war

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An Anti-War Assembly in Milan

On September 15th the Centro di Documentazione Contro la Guerra organized an open assembly called “La Guerra in Ucraina non va in Vacanza” (The war in Ukraine doesn’t go on holiday) to which IP participated. The venue was located in a central nerve of Milan at the COX 18, an occupied space since 1976, also home to the well known Calusca City Lights, now the Archivio Primo Moroni, an extensive archival project of leftist literature. The purpose of the assembly was to denounce the barbarism that is still underway in the Ukraine after 19 months from its inception, with still no end in sight.

The assembly lasted about two and a half hours and the format was very open: after a concise introduction given by the organizers, in which they restated their position of “revolutionary defeatism”1, Sandro Moiso who writes for the journal Carmilla spoke for about 45 minutes delineating the current “world disorder”; afterwards, the floor was open to discussion.

Many people intervened without any formal restraints, stating their positions, adding nuances and posing questions. The tone was never academic and many voices were heard. According to the organizers the modest turnout of about 30 people was a bit disappointing since the aim was to open the discussion of the war to a wider audience and not only to “few experts who are already certain of everything ”.  

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Y LA GUERRA SE ALARGA

Otto Dix:Soldado herido (1916)

Han pasado 15 meses desde que los tanques rusos entraron en Ucrania y la guerra continúa. Cientos de miles de personas han muerto o han quedado mutiladas, ¿es suficiente? No, no es suficiente. No lo es para los capitalistas de ambos bandos en conflicto, encerrados en sus juegos de poder, enviando cruelmente a los hijos de la clase trabajadora a los campos de exterminio mientras revisan sus cuentas bancarias en el extranjero.

Esta guerra no tiene fin a la vista. Ambos bandos preparan una ofensiva de primavera. Parece que la matanza sólo puede terminar cuando una o ambas partes beligerantes se queden sin carne de cañón. Eso se está convirtiendo en un problema para ellos. Cientos de miles han huido de ambos países para evitar ser alistados a la fuerza. En Ucrania circulan aplicaciones especiales que avisan por dónde merodean los reclutadores. Rusia sigue teniendo cientos de miles de soldados en reserva, pero el Kremlin no confía en ellos. ¿Por qué, si no, no los envía a la batalla? ¿O es para mantener la ilusión de que no se trata de una guerra, sino de una “operación militar especial”? En lugar de utilizar estos batallones entrenados, se busca en las prisiones y todos aquellos dispuestos a unirse a los mercenarios y a los jóvenes reclutas (la mayoría de provincias lejanas) en el frente, obtienen una “tarjeta de salida de la cárcel”.  

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AND THE WAR DRAGS ON

15 months have passed since Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine and still the war drags on. Hundreds of thousands are killed or maimed, is that enough? No, it is not enough. Not for the capitalists of both sides in the conflict, locked in their power plays, callously sending the children of the working class to the killing fields while checking their overseas bank accounts.

There is no end in sight to this war. Both sides prepare a spring offensive. It seems the slaughter can only end when one or both warring parties run out of cannon fodder. That is becoming a problem for them. Hundreds of thousands have fled both countries to avoid being forcibly enlisted. In Ukraine there are special apps circulating which send warnings on where the recruiters are on the prowl. Russia still has hundreds of thousands of soldiers in reserve but the Kremlin doesn’t trust them. Why else is it not sending them to the battle? Or is it to maintain the illusion that this is not a war, just a “special military operation”? Instead of using these trained battalions, the prisons are skimmed and all those willing to join the mercenaries and the young recruits (most from distant provinces) at the front, get a ‘get out of jail free card’.  

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