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Gibson writes: "Secretary of State John Kerry gave away the whole game when condemning the police crackdown of Ukrainian protesters' encampments in Kiev's Independence Square."

A Ukrainian priest walking past riot police. (photo AP)
A Ukrainian priest walking past riot police. (photo AP)


Why the West Loves the Ukraine Protests

By Carl Gibson, Reader Supported News

17 December 13

 

ecretary of State John Kerry gave away the whole game when condemning the police crackdown of Ukrainian protesters’ encampments in Kiev’s Independence Square.

“The United States expresses its disgust with the decision of Ukrainian authorities to meet the peaceful protest in Kyiv’s Maidan Square with riot police, bulldozers, and batons, rather than with respect for democratic rights and human dignity. This response is neither acceptable nor does it befit a democracy.” ~ John Kerry, December 10, 2013

All of the responses Kerry describes happened to American protesters, in the United States, particularly in Oakland, New York City, Portland, Los Angeles, the campus of University of California-Davis, and many other places in the Fall of 2011, when Kerry was a United States senator. This means either that Kerry was in a coma during those months, or that he acknowledges that the US is not a democracy, like Ukraine, where police violently attacking nonviolent protesters prompted a stern international condemnation. But by taking the side of the Ukrainian protesters, Kerry has highlighted the United States’ vested interest in making sure Ukraine becomes a member of the European Union (EU), a key cause championed by protesters.

The situation in Ukraine is dire. The government still refuses to sign a pact that makes it a member nation of the EU, but the people have openly resisted an alternate plan to make an economic alliance with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, smashing up a statue of Vladimir Lenin in a symbolic act of defiance against Russia. The Western media definitely made sure we all saw that.

If Ukraine joins the EU, they will become the newest member of the biggest scam forced on us by the international banking cartels since the Federal Reserve. As Greg Palast has noted, the EU is a system devised by the banks to ensure themselves everlasting bailouts, paid for by everlasting austerity and cuts on public programs that ordinary people need and depend on.

Palast noted that Robert Mundell, the architect of the Euro, came from the same Chicago School of Economics that forced supply-side economics (re: deregulation and privatization) on the US when Milton Friedman was Reagan’s top economic advisor. The Euro ensured that when big crises hit, the big banks and corporations got to set the rules.

“It puts monetary policy out of the reach of politicians,” he said. “[And] without fiscal policy, the only way nations can keep jobs is by the competitive reduction of rules on business.” ~ Robert Mundell, architect of the Euro

In the UK, where crippling austerity measures have endangered the National Health Services, child care centers, schools, and other public services, the cuts are so deep that they have even inspired mass riots. It could be argued that this all started when Margaret Thatcher implemented her own UK-centric version of Reaganomics that paved the way for austerity and privatization. The austerity-weary Britons celebrated her death so widely that one of iTunes’ top-selling tracks for that week in the UK was “Ding Dong, the Witch Is Dead” from the Wizard of Oz soundtrack. The EU is vastly unpopular with UK citizens, where 56 percent support withdrawing, while only 30 percent want to stay.

The Eurozone has also notoriously failed Greece on a massive scale. Because Greek politicians have yielded all control over their currency to the international bankers behind the EU, their only remaining options are to lay off workers, cut taxes for corporations, starve the social safety net, and privatize public resources. This has resulted in even higher unemployment rates, an even more unstable economy, and the rise of Golden Dawn -- a new fascist party whose symbol resembles a swastika. Golden Dawn blames the sunken economy on immigrants and other “undesirables,” and recently killed a socially-conscious Greek hip-hop artist in the middle of a performance. Rather than being on the fringes, this party won big in the last round of parliamentary elections, and is organizing for bigger wins in the coming years.

As Weimar Germany has proven to us in the past, and as Greece is proving to us right now, an austerity-crazed regime will eventually lead to disillusioned people rallying behind charismatic fascists who promise them a way out, usually through violence against certain groups of people who are scapegoated for the government’s failures. By joining the EU, the Ukraine will unwittingly take a turn down a path of fiscal crises resulting in bank bailouts, massive budget cuts, layoffs of public employees, and an even worse economic situation than the one they’re currently in. It may even result in the seizure of power by fascist elements. And the Ukraine may soon see a new wave of mass protests after the EU betrays the people and their public services.

I doubt John Kerry would so openly disapprove of a police crackdown on the anti-austerity protests in Ukraine’s future. After all, he was totally silent about the crackdown on those protests in his own country.



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Carl Gibson, 26, is co-founder of US Uncut, a nationwide creative direct-action movement that mobilized tens of thousands of activists against corporate tax avoidance and budget cuts in the months leading up to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Carl and other US Uncut activists are featured in the documentary "We're Not Broke," which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. He currently lives in Madison, Wisconsin. You can contact him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , and follow him on twitter at @uncutCG.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

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