Sponsors: Lois Gagnon and Eileen Wheeler Sheehan
Vetting Committees: AdCom and ComCom
Floor Manager: Lois Gagnon [email protected] 413-813-8321
Shepherd: Eileen Wheeler Sheehan
Summary: The purpose of this proposal is for the GRP to recognize that the war in Ukraine began with the US backed Maiden coup in 2014 and not on February 24, 2022. This is important to acknowledge as around 14,000 people have been killed in the Eastern Provinces to date. We should not be mislead by the corporate media that US militarist provocations on Russia's border had nothing to do with it's decision to intervene. Being informed about how long this conflict has been raging will help the GRP to be better prepared to communicate with the public on this very dangerous situation.
Background: The true beginning of hostilities in Ukraine happened 8 years ago. This is not when Westerners in the US and Europe have been told it began. It matters because thousands of innocent lives have been lost during those 8 years. Those lives matter as much as the lives being lost in the rest of Ukraine today. The adoption of this proposal will be an acknowledgement of the war on the people of the Donbass Region who are mostly of Russian descent. The provisions in this proposal will ensure the Green-Rainbow Party remains true to it's value of nonviolence by holding all parties in the conflict responsible for lives lost.
Text of Proposal: The Green-Rainbow Party acknowledges that the war in Ukraine began with the violent US backed Maiden coup in 2014 using $5billion in US taxpayer money, that has led to the deaths of an estimated 14,000 people in the Eastern Provinces. The Green-Rainbow Party holds all governments involved accountable for the loss of life and calls for an immediate ceasefire to stop the killing. The Green-Rainbow Party will do its part to help others understand the importance of recognizing the full 8 year history of the war in Ukraine.
Implementation: ComCom will post the proposal in its monthly newsletter and refer to it as needed to clarify the party's understanding of the conflict. Deadline: the next newsletter after Spring 2022 StateCom. AdCom will implement this acknowledgement of the war in Ukraine having begun in 2014 in its communications where appropriate.
There are no expected financial implications with this proposal.
An early warning from the late Robert Parry at Consortium News. https://consortiumnews.com/2022/02/28/robert-parry-playing-chicken-with-nuclear-war-over-ukraine/ A chronology of the war in Ukraine: https://consortiumnews.com/2022/02/27/watch-the-war-in-ukraine/
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Facebook Twitter“State sponsored violence is incompatible with the Green-Rainbow Party’s Ten Key Value of Nonviolence. Military invasion of any country by any other country, especially when the invader possesses nuclear weaponry, is unacceptable. This rebuke applies to Russia now as it has applied to the United States on many recent occasions. With this fundamental opposition to violence in mind, …”
Without some such caveat that symmetrically condemns illegitimate uses of military force by Russia, I cannot support the proposal in its current state.
Some of the groups in the U.S. pushing these views have a long history of anti-Democratic, fascist and nonsensical narratives (Larouche party, but others as well; various neoNazi groups in this country and in Europe are backing Putin and Russian racists. Similarly, a former State Committee member is supporting this statement. He was removed by StateCom for years of anti-democratic, racist, sexist and anti-semitic attacks and frequent disruptions of StateCom. His comments on this page are permitted, but he is no longer a StateCom member.).
I will support a statement that opposes war, as the basic war crime.
When we see the great suffering in parts of Ukraine now under Russian siege, it is helpful to think also of those in eastern Ukraine who were under siege from the Kyiv government for eight years. That is the point made by this proposal: NATO and the US have played a harmful role and will continue to do so if we let them.
This proposal simply asks the party to acknowledge that the war in Ukraine began with the attack on the Donbas region by Ukrainian forces in 2014 which did not cease until Russia intervened.
And oh by the way, The Rand Corporation has plans on its website of different tactics for the US to employ to destabilize the Russian Federation. Just your very own empire doing its bit to prevent peace.
Furthermore, a big THANK YOU to Lois & Eileen for this proposal!
The US financed the war by Kyiv, in Western Ukraine, against the Russian-speaking republics in Eastern Ukraine, to the tune of $3 billion. Now a package totaling $10 billion is under discussion. The openly stated objective is to incorporate Ukraine into NATO; an objective announced by NATO itself in 2008 at a meeting in Bucharest, Romania.
NATO has already waged war in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Somalia. It is a very symbol of US-led violence and power-hungry abuse.
Many wish for a Russian departure from Ukraine. Today it is clear that war crimes are being committed. But all parties, including Kyiv, may have committed such crimes. Crimes against people in Donbas in 2014-2022 matter too. Ukraine has the right to independence, but what independence has it had as a US military proxy in the decades-long thrust against Russia? Yes, let us be in solidarity with Russian antiwar protesters. “Russian troops out” is an inappropriate slogan in the US, however. It will be seen as chiming in with the war aims of Washington in the war psychosis that the media is stoking. Let’s build rallies directed with laser focus at our own warmakers in Washington.
David Keil, West Metro region