Patriot of Ukraine

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
(Redirected from Patriots of Ukraine)
Jump to: navigation, search
Patriot of Ukraine
Патріо́т Украї́ни
Leader Andriy Biletsky
Founded 2005
Dissolved 10 December 2014
Headquarters Kharkiv
Ideology Neo-Nazism
Political position Far-right
Party flag
Flag of the Patriots of Ukraine.svg
Website
http://patriotukr.org.ua/

The Patriot of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Патріо́т Украї́ни) was a Ukrainian nationalist organization, defunct from December 2014. It was described as having racist and neo-Nazi political beliefs.[1][2][3][4][5] It constituted a paramilitary wing of the Social-National Assembly of Ukraine (S.N.A.), an assemblage of neo-Nazi organizations and groups[6][7][8] founded in 2008 that share the social-national ideology and agree upon building a social-national state in Ukraine.[9][10][11] Both the "Patriot of Ukraine" and the S.N.A. engaged in political violence against minorities and their political opponents.[5][12][13] The leader of the "Patriot of Ukraine" and of the Social-National Assembly is Andriy Biletsky. In interview to LB.ua (Left Bank) on 10 December 2014 Biletsky announced that the Patriot of Ukraine as political organization suspended its activities due to the war situation in the country and dissolved primarily within the Azov Battalion.[14]

History

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The origin of the "Patriot of Ukraine" can be traced to Lviv where the Association of Support for the Armed Forces and Navy of Ukraine "Patriot Ukrayiny" (Ukrainian: Товариство Сприяння Збройним силам та Військово-Морському флоту України "Патріот України") was registered on 10 June 1996 as a civic association, registration number 375.[15][16][17]

The first Congress of the "Patriot of Ukraine" was held in Lviv on 12 December 1999 where it was officially adopted by the Social-National Party of Ukraine (SNPU) as its paramilitary youth wing. In the evening, around 1500 members of the SNPU and the "Patriot of Ukraine" staged a torchlight demonstration in the city. The first leader of the organization became Andriy Parubiy, who established a long-lasting tradition of torchlight parades, which became an organizational trademark. At that time Parubiy gained national notoriety in Ukraine after he was put on trial for alleged assault on communist demonstrators in Lviv on 7 November 1997. The main TV channels in Ukraine broadcast footage of Parubiy clashing with the demonstrators. The trial was dragged, moved around, and finally the case was dismissed due to the statute of limitations. A photo of Parubiy leading the "Patriot of Ukraine" march was placed on the cover of his book published in Lviv in 1999.[18]

The "Patriot of Ukraine" was dissolved by the SNPU on 14 February 2004, when the IX Congress of the SNPU adopted a new name - VO Svoboda, and elected Oleh Tyahnybok as its leader. Aiming at building a parliamentary type of political organization with an image of the "party of order", Svoboda had shaken off some old baggage, including Wolfsangel-type logo, which was replaced with the national colors and a trident (trizub) hand gesture (three raised fingers), the so-called "Trident of Liberty".[15] The original "Patriot of Ukraine" organization was also discarded since Svoboda wanted to appeal to a broader base of the Ukrainian electorate.[19] Eventually, Svoboda while still remaining a radical nationalist party was able to benefit from its new strategy: first, it scored wins at the 2010 local elections in three regions of Western Ukraine, then, it won 10.5% of the national vote during the 2012 parliamentary elections in Ukraine and created its own parliamentary faction in the Verkhovna Rada.

However, some regional branches of the Patriot of Ukraine, for example, in Zhytomyr (later renamed into Haidamaky) and also in Kharkiv, refused to disband.

