radical right

South Asia

Nepal: monarchist protest rocks Kathmandu

A clash between thousands of monarchist protestors and police took place in Kathmandu, Nepal. Police used tear-gas and water cannons to disperse protestors who chanted slogans in support of the former king, Gyanendra Shah, and attempted to storm barricades protecting government offices. Monarchist leader and prominent businessman Durga Prasai has allegedly been under house arrest since the protest, and his followers have filed a habeas corpus petition with the Supreme Court for his release. The monarchy was abolished in 2008 pursuant to the decision of a Constituent Assembly formed under an agreement that put an end to months of pro-democracy protests in 2006. But a right-wing coalition prominently including the Hindu nationalist Rastriya Prajatantra Party has launched a campaign for its restoration. (Map: PCL)

Watching the Shadows

Anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism: parsing the difference

Amid Israel’s massive aerial bombardment of Gaza, accusations of anti-Semitism at demonstrations for Palestine are mounting. But some instances were later revealed to have been distorted or exaggerated. The increasingly accepted official “working definition of anti-Semitism” dangerously muddies the water by explicitly conflating anti-Zionism and Jew-hatred. Media questioning of the claims of the Israeli military has even been compared to Holocaust denial. Yet actual, unambiguous Jew-hatred is meanwhile much in evidence, in America and Europe alike. This raises the imperative on activists to genuinely grapple with the distinction, rather than merely dismissing anti-Semitism as Zionist propaganda—which is, ironically, itself an anti-Semitic response. In Episode 201 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinbergexplores the dilemma. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Image: frgdr.com)

Europe

Ukrainian anti-fascist sentenced to prison in Russia

An appeals court in Moscow upheld the 13-year sentence imposed on Ukrainian human rights defender Maksym Butkevych, in what Amnesty International called “a grave miscarriage of justice.” Butkevych had been convicted in a “sham trial” by a de facto court in the Russian-occupied “Luhansk People’s Republic” in Ukraine, which Moscow has unilaterally declared annexed territory. A platoon leader in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Butkevych was taken captive in March and charged with war crimes. Amnesty dismisses the case as “a reprisal by Russia for his civic activism and his prominent human rights work.” Before the invasion, Butkevych led a Ukrainian NGO helping refugees find asylum in the country, and had long been a frontline opponent of the militant right in both Ukraine and Russia. (Image: Ukraine Solidarity Campaign)

Europe

France: far-right parties invoke ‘civil war’

French police have arrested more than 3,000 protesters in unrest that has spread since the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old delivery worker Nahel Merzouk, the son of North African immigrants, during a traffic stop in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. The Ministry of the Interior has mobilized some 45,000 police troops and gendarmes, as fierce clashes with police have spread across the country. The French far right is meanwhile baiting President Emmanuel Macron for what they portray as a weak response to the uprising. Marine Le Pen issued an inflammatory video statement warning of “anarchy” and calling for a state of emergency to be declared. Marion Maréchal, Le Pen’s niece and a former National Front parliamentarian, has called for armed vigilantism and repeatedly invoked “civil war.” (Photo via Crimethinc)

Europe

Russia opens criminal trial of Azov Battalion troops

A Russian court has begun hearing the case against 24 Ukrainian soldiers from the Azov Battalion, seized in May 2022 during the battle for the city of Mariupol. The battalion members—including eight women—face charges of involvement with a “terrorist organization,” and participating in activities to “overthrow” Russian authorities. The Russian Supreme Court designated Azov a “terrorist organization” in August 2022, and Russian prosecutors first filed charges against the Azov fighters this May. The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, asserts that the trial has no legal basis, citing international law and military immunity. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, “Combatant immunity bars the prosecution of combatants for mere participation in hostilities.” (Photo of Azov Battalion fighters: Carl Ridderstråle/Wikimedia Commons)

Europe

Wagner forces halt march on Moscow

Troops from the Wagner Group mercenary force abruptly reversed course after advancing through southern Russia toward Moscow, bringing an apparent end to what appeared to be an attempted coup d’état. This came hours after President Vladimir Putin accused Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin of treason and vowed swift and harsh action, comparing the uprising to the 1917 Revolution. Wagner forces had reportedly seized control of Russia’s Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don, which houses nuclear weapons. Belarusian authorities claim their country’s leader Alexander Lukashenko facilitated negotiations between the parties, allowing Wagner to call off the march on Moscow in exchange for the dropping of treason charges against Prigozhin. (Photo: Wagner Group/Telegram via Jurist)

