Whether it’s Ukraine or Palestine, there are countless lies, manipulations and hoaxes.
National tribute to the victims of the October 7 atrocity? As with the demonstration last November, which was supposedly directed against anti-Semitism, the aim is to provide political and material support to Mr. Netanyahu, the executioner of the Palestinians, without any demarcation to the right.
As with last November’s demonstration allegedly against anti-Semitism, Prime Minister Netanyahu, the Palestinian, is to be given political and material support without borders to the right.
We are also being asked to “support Ukraine“, but behind it is mainly the support of Biden, Macron, NATO, and the oligarchs, the big landowners, exploiters of the Ukrainian people.
The trade unions CFDT, CGT, FO, CGC, CFTC, FSU, Unsa and Solidaires have signed a national call for the demonstration on February 24 in Paris for Ukraine and freedom.
Who took the initiative for the rally in Paris that the trade union confederations are now calling for? It was the Union of Ukrainians de France (together with the Ukrainian World Congress). (It should be noted that on its website this association defends Stephan Bandera, a Ukrainian nationalist who swore allegiance to Hitler’s Third Reich.)
The appeal of the “Union des Ukrainiens de France” states: “The war is dragging on because the aid of Ukraine’s allies remains very weak (…). We call on the leaders of France and Europe to immediately give Ukraine the financial and military aid that is vital for the country to ensure victory (…). Helping Ukraine today means arming Ukraine. (…)”
So we are dealing with a rally calling on Zelensky’s “allies” to send more weapons and money.
Why is it possible to stand behind Macron and the US army?
These “allies” are well known: it is NATO under US command, it is the Biden governments in the US, Macron, Sunak (UK), Scholz (Germany) and it is the European Union that has just transferred another €50 billion to Zelensky’s war.
How can it be that the joint trade union call does not name either NATO or Zelensky? Is it possible to conceal their role in this catastrophic war?
Why stand behind Macron and the US army when the goal is peace and stopping the imperialist massacre in Ukraine? The young Russians and young Ukrainians no longer want to die for the oligarchs or for the multinationals, they are being arrested and persecuted and forcibly sent to the front. More and more of them are deserting.
Yes, it is indeed an imperialist slaughter in which Putin’s troops face each other on behalf of the oligarchs and Zelensky’s army, which is incited, equipped and trained by NATO governments. Once again, the war is about oil, gas, wheat and the control of transport and trade.
The French trade union leaders are siding with NATO, the US and their “allies“. How can a trade union do that? Have we learned nothing from the two Iraq wars, from the invasion of Afghanistan, which each time brought more deaths, more chaos and more devastated countries?
The U.S. and its “allies” are supplying the bombs, the helicopter gunships, the F-35 bombers, the shells that have been killing the Palestinian people for 129 days. 129 days of genocide in Gaza! Who can pretend they don’t know? Without the arsenal of weapons that Biden, Macron, Sunak, Scholz, are supplying to Netanyahu, the genocide would stop immediately.
How can it be claimed that those who bomb Yemen, Syria, Iraq are defenders of peace and guarantors of international law in Ukraine or elsewhere?
Escalation of the war
The rally on February 24 calls on the “allies” to arm Zelensky’s Ukraine.
Macron has been doing this for two years. (…) The result: escalation of the war with more and more deaths.
In order to supply these weapons in large numbers, Macron has decided to allocate 413 billion for the military program law, at the expense of education, pensions, health care, incomes and housing.
One can disagree about Zelensky and Ukraine, but how can a union leader make it plausible that support for Macron, his arms deliveries and NATO promotes peace?
The same union leaders have not signed a joint statement calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza for 129 days. But today, they are backing Macron with a press release.
This is dangerous for the trade unions. This is dangerous for wage earners and young people in France and around the world. This endangers peace.
It is a tragedy how the trade union leaders, whose DNA is the defence of the material and moral interests of the workers and peoples, allow themselves to be instrumentalised on this point.
For 2 years, we have been campaigning in the weekly newspaper »Informations ouvrières« for an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine and for the withdrawal of Putin’s troops as well as NATO troops.
The call we circulated in December 2022: “Stop the war”, signed by hundreds of trade unionists in 27 countries, remains completely relevant.
Bruno Ricque, Independent Workers’ Party (POI) in France
We remind our readers that publication of articles on our site does not mean that we agree with what is written. Our policy is to publish anything which we consider of interest, so as to assist our readers in forming their opinions. Sometimes we even publish articles with which we totally disagree, since we believe it is important for our readers to be informed on as wide a spectrum of views as possible.