Re-establishment

Andriy Biletsky addresses the Second Congress of the "Patriot of Ukraine", Kharkiv, April 12, 2008
Patriot of Ukraine's alternative emblem: runic monogram created of the initial Cyrillic letters "П" and "У"
Patriot of Ukraine utilizes the so-called runic trident with the pointed base instead of the state trident with the rounded base employed by traditional nationalistic organizations in Ukraine

In 2005 the process of the re-establishment was started in Kharkiv where the Patriot of Ukraine was re-constituted as an independent political organization and subsequently registered by local authorities as a civic association on 17 January 2006, registration number 1057.[16] The Patriot of Ukraine defined itself as a "revolutionary vanguard of the Ukrainian social-nationalistic movement".[20] The organization continued to use the "Idea of the Nation" symbol (similar to Wolfsangel rune) which was initially used by the Social-National Party of Ukraine, the only difference is the color of the monogram as the SNPU used azure (blue) monogram on gold and the "Patriot of Ukraine" utilizes sable (black) on gold and gold on sable.[16] The monogram consists of a combination of the Latin letters "I" and "N". (Note that organization's propaganda materials describe the letters as Old Russian, as they were traditionally drawn before Peter the Great reformed the alphabet in 1707-1710.) The letter "N" symbolizes the central place of the national idea in organizational ideology; while the letter "I" with both ends sharpened emphasizes the unstoppable movement of ideas and triumph of the ideal over materialistic.[21]

In 2007, the organization officially ended its relationship with Svoboda, a direct descendant to the SNPU.[22] In the statement it was announced that, <templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

Breaking all relationships with "Svoboda", the "Patriot of Ukraine" realizes that it assumes all the responsibility in the struggle for future Greater Ukraine. As an organization the "Patriot of Ukraine" is based on the "party-army" principle: it aims at creating a powerful All-Ukrainian Social-National movement, in which the new Social-National Party of Ukraine will hold a prominent place aided by storm detachments of the "Patriot of Ukraine" and the social-national trade-unions.[22]

However, despite the split some prominent Svoboda's members, such as Andriy Illienko, Chairman of the Kiev City Branch of the Svoboda ("Freedom") All-Ukrainian Union and a member of the Verhovna Rada, continued to advocate social-nationalism and idea of the two revolutions: national and social, which created a common ground with the "Patriot of Ukraine".[23][24]

Some researchers pointed to the fact that even after the declarative break-up, VO "Svoboda" continued to benefit, <templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

From the increasing popularity of extreme-right youth movements and organizations like the Social-National Assembly (SNA), 'Patriot of Ukraine' and Autonomous Resistance, whose aim is to create 'a uniracial and uninational society.' The activities of these groups are not limited to physical or symbolic violence against ethnic and social minorities, as they also take an active part in numerous social campaigns - generally along with representatives of Svoboda - ranging from mass protests against price rises to leafleting against alcohol and drug use. Needless to say, members of these extreme-right movements are often members of Tyahnybok's party.[25][26]

Ideology and program

The Patriot of Ukraine promotes a radical nationalist, racist and neo-Nazi platform,[1][2][3][4][5] including:[27][28]

Activities

In August 2011, three Patriot of Ukraine supporters were arrested and convicted in the so-called Vasylkiv terrorists case.

At the end of 2013, at the beginning of the Euromaidan protest movement, the Patriot of Ukraine created the Right Sector along with other far-right and nationalist parties and groups, including: Trident of Stepan Bandera (Dmytro Yarosh), UNA-UNSO (Oleksandr Muzychko)[29][30][31] and the White Hammer (Vladislav Goranin), although they would later be dissociated.[32]

During the Euromaidan, militants from the Patriot of Ukraine were active participants of major clashes with the riot police; according to Igor Krivoruchko, a leader of the Kiev's S.N.A. branch, on February 18, 2014, they seized and burned the headquarters of the ruling party - the Party of Regions - in Kiev.[33][34]

On April 29, 2014, the Patriot of Ukraine together with the Spilna Sprava staged a torch rally procession in Kiev to commemorate the Euromaidan fallen heroes.[35] The Self-defense of Euromaidan, attempted to disperse the rally and as a result a massive fist fight near Maidan Nezalezhnosti flared up.[36]

