Антимилитаризм

Situation in Northern Caucasus and Libertarian reaction

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This article was originally published in Avtonom #30 in the Autumn of 2008. whole issue is available in PDF format  here. It was translated for Abolishing the Borders from Below #35 in Autumn of 2009  with a number of mistakes  corrected and some information updated..

It is of little doubt that the total failure of any attempts to oppose the Second Chechen War was the most bitter defeat of the Russian anarchist movement during the past decade. A feeling of total powerlesness in front of the brutal realities of the Chechenyan meat-grinder was pressing so heavily on the imagination of anti-authoritarians during the first half of the decade, that the movement was onlyable to recovere slightly when the intensity of the war gradually calmed down. 

A British soldier who refused to return to duty in Afghanistan and went on to speak at anti-war rallies was sentenced to nine months' detention in a military prison on 5th of March. Support group in London is going to appeal, but it's not known whether that can change the situation. Though, people from all over the world already could show, how much solidarity can be effective, organised on 4th and 5th of March actions in support of Joe  in UK, Italy, USA, Germany, Greece, Russia and earlier, in January, also in New Zealand and Poland. Thanks to those people, charge of desertion was dropped and instead of 10 years detention in prison Joe was sentenced to 9 months.

In the modern world every single life is considered to be the highest value but wars are not on the decrease, people keep on dying and staying crippled, keep on running away from the places they were born because their homeland has turned to ruins. And those, who try to protest against war have arraignment, followed by prison sentence. We going to take issue with that! We support all soldiers-antimilitarists, who refuse to take part in military action!
Today, 4th of March, near the British Embassy was organised a picket in support of lance corporal Joe Glenton, one of those, who could say, what millions of people all over the world want to say. All those people want the same thing - to stop senseless wars and murders.

On 5 March UK refusenik Joe Glenton faces court martial and possibly two years in jail for going AWOL (absent without leave). According to the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), soldiers have gone on the run from their posts on more than 17,000 occasions since 2003.

WHY PICK ON JOE GLENTON? Because Joe has spoken publicly about his refusal to take part in the war and occupation of Afghanistan.   The steady drumbeat of attacks on civilians continues:  On 21 February, 33 civilians including women and children were killed in Uruzgan province in a NATO airstrike on a convoy of vehicles. When will the killing end?

On February 23 in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and several other former republics of the Soviet Union the holiday "Defender of the Motherland Day" is celebrated. As the name suggests, the holiday is celebrated by people who are serving or were serving in the Russian Armed Forces. This holiday is always full of patriotism and prevailing authorities do their best to fill people's heads with shit, making them to be ashamed of unwilingness of military service and to respect those who served in the armed forces, if not love it.

A British soldier who refused to return to duty in Afghanistan and subsequently spoke at anti-war rallies today admitted going absent without leave after a more serious charge of desertion was dropped.

During a brief military court hearing, Lance Corporal Joe Glenton admitted going awol between June 2007 and June 2009.

On 6th January 2010 the police arrested 23 people in Ankara (Turkey) by using brutal force. The arrests occurred during a demonstration and press conference for the immediate release of the imprisoned milit

Today, 15 of January, over against the embassy of Great Britain there was a picket in support of lance corporal Joe Glenton, that was organised by anarchists involving members of "Autonomous action".
Activists showed their solidarity to Glenton's decision, unwraped the banner "It's better to be deserter, than to be killer" and passing out antiwar leaflets.