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| Gerry Downing and Andy Brooks outside the embassy |
NCP
leader Andy Brooks and Gerry Downing from Socialist Fight delivered a protest
letter to the Ukrainian embassy in London on Monday. The letter, on behalf of
the US-based Odessa Solidarity Campaign, called on the Ukrainian government
immediately to free all political prisoners and end the repression of
anti-fascists in Odessa.
The letter, addressed to Ukrainian
President Petro Poroshenko, called on the Ukrainian authorities to fulfil their
direct duties to society and to prosecute those who personally and directly
killed the Odessans when a fascist-led mob set fire to Odessa’s House of Trade
Unions in Kulikovo square on 2nd May 2014. It also called for the
release of Alexander Kushnaryov and Anatoly Slobodyanik, two anti-fascists
jailed on trumped up charges, and to stop the provocations against relatives of
the victims of 2nd May in Odessa.
The Ukrainian Soviet city of Odessa was
liberated on 10th April 1944 by the Red Army, ending years of brutal
Nazi occupation. That’s why this day was chosen by the US-based Odessa
Solidarity Campaign to deliver the letter to the Ukrainian embassy in
Washington DC, USA.
The same letter, delivered to Ukrainian
embassies and consulates in 19 other cities in 12 countries, including London,
also appealed to the Ukrainian authorities “to create the necessary conditions
for the peaceful development of the country. Do not divide society by providing
patronage and direct protection to one of the opposing sides that has
arbitrarily appropriated the title of ‘patriots of Ukraine’. These people have
no right to violence. We draw the attention of the Ukrainian authorities to the
fact that the fulfilment of all these requirements is the duty of any civilized
state and is not subject to discussion or hesitation. Unless these duties are
fulfilled, Ukraine risks remaining outside the civilised world”.
The Odessa Solidarity Campaign is a
project of the United National Anti-war Coalition (UNAC). It was founded in May
2016 following the second anniversary memorial of the massacre of 2nd
May, 2014. The campaign supports the call of the Council of Mothers of 2nd
May for an international investigation into that terrible tragedy, for which no
one has yet been brought to justice. The Odessa Solidarity Campaign is based in
Richmond, Virginia, USA and is operated by an all-volunteer team of human
rights activists dedicated to supporting the people of Odessa in their heroic resistance
to fascism.
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