NO TO NEW CAUCASIAN WAR!
The eruption of military actions between Georgia and South Ossetia
threatens to develop into a large-scale war between Georgia supported
by NATO on the one hand, and the Russian state on the other. Thousands
of people are already killed and wounded * principally, peaceful
inhabitants; whole cities and settlements have been wiped out. The
society has been flooded with muddy streams of a nationalist and
chauvinistic hysteria.
As always and everywhere in conflicts between the states, there is
not and cannot be the righteous in new Caucasian war - there are only
the guilty. The coals which have been fanned for years now have caused
a military fire. The Saakashvili regime in Georgia keeps two thirds of
population in poverty, and the greater internal discontent in the
country this causes, the more it desires to find a way out from the
deadlock in the form of a "small victorious war" in the hope, that it
can write everything off. The government of Russia is full of
determination to keep the hegemony in the Caucasus. Today they pretend
to bethe defender of weak, but their hypocrisy is abundantly clear: in
fact, Saakashvili only repeats what the Putinist soldiery did in
Chechnya 9 years ago. Ruling circles of both Ossetias and Abkhazia
aspire to strengthen their role as exclusive allies of Russia in the
region, and at the same time to rally the impoverished population
around the tested torch of the "national idea" and "rescue the people".
Leaders of the USA, the European states and NATO, on the contrary, wish
to weaken the influence of their Russian rivals in the Caucasus as much
as possible to provide to themselves with control over fuel resources
and their transport. Thus, we became witnesses and victims of the next
coil of world opposition in struggle for power, oil and gas.
This fight does not bring to working people - Georgians, Ossets,
Abkhasians or Russians - anything, except for blood and tears,
incalculable disasters and deprivation. We express our deep sympathy to
the friends and relatives of the victims, to the people which have
beenleft without a roof over their head and means of subsistence as a
result of this war.
We shouldn't fall under the influence of nationalist demagogy which
demands unity with "our" government, flying the flag of "protecting the
homeland". The main enemy of the simple people is not the poor brothers
and sisters on the other side of the border or of other nationality.
Their enemie are the rulers and bosses of all kinds, presidents and
ministers, businessmen and generals, those who generate wars for the
sake of multiplying power and riches. We call on the working people in
Russia, Ossetias, Abkhazia and Georgia to reject the bait of
nationalism and patriotism and to turn the anger on rulers and the rich
on both sides of the border.
Russian, Georgian, Ossetic and Abkhazian soldiers! Do not obey the
orders of your commanders! Turn your weapon against those who sent you
ti war! Do not shoot the soldiers of your "opponent" - fraternize with
them: a bayonet in the ground!
Working people in the rear! Sabotage military efforts, leave to go
to meetings and demonstrations against the war, organize yourselves and
strike against it!
No to the war and to its organizers - rulers and richmen! Yes to
solidarity of working people across borders and the front lines!
Federation of Education, Science and Technical Workers, CRAS-IWA
This declaration is open for signatures
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