On January 19, 2016, at the Monument to the Liberators of Donbass in Donetsk, young Marxists of the Communist Union of Donbass (KOD) held a rally in memory of antifascists.
 |
| Photos: KOD |
January 19 is the International Day of Remembrance for victims of fascism and neo-Nazi aggression. In 2009, neo-Nazis from Bourn shot our antifascist comrades in Moscow: lawyer Stas Markelov and journalist Nastya Baburova.
 |
KOD activist Denis said: “Around the world today, in the context of the global crisis of capitalism, the far-right is advancing rapidly, and positions and actions of various chauvinist groups and paramilitary neo-Nazis find support among the masses. Once peaceful Ukraine has become a ‘hot spot’ where neo-Nazi paramilitaries have a license to kill workers and progressive intellectuals opposed to this state of affairs. In two years, the number of victims of the neo-Nazis has grown to tens of thousands.
 |
“Today, to be antifascist means not only to hate fascism and neo-Nazism. It means to act in solidarity with the workers and peasants of all nations, cultures, and colors. It means to stand with oppressed and targeted peoples around the world. In Ukraine, it means to say “No!” to war. In Donbass, it means to offer a helping hand to someone in distress. Be a human. Be a comrade.
 |
“We were not personally acquainted with Stas and Nastya, but we consider them our comrades. We may not be personally familiar with many of those who died on May 2, 2014, in Odessa. We may not personally know those who were killed by Ukrainian neo-Nazi weapons. But we will not turn a blind eye to these crimes and pretend that they didn’t happen. After all, to remember means to struggle, and find the strength to struggle!”
 |
The activists also raised the red flag on the flagpole at the monument.
Translated by Greg Butterfield
Red Star News + Translations 