The Marxist-Leninist Weekly

On the 11th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, in which the Canadian military participated, the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) calls for an immediate withdrawal of all Canadian forces remaining in Afghanistan and for Canada to once and for all get out of NATO.

CPC(M-L) salutes the anti-war forces across the country who have stood firm on their principles against all justifications for imperialist war and aggression. CPC(M-L) also salutes the courageous people of Afghanistan who have valiantly faced a brutal onslaught causing untold death and destruction for the last 11 years at the hands of the U.S., Canada and other imperialist powers.

Today, the Harper government is positioning itself as a mouthpiece internationally for NATO and imperialist war and reaction, giving the most reactionary arguments for 18th century racist notions of white man's burden and might makes right. In this way, the Harper government has embroiled Canada in a new war of imperialist conquest and for the re-division of the world. It is using its considerable resources to entice Canadians to embrace the chauvinist notions and join the war fever. Fresh from its leading role in the attack on Libya and replacement of that country's government, Harper is preparing conditions for more of the same.

In a recent speech in New York to receive a spurious "Statesman of the Year" award, Harper put forward his empire-building notion of how Canada views the world. It is no coincidence that he was introduced by arch imperialist Henry Kissinger, whom Harper then praised to the skies. In his remarks Harper sought to divide the world among friends (the U.S., other NATO powers and Israel), designated enemies (Iran, Syria, DPRK...) and new emerging powers, which Canada will interact with but does not trust (presumably China, Russia, India...). In the world Harper described, the Canadian people must be fearful of all those who do not espouse "our values." According to Harper, Canadians require a strong stable state headed by a powerful leader to protect "national security" from designated enemies and other possible soon to be enemies.

Then, at the United Nations General Assembly, Harper's Foreign Minister John Baird attempted to redefine the goals of the United Nations on the most reactionary and self-serving basis. Instead of the internationally understood aim of providing a mechanism for the peaceful settlement of disputes between and among nations based on the principles of equality, sovereignty and territorial integrity, Baird claimed that the goal of the UN is the pursuit of prosperity and to eliminate those governments that do not submit to the imperialist notion of prosperity. In describing what constitutes imperialist prosperity, Baird reiterated the Harper government line that basic to it is the demand of the monopolies for open markets. He said, "Blessed with the benefit of human experience, we know what produces prosperity: Free trade among open societies operating under transparent, consistent and fair rules....

"The fight for the economic and social advancement of all peoples is manifested in the struggle for open markets, open society, and open-mindedness.... We recognize that the well-being of Canadians depends both on openness at home and on openness to the world.... [O]ur freedom is strengthened when others are free.... Because a threat to one is a threat to all, our security is enhanced when we cooperate to protect fragile democracies or to block the forces of instability."

Then, addressing the current situation in Syria, Baird stated, "The crisis in Syria is a test of this organization's ability to achieve results.... Assad must be replaced by a new order that protects Syria's territorial integrity and respects all religious minorities."

The Canada described by the Harperites is not the Canada of the Canadian people. Harper and Baird are instead elaborating the foreign policy of the United States of North American Monopolies, which seeks to dominate the world to resolve the current crisis in the favour of the monopolies at the expense of the people.

The Canadian working class and people constitute a section of the entire humanity of this world. All attempts to divide Canadians on an empire-building basis among friends, enemies and soon to be enemies must be resolutely opposed. The Canadian working class and people are not in competition with the working class and people of other countries. Far from it, Canadians, as a section of humanity, stand shoulder to shoulder with the working class and people of all lands as a single whole against imperialist domination and monopoly right. The working class and people themselves through their own efforts must establish and build this Canada as a base for peace and friendship amongst all peoples of the world.

Harper Government Continues to Support Torture

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews is reported to have issued a directive last year to the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) authorizing them to use and share information that was likely extracted through torture. The directive applies to information sharing with foreign government agencies, militaries and international organizations. The news follows a December 2010 directive to the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) to use information gained from torture.[1] The new information-sharing arrangements are no doubt required to integrate Canada's security and police agencies such as the RCMP, CSIS and CBSA into U.S. imperialism's worldwide security apparatus.

