Solidarity Statement with the Resistance in Ukraine

Friends and comrades in Ukraine:

You are not alone in your struggle. You have said so clearly that this is end of the line for the thieves holding your futures, be they in the presidents palace, the Kremlin, Brussels, or in the boardroom. We loudly join you in that call. They all must go. Everywhere.

We watch with horror the news that you are being murdered in Kyiv; the news of your abductions and severe beatings; the closure of the capitol city. They are an indication that you are causing fear in the elite and their patrons. Yet these crimes against the society must stop. While such control and violence by the state and capital is always illegitimate, it is all the more so in the Ukraine. Where could it be more obvious that you want to get rid of the masters in charge, who ever they may be? We are also heartened by your resistance to splitting the movement between good and bad protestors. The state and capital is clearly trying, but it is failing and that wonderful.

We are, all together, in the hardest struggle imaginable: against our oppressors, for a better and dignified life. The rule of law, police, and the private interests of capital are nowhere on our side, ever. They are the mechanisms that erase people; leave many migrants crossing the sea to die; and allow white people to kill black teenagers because of loud music. It is a struggle taking too long with too many comrades and friends falling along the way. Yet we take heart as more and more people around the world are fighting. It doesn't matter if it is in Brazil, Bosnia, China, Italy, South Africa, Slovenia or the Ukraine, the cries are the same: give us back what you stole, give us our lives and give us our autonomy. A common struggle is already being fought around the world, and we are all with you.

A year ago we were ourselves on the streets. It was, at its origin, a resistance of people who simply had enough of a life without perspective. Things have only declined in the last years with no end in sight. Prices and taxes are up, incomes are down. We are told we should get jobs. They tell us we should be flexible and demand less wages, less benefits and protection. That way, they say, jobs will come back. But it doesn't really matter to them; they have other ways to exploit us.

They also say: don't protest, be quiet and wait for better times. But, we ask, what kind of life is that? It isn't one. It's an illusion.

Social Center ROG