude, that is, parasitic structures. And today, these people are pushing through as a „priority“ reforms that are obviously not a priority for Ukraine, reforms in quotation marks, such as the strengthening of tariff oppression (they call this building the LCD market and gas market); sale of Ukrainian land, although they cannot explain what they will do with the money or why this sale must take place in the form they offer, why are they in such a hurry? We calculate that the proceeds from the sale of state land will be spent within two years, and in two years the state of Ukraine will lose 11 million hectares of arable land, given that the agricultural complex generates the same amount as part of Ukraine’s GDP within the same 2.5 years. That is, the absurdity of the sell-off of Ukrainian land in such conditions is obvious, the anti-state action is obvious. The same applies to the sale of strategic enterprises, which are working, generate income, and most importantly, are responsible for national security. They are now all up for sale.
Without doubt such actions entail, in fact, the loss by the state of its subjectivity and independence. There is no doubt that such actions, if the president signs these unconstitutional laws, will provoke a wave of protests, and the Union of Left Forces is one of the most vocal opponents of such „reforms“ and will be on the side of the protesters. I’m sure millions of Ukrainian citizens will defend their land and their rights, and the rights of the state of Ukraine, which are now shamelessly violated.
I would also like to say that the IMF is an obvious enemy of Ukraine. If you look at the relationship retrospectively, then with every interaction of Ukraine with the IMF, the Ukrainian hryvnia depreciated, the loans received did not go into the economy of the country, and the laws adopted for the loans destroyed Ukrainian families, households and businesses. This means that our relations with the IMF will be revised as soon as we come to power. Illegal, unconstitutional reforms — sale of land and businesses, pension and health — will be canceled, restitution will be carried out, and everything that they are now trying to squander will be returned back to the bosom of Ukraine. This is the vision of the left for the future of the economy.
6. Let’s return to the crucial issue of internal democracy and those who do not share the Ukrainian nationalist project. Do we need a democratic revolution against the entrenched right-wing nationalist forces, or is a gradual return to democracy possible, especially in the south and east of the country? How can right-wing nationalism, which has always represented a part of society in Western Ukraine, be defeated or at least restrained?
In Ukraine, the overwhelming majority of the people are for peace, for equality of nationalities and languages, for development rather than blockade. And only a small part of Ukrainian citizens, duped by the Poroshenko regime, is still under the influence of the toxic, quasi-Nazi militaristic fog.
The answer to the question is quite simple: to defeat this you need patience and the brutal force of the law. If we’re talking about gangs or quasi-military groups, any illegal armed groups, then they should be disarmed in the short term, and if not — then pursued by the law enforcement system and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. If we are talking about the commission of crimes against the state or citizens, their lives and health, under any nationalist slogans, these crimes should be exposed, and the criminals who committed them must be mercilessly punished. Covering up crimes with some idiotic nationalist slogans absolutely should not be a justified.
Parallel to this, it is necessary to carry out educational work, which will expose all the secret horror perpetuated upon Ukraine, absurd and alien in its artificial mentality, hostility, intolerance and Nazism, so that people who have been drugged and duped all these years by the ruling regime come to their senses and realize what happened. I’m sure all this is real and possible, and it is extremely necessary and important. Again, this is based on my belief that the overwhelming majority of Ukrainian citizens believe just that. People do not need war, they need prosperity, people do not want their children to leave the country, or that they themselves have to seek happiness in other countries.
I am sure that everything is possible, many countries went through periods of Nazification, and then de-Nazification, everything is real. Left ideology, which, I am sure, will prevail in Ukraine and will become the ruling idea, provides for the triumph of justice as its compulsory direction: if you are to blame — you will answer; if you have committed a crime — you will be punished; if you repent — you’ll be pardoned; if your actions affected the state treasury or someone else — you return everything to the penny, or you will not be released. All this is real and necessary for Ukraine and my fellow citizens.
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