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ (Ukrainian) Андрій Білецький (Andriy Biletsky). Український расовий Соціал-Націоналізм – ідеологія організації „Патріот України” (Ukrainian racial Social-Nationalism - ideology of the Patriot of Ukraine). In: Український соціальний націоналізм (Ukrainian social nationalism). (Бібліотека організації „Патріот України”. The Patriot of Ukraine library.) Харків (Kharkiv): Патріот України (The Patriot of Ukraine), 2007, с.3-5.
  10. ↑ (Russian) Олег Однороженко. Социал-националистическое движение и его основные задачи (Social-nationalistic movement and its agenda). In: Український соціальний націоналізм (Ukrainian social nationalism). (Бібліотека організації „Патріот України”. The Patriot of Ukraine library.) Харків (Kharkiv): Патріот України (The Patriot of Ukraine), 2007, с.46-54.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Shvets, Ye. Andriy Biletsky: Half of Azov speaks in Russian language. But they die and kill for Ukraine. LB.ua. 10 December 2014
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 (Ukrainian) Андрющенко Е. С. Парамілітарні структури українського націоналістичного руху 90-х рр. ХХ ст. (Paramilitary structures of the Ukrainian nationalistic movements in the 1990s) / Е. С. Андрющенко // Наукові праці історичного факультету Запорізького національного університету : збірник / голов. ред. Ф. Г. Турченко. – Запоріжжя, 2011. – Вип. XXХ. – С. 42–51.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Ivan Katchanovski (University of Ottawa). An Interview with Reuters Concerning Svoboda, the OUN-B, and other Far Right Organizations in Ukraine, Academia.edu, 4 March 2014.
  18. ↑ (Ukrainian) Парубій А. Погляд справа. Статті, виступи, інтерв’ю. Львів: Орієнтири, 1999. — 44 с. Andriy Parubiy. The Right View: Publications, addresses, interviews. Lviv, 1997.
  19. ↑ David Stern. Svoboda: The rise of Ukraine's ultra-nationalists, BBC News, 25 December 2012.
  20. ↑ (Ukrainian) Official website "Patriot of Ukraine" Archived by WebCite
  21. ↑ (Ukrainian) Iдея Nацiї: символiка i традицiя (Idea of the Nation: symbolism and tradition) Archived by WebCite
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 (Ukrainian) Заява Організації „Патріот України” про розрив стосунків з ВО „Свобода” (Announcement of the Patriot of Ukraine about break-up with VO Svoboda) Archived by WebCite
  23. ↑ (Ukrainian) Андрій Іллєнко (Andriy Illienko). Соціал-націоналізм і революція (Social-nationalism and revolution), Українська правда, 2 березня 2011 (March 2, 2011).
  24. ↑ See: Social-nationalism and VO Svoboda in: "The Return of the Ukrainian Far Right: The Case of VO Svoboda," in Ruth Wodak and John E. Richardson (eds.) Analyzing Fascist Discourse: European Fascism in Talk and Text. London and New York: Routledge, 2013, 228-255.
  25. ↑ Roots of Svoboda, The Jerusalem Report, December 3, 2012.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ (Ukrainian) Андрій Білецький (Andriy Biletsky). Український Соціал-Націоналізм (Ukrainian Social-Nationalism), Rid.org.ua. Accessed on 2 March 2014. Archived by WebCite
  28. ↑ (Ukrainian) Слово Білого Вождя (White Leader Talk: Andriy Biletsky addresses, 2008-2013). Archived by WebCite
  29. ↑ Groups at the sharp end of Ukraine unrest, BBC News (1 February 2014)
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Andrew E. Kramer. Front and Center in Ukraine Race, a Leader of the Far Right, The New York Times, March 11, 2014.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ (Russian) Маргарита Чимирис, Анастасия Браткова (Margarita Chemeris, Anastasia Bratkova). Кто шагает с правой: Радикалы Майдана хотят продолжения революции. Власть называет их провокаторами (Who walks right: Maidan radicals want to continue revolution. Authorities call them provocateurs), Internet-newspaper Vesti.ua, № 12(30), 4–10 April 2014.
  34. ↑ Radical protesters burst into Party of Regions' Kyiv office, Kyiv Post, February 18, 2014.
  35. ↑ (Ukrainian) Смолоскипний марш на честь полеглих Героїв Небесної сотні (Torch rally procession in commemoration of fallen Heroes of the Heaven's Hundred) Photos. Archived by WebCite
  36. ↑ (Ukrainian) На київському Майдані сталася бійка (A fist fight at the Kiev's Maidan), Дзеркало тижня, 29 April 2014.
Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Patriot_of_Ukraine&oldid=699874725"