Talk:Patriot of Ukraine

Notice of RfC at Right Sector

RfC at Right Sector:

“Should the article say in the lead that the group (or that some of its subgroups’ members) are neofascist or neo-Nazi, without citing a minimum of 3 top-quality sources?” --Dervorguilla (talk) 06:03, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Academic resources for Patriots of Ukraine

I'll see if I can find a way of incorporating any relevant material:

• EUROPE-ASIA STUDIES, Vol. 63, No. 2, March 2011, 203–228, The Creeping Resurgence of the Ukrainian Radical Right? The Case of the Freedom Party. ANTON SHEKHOVTSOV.

"During the second half of the 1990s, the SNPU recruited Nazi skinheads and football hooligans. At the same time, the party decided to reorganise its ‘popular guard units’ to form the Tovarystvo spryyannya zbroinym sylam ta viiskovo-mors’komu flotu Ukrayiny ‘Patriot Ukrayiny’ (Society of Assistance to Armed Forces and Navy of Ukraine ‘Patriot of Ukraine’), headed by Andrii Parubii. However, although the ‘Patriot of Ukraine’ was formed in 1996, it was not until 1999 that it became a full-fledged organisation. Its first convention took place in Lviv in December 1999 and was celebrated by a night-time torch procession through the city streets… [In 2004, the SNPU] the convention disbanded the Patriot of Ukraine, as this paramilitary organisation as such and its overtly racist stances in particular posed a threat to the new ‘respectable’ image of the Freedom Party… The Kharkiv local organisation of the Patriot of Ukraine refused to disband and renewed its membership in 2005. The following year, it managed to register as a regional social organisation, but, from then on, it had no organisational ties with the maternal party."

• From Para-Militarism to Radical Right-Wing Populism: The Rise of the Ukrainian Far-Right Party Svoboda. Right-Wing Populism in Europe, chapter 17. Anton Shekhovtsov.

"In November 1994, the SNPU launched its weekly newspaper, Social-Nationalist, edited by Nestor Pronyuk, who was also the author of the party symbol - a modified Wolfsangel (wolf's hook), a symbol of many post-war European neo-Nazi organizations. In 1993, the SNPU formed paramilitary'popular guard units' consisting of two subunits that comprised workers and students; these 'popular guard units' became the basis of the Society of Assistance to the Armed Forces and Navy of Ukraine, 'Patriot of Ukraine', formed in 1996 and headed by Parubiy. On 16 October 1995, the party was officially registered with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine… On 14 February 2004, the SNPU held its ninth convention, which became crucial to the party's political future. Tyahnybok became head of the party, now called Svoboda, and consolidated power into his hands. The convention also disbanded the 'Patriot of Ukraine', as this paramilitary organization posed a threat to the new 'respectable' image of Svoboda, although the 'Patriot of Ukraine' was revived as an independent group and continued to cooperate closely with Svoboda until 2007… Svoboda also seems to benefit 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. Interestingly, 'street combat youth movements' like the SNA no longer focus on ethnic issues: in contrast to the older Ukrainian far right, the new groups are, first and foremost, racist movements."

• Russian Politics and Law, vol. 51, no. 5, September–October 2013, pp. 59–74. ISSN 1061–1940 (print)/ISSN 1558–0962 (online) DOI: 10.2753/RUP1061-1940510503, Viacheslav Likhachev, Right-Wing Extremism on the Rise in Ukraine.

"The main extrasystemic ultraright group in Ukraine in recent years has been Patriot of Ukraine (led by Andrii Bilets’kyi). The core of the organization was formed in Kharkiv in 2004, when a group of activists belonging to the SNPU’s paramilitary youth wing of the same name refused to accept the leaders’ decision to disband the militarized organization while “rebranding” their party. By 2006, Patriot of Ukraine had become a public movement with branches in many regions of the country. Activists appeared in camouflage uniform with neo-Nazi symbols. Many public actions were organized—targeting migrants, political opponents, and others. Violence (including the use of firearms) was repeatedly used against political opponents and members of ethnic and sexual minorities. In 2011, during the investigation of several criminal cases (one charge concerned the preparation of a terrorist act), almost the entire leadership of the organization in Kyiv and Kharkiv ended up behind bars; this paralyzed the movement and caused it to split. Other notable ultraright groups in Ukraine include the Trident named in honor of Stepan Bandera (based on the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists), the Brotherhood, and the informally structured groups of the Autonomous Resistance (which grew in part out of the Ukrainian National-Labor Party). Salient among pro-Russian ultra right groups are the aggressive Odessa group Unity (Edinstvo) and the For Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia movement, which employs anti-Semitic rhetoric. Members of almost all the organizations listed are known to have engaged in ideologically motivated violence."

