In December US senator John McCain travelled to Ukraine to offer his support to the opposition, appearing on stage with leaders of the three opposition parties leading the protests - including the far-right Svoboda party. Svoboda is currently Ukraines fourth biggest party and holds 36 seats in parliament. It is also part of the Alliance of European National Movements, along with the BNP and Hungarys Jobbik. Svoboda leader Oleh Tyahnybok is one of the faces of the protests, appearing regularly along with opposition leader and former boxer Vitali Klitschko (see picture right) voicing opposition to Putins influence over the region. However, Tyahnybok has provoked controversy in the past with his anti-Semitic claims that a Moscow-Jewish mafia controls Ukraine. His party was registered in 1995 and initially used a swastika-style wolfsangel rune as its logo. It restricted membership to ethnic Ukrainians. Until 2004 it had a paramilitary wing called Patriots of Ukraine, and though it ended its link to the group in 2005, the two continue to be closely associated and to participate in protests together. Svoboda has played a leading role in the protests. Its member of parliament, Igor Myroshnychenko, claimed responsibility for the toppling of the statue of Lenin, and it led the occupation of the city hall. In December inside city town hall, an organisational hub for the protests, a white power logo was displayed in the centre of the stage alongside Svoboda party flags. Fascism is like a fashion now with more and more people getting involved. - Sergey Kirichuk MH
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 14:24:18 +0000
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