The war in Ukraine, the course of hostilities and their consequences, the suffering of peaceful Ukrainians, the geopolitical games of the great powers – all this has overshadowed many important aspects of domestic Ukrainian life.
Meanwhile, against the backdrop of loud statements by the authorities about the protection of freedom and democracy, aimed at an external audience, a dictatorial regime is being built in the country at full speed.
Over the past two years, even before the start of active hostilities, seven nationwide TV channels were closed in Ukraine by decisions of the President and the National Commission on Television controlled by him and the National Security and Defense Council: KRT, 112 Ukraine, NewsOne, ZIK, «First Independent”, UkrLive and “Nash”. All the “guilt” of the banned TV channels consisted only in the fact that they were in opposition to the government and gave the floor to its political opponents. Their activities were stopped absolutely illegally, without court decisions, as provided by the laws.
At the same time, the blocking of leading independent Internet publications began: Strana.ua, Shariy.net and others.
The authorities simply canceled the right of millions of Ukrainian citizens to receive various information and to a different point of view – to freedom of speech, and introduced censorship in the country.
It is simply impossible to imagine that today such material would appear in the Ukrainian media or be announced on Ukrainian television. Moreover, the Ukrainian segments of social networks have become almost completely controlled; Facebook, youtube. Even the Ukrainian branch of Wikipedia is controlled and censored: articles about “undesirable” persons are distorted or destroyed altogether, much is altered or filled with fakes.
And all the obvious destruction of freedom of speech is elevated to the rank of law: in the spring, the president signed relevant laws and decrees that actually oblige the remaining media to obey the requirements and wishes of the authorities.
Continuing the policy of the previous president, the oligarch Petro Poroshenko, the current president has further exacerbated the so-called “decommunization”, which in fact is a policy of persecuting all leftist ideology and symbols – both communist, and socialist, and social democratic. Laws on “decommunization” were adopted, according to which the public performance of the “Internationale” by a group of people – the anthem of the international socialist movement – is punishable by imprisonment for a term of 5 to 10 years with confiscation of property.
The political party “Union of Left Forces of Ukraine” (in December 2021 received a new name – “For New Socialism”), which I head, has become the leading and most active political force of the left direction in Ukraine in recent years.
We advocated a socially oriented policy in the interests of the majority of Ukrainian citizens, and not big oligarchic business, for ensuring freedom of speech, for peace and against war.
Defending the rights of ordinary Ukrainian citizens and the left movement, we severely criticized the current Ukrainian government, were in opposition to it.
In response to this, the authorities unleashed political repressions against our and other opposition parties.
The start of hostilities in Ukraine in February last year was used as a pretext.
At the direction of the president, the authorities, with the help of similar, carbon-copied, unreasoned court decisions, banned the activities of all Ukrainian opposition parties, including the Union of Left Forces, last fall.
Such decisions were made in a stamped fashion, in an assembly line, only the name of the banned political party was changed in them. They are absolutely unproven and unmotivated from the point of view of the law.
Their illegality, unconstitutionality, far-fetchedness, glaringly obvious contradiction to European and world democratic norms and values are obvious and understandable to many European, Asian and American public figures, journalists and opinion leaders.
The dressing of the unconstitutional, illegal, usurping instructions of the president in court documents pursued only one goal – to create at least a faint semblance of legality.
The adoption of such decisions was the result of the colossal pressure of the authorities on the independence of the courts and the complete subordination of the presidential office by the judicial system of Ukraine. On his instructions, several judges of the Constitutional (including its chairman) and the Supreme Courts of Ukraine were illegally dismissed, refusing to make illegal, political decisions. And recently, for the same reasons, the Kyiv District Administrative Court was liquidated, the judges of which were not going to become servants of the president’s office.
Only proteges of the head of state head the investigating authorities, the police, the prosecutor’s office and the special services. Moreover, the speaker of parliament has been replaced by a loyal one, and the election of the same controlled chairman of the Constitutional Court is being prepared. The principle of separation of powers is completely leveled, it, the power, is concentrated in one place – the president’s office.
The persecution of opposition politicians, journalists and public figures has intensified as never before. Many of them were forced to leave the country, and those who did not, ended up in dungeons.
Deputies of the opposition factions of the parliament are recklessly deprived of their deputy mandates – contrary to the Constitution and the will of the people who elected them.
Moreover, in the secular state that is Ukraine, the authorities have launched repressive actions against the largest religious community in the country, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The Ukrainian special service, the Security Service, conducts large-scale searches in Orthodox monasteries across the country, criminal cases are opened against priests, church premises and property are taken by force, illegal sanctions are imposed on church hierarchs, and a bill on banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is registered in Parliament.
In Ukraine, several oligarchic clans have long controlled the lion’s share of the economy and national wealth, almost all the main media, the executive branch, law enforcement agencies, and the vast majority of parliament deputies.
It’s no secret that behind every major business structure, behind every parliamentary faction, behind every top official, there is one or another oligarch. Over the past few years, the oligarchs – the people on the Forbes list from Ukraine – have steadily increased their fortunes and increased control over the country and its resources, mercilessly ruining them and its citizens. Now, having suffered financial losses due to hostilities, they decided to compensate for them by establishing absolute control over all financial flows without exception: whether it be military supplies, humanitarian aid, taxation, loans, international assistance for reconstruction, export earnings, utility tariffs, and so on.
To do this, under the noise of war, the last obstacles to the establishment of an oligarchic dictatorship are harshly eliminated. At the same time, the current top officials from the president’s entourage are not averse to becoming newly-minted oligarchs themselves, by force taking away their assets from the old oligarchs. There are too many billions at stake, no one is embarrassed anymore (the recent video footage of the deputy head of the president’s office of a belligerent, devastated country driving a car worth a quarter of a million dollars is only a small, on the surface, obvious confirmation of this).
It is also obvious why in the political sphere the main blow is inflicted on the socialist movement: it is explained by the fear of losing power and wealth stolen from the country and legal persecution. The current regime is one step away from the complete usurpation of power in Ukraine.
In the current conditions, for all citizens of our country who stand for freedom of speech, ensuring real democracy, and against the oligarchic dictatorship in Ukraine, international support is extremely important.
True information about the real situation in Ukraine, international solidarity of all progressive forces can influence the current situation, force the Ukrainian authorities to cancel the illegal decisions to ban independent media and parties, stop the persecution of the opposition, and prevent the final establishment of an oligarchic dictatorship.
The views expressed in the article are personal opinion of the author, “The Press United” does not endorse or guarantee for correctness of personal opinions.