• Diversity and Tolerance in Ukraine in the Context of EURO 2012, MRIDULA GHOSH, May 2011, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

"An analysis in 2008 stated that, police investigation reports of the growing number of hate crimes after the year 2005 against foreigners and visible minorities showed that in the majority of cases the perpetrators were radical youth groups. The analysis covered such groups as Patriot of Ukraine, Ukrainian Peoples Labor Party, Ukrainian Alternative, National Action "RID", Sich, Character Kozatstvo, Svyato-Andriyivsky, Kozachiy Kurin and others. Police patrol in Kyiv alone revealed 86 spots and 55 meeting places of far right groups… Notably, in 2008, during a congress of nationalist parties and movements, the following organizations – UNA-UNSO, All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda, Tryzub, Ukrainian Party, Banderivets, National Alliance, OUN (m), OUN (r), Youth National Congress, and Patriot - for the defense of homeland – agreed to cooperate. But the Ukrainian National Labor Party and Patriot of Ukraine were not invited. After several rifts, one part of UNA-UNSO clearly spoke out about their stand against racism and xenophobia in their documents, while the other group remained more radical, closer to Patriot of Ukraine and UNTP. They demand total ban on migration, are against refugees and asylum seekers and the concept of tolerance. Groups such as Skinheads, followers of Hetman Pavel Skoropadskiy, Fans of the Third Hetmanate, Movement against Illegal Migration and Delegation of the Right from the Regions are those who support similar ideas."

• Fighting Fences vs Fighting Monuments: Politics of Memory and Protest Mobilization in Ukraine. Volodymyr Ishchenko, Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe.

"By “far right,” I mean the “Svoboda” (“Freedom”) party (ideologically oriented toward European far right parties like the Freedom Party of Austria, the National Front of France, or the Hungarian Jobbik party combining conservative values and a neo-racist anti migration position together with social populism) and rightist non-partisan groups including overtly racist “autonomous nationalists” (http://reactor.org.ua) and the neo-Nazi “Patriot of Ukraine” (http://www.patriotukr.org.ua/). For the far right sector politics of memory actions comprised 29.2% of all protest actions with their participation, this was larger than the shares of social-economic, political struggle, and civic rights protest issues (Table 7)… After the notorious death of Maksym Chaika in a fight with antifascists in Odessa in April 2009, Yushchenko unambiguously supported the far right interpretation of the accident claiming the victim to be “an activist of a patriotic civic association” consciously murdered by “pro-Russia militants” ignoring Chaika’s connections with rightist football hooligans and his membership in the “SICH” (“Glory and Honor”) organization, a participant in the Social-Nationalist Assembly (http://sna.in.ua/) together with the neo-Nazi group “'Patriots of Ukraine.'"

• The Extreme Right in Ukraine’s Political Mainstream: What Lies Ahead? Mridula Ghosh, in book Right Wing Extremism in Europe, eds Ralf Melzer, Sebastian Serafi, published by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2013.

"In its own internal flows of communication and control, Svoboda has always been a top-down organization that does not permit dialogue or encourage critical thinking and dissent. Yet it has made good use of “open” forms of grassroots exchanges, communicating with the public and attracting new recruits via social networks like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and VKontakte. In this context, special mention should be made of the relations that Svoboda has maintained with what may be called the “informal” far-right, a category that includes the neo-Nazi underground, radical football fans, and hooligans. Members of these groups constitute hidden reservoirs of support for Svoboda and its ideology, Among them are those who openly propagate intolerance (e.g., by supporting total bans on immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers), including one part of UNA-UNSO; the Ukrainian National Labor Party and Patriots of Ukraine; skinheads; followers of Hetman Pavel Skoropadskiy; Fans of the Third Hetmanate; and the Delegation of the Right from the regions. There are also those who do not champion racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, but nevertheless harbor other radical ideas, such as the moderate wing of UNA-UNSO; Tryzub; the Ukrainian Party; Banderivets the National Alliance; both moderate and radical groups in OUN; the Youth National Congress; and Patriot: For the Defense of the Homeland."

I'll add more if I find them. -Darouet (talk) 18:37, 15 May 2014 (UTC)

Congrats

Excellent work, guys. I learned a lot about this and Social-National Party of Ukraine. Zezen (talk) 04:15, 5 April 2017 (UTC)