After all this time, since the first days of the invasion and the first reactions from the "opposition (the so-called contrarians) and after I promised in the Cogitation #12 to write in more detail, Let's finally talk, and dissert, about the Azov Regiment and other extremists in the region.
In the aforementioned cogitation, I wrote the following in the penultimate paragraph:
there is no doubt about the origin of Azov and the ideology of several of its (founding) members. It's not even the only example in Ukraine, just the most talked about (there is also the Donbas Battalion and the Pravyi Sektor, Right Sector, movement's volunteer battalion).And so it is not strange that the symbol they chose is very similar to, even the same as or strongly inspired by, the wolfsangel, a German heraldic symbol that Nazi Germany appropriated (like the swastika that existed long before the Nazi Party), and was even the symbol of various Waffen-SS formations as stated in the image above.
Azov, which shares the symbol with the former Social-National Party of Ukraine (this reminds me of something, NAtionalsoZIalistische!!!) claims that it is not derived from the wolfsangel, but from their slogan Ідея Нації (Idea of the Nation ). It is a subterfuge to maintain the legality of the symbol.
But on the regiment's coat of arms, in the background of the stylized IN is a Black Sun (in German, Schwarze Sonne) another famous Nazi symbol. Just in case there were still some doubts...
I wanted to add more contextual information on this history of the Azov Regiment (that many in the West continue to describe as a Batallion) but its Wikipedia page is already very complete and contains almost all of I wanted to say, so I'm not going to repeat or copy the text bu suggest instead that you read the page.
Just wanted to highlight that the unit originated from a group of ultras, which is a common thing here in Europe at least, where many ultras groups, that are usually very organised and hierarchical, share a far-right ideology.
The Azov Regiment is the main focus, if not the only focus, of all the messages about neo-nazis in the Ukraine military. Some people use it solely as the proof that Russia is right about that, even forgetting other neo-fascists groups in Ukraine. And have no doubt, the true "believers" in this unit are not good people. They have committed crimes and atrocities during the previous War in the Donbas. I'm actually happy that some of their infamous members have died recently in the fighting around Mariupol (the regiment is based there so it is getting a lot of action, and more attention, due to the heavy fighting in the city). But we have to put this group, and the political party associated with it, in perspective.
This paramilitary unit at its peak had a little more than 2500 elements, but currently its numbers were (before the invasion) around 900. They are not part of the Armed Forces but of the National Guard, so considering the combination of both, they only represent less than 0,3% of the trained governmental forces of Ukraine.
Their political arm, full of veterans of the Azov Battalion (when it was still a volunteers' battalion), was part of a coalition of far-right movements that ran together for the last general elections in 2019. All these 4 parties together got 2,15% percent of the votes and didn't elect a single parliamentary seat.
Compare this to the results of other nationalists and far-right parties in Western Europe, to see that they have far less support in Ukraine than what it's being sold, on the basis that there are fascists paramilitary units currently fighting.
Adding to what I wrote, I recommend to check this video on YouTube that also presents the same information and some comparison to the US (as the author is american).
As for the other extremists I mentioned before, I just want to add that they are also present in the Russian side. It is known that Putin has been, up until this invasion at least, a favourite and an example for many far-right movements all over the West. Many political leaders and known fascists organisations praised him, as a resistance leader for "white christians" (from the perils of blacks, muslims, atheists, feminists, LGBTQ+ and so on).
Even today there are many media focus on far-right people going to join Ukraine's International Legion (I guess a lot of them is to play war, get training and access some guns), where some even say they wanted to join Putin's side instead!
But Putin is getting some Syrians, Africans, mercenaries (Wagner Group) all of them also involved in atrocities and human rights violations. On top of that, the Kadyrovites are also fighting in Ukraine. A bit like the Azoz, it's a paramilitary unit full of bad people, crazy chechens that commited a lot of crimes on behalf of their leader, and even if they are not fascists themselves, they are pretty extremists (in their ideology) and to me it's also very good news that some of them, at least prominent leaders, are getting wiped out as well.
The previous paragraph might sound a bit of whataboutism, where when talking about a group (ukrainian neo-nazis) I mention groups in the other side. Just to be clear, the fact there are bad players in the Russian side is of no justification, exemption or even excuse for the Azov Regiment and others alike. I do hope that when this is all set and done (the invasion), Ukraine manages to remove these players from their official ranks.
They will never remove the fascists and neo-nazis from the country; those will continue to exist since we have them all over the World and the West is actually struggling with these groups gaining prominence in the latter years.
No comments:
Post a Comment