Stop the War!

Statement by the LINKE Berlin Internationals on Ukraine

We condemn the Russian state’s aggression and demand that it withdraw immediately all its forces from Ukraine. We believe that there can be no justification for this aggression. We support Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity, and the Ukrainian people in their resistance to the invasion. We stand with the Ukrainian people against this aggression, and embolden our efforts against fascisms and authoritarianisms in all their manifestations.

At the same time, we oppose a military offensive or any escalation of the conflict by NATO and the EU. Diplomatic solutions, not further military escalation, should be used to stop the war.

We reject the push to war over Ukraine. In nearly every war, working class people die for the greed and power lust of our rulers. Wars are usually fought in the name of one nation or another, but we agree with the Communist Manifesto when it says that working people have no country. For this reason, we also demand that all those fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine who wish to come to Germany are granted asylum.

The current escalation is a result of imperialism – where economic competition leads to military conflict. The expansion of NATO into Eastern Europe and the imperial ambitions of Vladimir Putin are threatening to cost hundreds of thousands of lives. In particular, the Western suggestion that Ukraine join NATO breaks an agreement that George H.W. Bush made with Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990.

The main task of socialists is to oppose the militarism of our own ruling class. As Karl Liebknecht said, the main enemy is at home. This means that we should also demand that Germany leaves the military alliance of NATO, as a step towards the dissolution of NATO.

Calling for an end to German militarism does not mean lining up alongside Putin or Russian nationalism. Putin has a track record of imperial intervention – in Chechnya, Georgia and Crimea. He is a neoliberal tyrant and is no friend of the working class – in Russia or elsewhere. Our answer is solidarity with the anti-war movement from below in Ukraine, in Russia, in the USA, and everywhere.

While we must oppose Putin, talking about his crimes without mentioning the crimes of NATO only feeds the drive to war. From the Cuban Missile Crisis to the Gulf Wars, claims of brutality on “the other side” have been used to feed the drive to war, while similar atrocities from “our side” are systematically ignored. The ruling classes throughout the world are brutal, and must be opposed through popular uprisings, not war.

Western politicians and the media have suddenly decided that they oppose militarism and expansionism. Yet from Korea to Vietnam, from Afghanistan to Iraq, NATO has a history of invading other countries and abusing human rights. Whatever the problem is, NATO cannot be any part of the solution.

We urge the media to avoid dangerous bias and to confront this dangerous situation sincerely. We’ve witnessed the way the Western media broadcast the Afghanistan and Iraq wars at the beginning of this century as a live TV show. We are currently seeing the same process in the Russian media. RT (Russia Today) announced that the invasion was carried out to “denazify” Ukraine. This is just a mirror image of “War on Terror” during the Bush administration. Only chauvinists will be convinced by this partisanship journalism.

Although Germany now has a Red-Green-Yellow government, this does not guarantee a peaceful foreign policy. A Red-Green government willingly supported Germany’s first military interventions since the Second World War – bombing former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. The German government has just broken a long-standing practise of not sending weapons to conflict zones. Sending German weapons to Ukraine only serves to add oil to the fire.

We make the following demands:

  • Stop the war
  • Stop the Russian aggression towards Ukraine
  • Germany should offer a safe passage and haven to deserters and other people fleeing Ukraine ohne wenn und aber
  • Germany takes in all refugees – whether Ukrainian, Afghan, Syrian, Yemeni or Somalian – and provides the same support system for all
  • NATO troops must withdraw from Eastern Europe
  • Germany should leave NATO as a step towards its dissolution
  • Demilitarize Europe
  • Better controls on all imperialist propaganda
  • Speed up the transition to renewable energies to break Germany’s dependence on Russian gas

We call on all Berlin LINKE Internationals members and supporters to take part in the many rallies for peace, a ceasefire, and disarmament.

The International Anti-War movement stands united. Hoch die Internationale Solidarität!