By CSP-CONLUTAS, Brazil

Ukraine’s working people continue to resist Russian imperialism: at the frontlines, in the rear, in the information space. Yet as though the added hardships of missile-drone attacks, unstable electricity access, and water supply disruptions were not enough — the Ukrainian neoliberal government itself often pulls the rug from under Ukrainian people.

While the country is engulfed in war, the authorities shamelessly take a hatchet to labor and other rights, raise utility rates, privatize education and other sectors — all while any “particularly active citizens” firmly resisting this sabotage in a war-torn country get subjected to systematic pressure.

A case in point came recently: Lviv police tricked Maksym Shumakov — a member of the editorial team of Spilne/Commons magazine and a former Direct Action student union activist — into coming to the police station so they could serve him with a criminal suspicion notice. The police had pressured Shumakov before — when they broke into his home to conduct a search, during which they confiscated all of his electronics. Later, the police told him that he could come to the station to file for the return of his equipment. Instead, they returned nothing and served him with a notice of suspicion.

Maksym is accused of “disseminating communist symbols” — a wholly arbitrary political provision employed by authorities whenever they need to silence outspoken public activists. The brazenness of these “law-undertakers” is exemplified by — among other things, — the following:

Even based on the precise legal wording, Shumakov committed no crime. Maksym shared academic materials about Western — not even Soviet! — Marxists, as well as reposted a publicly pro-Ukrainian left-wing British publication. These actions are fully legal according to the “decommunization” law discussed above.

Thus, the authorities’ motivation becomes crystal clear. Shumakov is a man who, for years, had used his media visibility to promote international solidarity with the Ukrainian people, promoted the anti-imperialist struggle against Putin’s Russia, received support of the military volunteer network Solidarity Collectives, and remained an activist with Direct Action. Maksym refused to let corrupt officials, fat cats, and other students’ enemies sleep calmly.

Moreover, Maksym Shumakov — alongside other courageous Direct Action activists, — stood up to Lviv National University vice-rector Kachmar, exposed for sexual harassment; fought far-right provocateurs disrupting labor-union events; campaigned for repairs to archaic student dormitories. And of course, we see the reality clearly: the powerful, as well as their lackeys, harbor few sympathies for principled people like Maksym. The officials still wholeheartedly embrace the Soviet-bureaucratic maxim — “all initiative is punishable.” Such an offended petty official could have filed an absurd denunciation against Shumakov, and so could’ve a street fascist — the police are equally happy to oblige.

Persecution of activists is unacceptable! Assault on freedom of speech is criminal! Yet the governments’ hypocrites, in the same breath, condemn Russia’s attacks on freedom of expression, journalism, civic activity — and support those very same practices in Ukraine. They have once again demonstrated their utter shamelessness.

We express our full and unequivocal solidarity with Maksym Shumakov and demand the authorities immediately stop targeting this independent activist! We stand firmly against the persecution of civiс society representatives! To oppress them is to benefit the Kremlin, to discredit Ukraine to the whole world, and most of all — to betray each unyielding Ukrainian worker.

• CSP-Conlutas (Central Sindical e Popular – Coordenação Nacional de Lutas) is a union federation in Brazil with an independent and militant program, which looks toward supplanting the capitalist system.

The post Ukraine: Solidarity with Maksym Shumakov! first appeared on Workers’ Voice/La Voz de los Trabajadores.

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