Statement by The Odessa Solidarity Campaign, April 30, 2023
Each year, the Odessa Solidarity Campaign has promoted actions on May 2 to mark the date in 2014 when a right-wing mob led by openly fascist organizations murdered at least 42 anti-fascists at the House of Trade Unions in Odessa, Ukraine.
The Odessa Massacre took place just a few months after the violent coup that replaced a pro-Russian president with a pro-U.S. one. Not surprisingly, the U.S. was heavily involved in promoting the coup.
Today Ukraine has an authoritarian government that openly collaborates with neo-Nazi organizations, incorporating them into its military and promoting the memory of Ukrainian fascists who shamefully collaborated with the World War II Nazi occupation of their country. The birthday of the notorious Nazi collaborator Stefan Bandera is now a national holiday. His image graces a national stamp. Major streets have been renamed in his honor and Bandera statues have replaced monuments to Soviet war heroes.
For years, relatives of those who were murdered on May 2, 2014, regularly visited the site of the massacre and kept repeating their demand for an international investigation into the atrocity, something the Ukrainian government has never allowed. Today it is impossible for them to come into the streets without risking arrest or physical attacks.
The Odessa Solidarity Campaign was founded in 2016 to support the anti-fascist people of Odessa, and now Ukraine as a whole. That was the year we traveled to Odessa to stand with the Council of Mothers of May 2 as they defied threats of attack by the same fascist organizations that had murdered their daughters and sons.
Today, as the world is inundated with pro-U.S. and pro-NATO propaganda about the war in Ukraine, we believe it is more important than ever to keep alive the memory of the Odessa Massacre and the fact that not all Ukrainians support the current reactionary government and its pro-U.S./NATO stance.
 We are asking that all freedom-loving people everywhere please post this message on your websites and social media sites along with the above graphic that was created by a young Ukrainian to promote the anti-fascist message. Please make the graphic your Facebook image for the day and share it on your Instagram, Tic-Toc and Twitter accounts.
And as for the war itself, we call on the U.S. and NATO, which are responsible for provoking this devastating confrontation, to stop sending arms to Ukraine and stop using the Ukrainian people as cannon fodder in their proxy war against Russia. *Featured Image: Despite death threats by fascist organizations, thousands of Odessans gathered outside the House of Trade Unions on May 2, 2016, for the 2nd annual memorial of the Odessa Massacre. Photo by Phil Wilayto Remember the Odessa Massacre! If you or your organization post this message and/or graphic, please let us know: ODESSA SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN |
As we now know the election of dictator V. Xelenskyy in 2020 has made this proxy war into a ripoff of military armaments from Europe Canada and the US to continue imperialism…