Thursday, April 13, 2017

Solidarity with the People of Odessa!


Gerry Downing and Andy Brooks outside the embassy
By New Worker correspondent

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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