Europe

France: far-right party Kremlin links exposed

A French parliamentary report leaked to the press asserts that Marine Le Pen’s far-right party Rassemblement National knowingly served as a “communication channel” for Kremlin propaganda. Le Pen called the report “sectarian, dishonest and politicized”—despite the fact that it was Le Pen herself who demanded an investigation into foreign interference in French politics. Le Pen has long been openly supportive of the Kremlin. After Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, Le Pen insisted that Moscow’s annexation of the territory was not illegal. Her party, previously named the National Front, is known for extreme anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and anti-EU stances. As such, French banks are hesitant to give the party loans for campaigns. Le Pen instead obtained loans from a Russian bank in 2014, and more recently from Hungary’s state bank in 2022. (Photo: gregroose/Pixabay via Jurist)

Watching the Shadows

Podcast: ‘tankies,’ ‘false flags’ & the ‘gray zone’

A tankie agent carried out “false flag” vandalism of a synagogue and other Jewish targets in Detroit, attempting to blame it on the Azov Battalion and tar Ukrainians. She turns out to have been a member of the retro-Stalinist Workers World Party and a staff writer for openly dictator-shilling MintPress News—which has itself engaged in “false flag” disinformation, blaming the Syrian rebels for chemical attacks against their own strongholds by the Bashar Assad regime. MintPress has also received funding directly from the Assad Lobby. In Episode 176 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg examines this ultra-cynical propaganda nexus, and asks whether such agents are mere “useful idiots” for the Kremlin or actual conscious assets operating in the “gray zone“—the sphere of “hybrid warfare” in which the line between state and non-state actors is blurred. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Image: Bob from Brockley)

Europe

Podcast: ‘Bad facts’ and the Belgorod incursion

As Russian propaganda portrays Ukraine as a “Nazi state,” exemplifying fascist pseudo-anti-fascism, actual far-right links among forces backed by Kyiv constitute “bad facts” for the Ukrainian cause. In Episode 175 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg examines the self-declared Freedom of Russia Legion and other forces involved in the armed incursion into Belgorod oblast. The incursion force seems to have constituted a strange liberal-fascist alliance, joining fighters seeking a democratic revolution and those seeking an even more totalitarian state. Meanwhile, anti-fascist forces, including Russian anarchist defectors, are also fighting for Ukraine. And an armed resistance has emerged in Belarus—with no indication that its politics are anything other than pro-democratic. Is there hope for a new Russian revolution? Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Map via Wikimedia Commons)

Europe

What is the Freedom of Russia Legion?

Fighters in armored vehicles crossed into Russia from Ukrainian territory and seized a town in Belgorod oblast. They were only driven out after Russian forces responded with fighter planes and artillery. Two groups claimed responsibility for the raid, both said to be made up of Russians who are fighting for Ukraine. One is the self-proclaimed Freedom of Russia Legion, which released a video message to coincide with the attack, calling on Russians to take up arms “to put an end to the Kremlin’s dictatorship.” The other is the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), characterized as far-right nationalists—although this does raise the question of why they are fighting for Ukraine. (Image: LvivMedia via YouTube)

Europe

Ukraine and the weaponization of history —again

In Episode 169 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg discusses the move by the Kyiv City Council to name a street after Nazi collaborator Volodymyr Kubiyovych, who was instrumental in forming the SS Galizien Division. The plan was quashed by Kyiv’s mayor following protests from the Israeli ambassador—but not before internet tankies exploited the affair to portray Ukraine as a “Nazi state.” Ironically, this came the same week that President Volodymyr Zelensky honored victims of the Holocaust at the Babi Yar memorial in Kyiv. The unseemly nostalgia for Nazi collaborators who fought the Soviets in World War II is opposed by the leadership of Ukraine’s Jewish community—who also vigorously repudiate efforts by Kremlin propagandists to launder Putin’s war of aggression as “denazification.” Russia’s fascist pseudo-anti-fascism is likewise repudiated by Ukraine’s own bona fide left-wing anti-fascists, in groups such as the Solidarity Collectives, who now support the Ukrainian war effort against the Russian aggression. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo of the Galizien Division: Polish National Digital Archive via Lviv Interactive)

Planet Watch

Podcast: against global paramilitarism

In Episode 168 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg examines the suddenly booming global phenomenon of paramilitarism—the official armed forces of a given state or its repressive apparatus seeking an extension in the private sector, citizen militias, or irregular forces. This is a method generally resorted to when state power is in crisis, and contributes to a general militarization of society. Examples from Russia, West Africa, Sudan, Burma, Ecuador, Israel and finally Texas point to a dangerous and ultimately fascistic new model of both imperialism and internal policing and repression. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: Contagio Radio)