With the release of the directives, the Harper government is again trying to divert Canadians with an alleged policy debate. The issue is presented as "when" the use of torture is legitimate, covering up that it has already deemed torture acceptable. Such a "debate" is used to deprive the people of the only way to defend their security, which is by upholding the rights of all, and to hide the fact that the government has reversed the historic decision which unequivocally opposes the use of torture. Meanwhile, the government continually talks about human rights abuses in Iran, Syria and other countries. This reveals the hypocrisy and double-standard of the Harperites concerning their interest in human rights here and abroad. Torture is fine when it serves their narrow interests and when promoted by other countries as a result of the system of governance they themselves espouse. But when it interferes with their narrow interests then it become a cause celebre triggering open threats of interference, the imperialist "responsibility to protect," military invasion and regime change.

The recent directive outlines instructions for deciding whether to share information when a "substantial risk" exists that doing so "might result" in the abuse of someone in custody. Each of the directives is based on a framework document that indicates the information-sharing principles apply to all federal agencies. The four-page framework says, "The objective is to establish a coherent and consistent approach across the government of Canada in deciding whether or not to send information to, or solicit information from, a foreign entity when doing so may give rise to substantial risk of mistreatment of an individual."

Then, trying to present a moral dilemma the document says that in "exceptional circumstances" the RCMP or border agency "may need to share the most complete information in its possession," including information foreign agencies likely obtained through torture, "in order to mitigate a serious risk of loss of life, injury, or substantial damage or destruction of property before it materializes.... In such rare circumstances, ignoring such information solely because of its source would represent an unacceptable risk to public safety."

Such fraudulent moral dilemmas are deliberately aimed at presenting the inhuman crime of torture as a policy debate or discretionary matter, where assigned individuals can pick and choose when torture is to be used. One has to ask at what point the Harper government will use this same logic to try to justify Canadian security agencies openly engaging in torture. It must not pass!

Canada's Relations with the Baltic States

On August 28, Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a statement to mark the 21st anniversary of Canada's re-establishment of diplomatic ties with the Baltic States -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- following the break up of the Soviet Union. The statement highlighted Canada's support for the Baltic states in their "efforts to secure freedom and realize their own destinies." It highlighted the fact that the Harper government sees in the Baltic states "friends, partners and allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Canada and the Baltic States share the values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law."

The statement continued: "As we look back on the re-establishment of our relations with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, we celebrate the obstacles they have overcome, and the tremendous progress they have made over the past 21 years. We look forward to continuing to strengthen our relationship with these countries in the years to come."

The statement follows the vote at the United Nations General Assembly where the U.S., Canada and other NATO allies used the General Assembly against its own principles by passing a resolution calling for regime change in Syria, all under the guise of protecting human rights.[1] The aim was to create a pretext for a war of aggression against Syria similar to what took place in Libya. Along with Canada, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were among the sponsors of the resolution and responsible for bringing it to the floor of the General Assembly.

Canadians should take note of these developments. In Estonia, for example, a state-backed pro-Nazi celebration is held annually, while in Latvia, a former member of the Nazi Waffen SS is chairman of a parliamentary committee. At the same time, those who oppose the rehabilitation of Nazi war criminals and who were part of the resistance to Nazi aggression, especially Communists, are being criminalized. These same governments, linked to the rehabilitation of Nazi war criminals, are being presented as champions of "freedom, democracy and the rule of law" by the Harper government. These governments, along with the Harper government are the forces that are working to undermine the very principles of the United Nations that come out of the peoples' struggle against Nazi aggression. The Harper government's promotion of its relations with the Baltic States at this time and talk about shared values should give Canadians pause to consider the content of the "freedom, democracy and rule of law" the Harper government espouses.

Government's Ongoing Anti-Communist Crusade

Another event which illustrates the kind of "shared values" the government's domestic and foreign policy serves occurs every year on August 23, which the European Parliament designated in April 2009 as the "Europe-wide Remembrance Day for the victims of totalitarian regimes" (also known as "Black Ribbon Day"). This year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Members of Parliament once again attended meetings and gave speeches in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Toronto to mark the day on behalf of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney. Their words demonstrate how the ruling circles of Canada and other countries define everything on a cold war anti-communist basis to cover up their crisis of governance today and their inability to resolve a single problem facing their societies at this time. They are spending millions of dollars to launch campaigns to install anti-communism as a block in the minds of the people in order to lead the worker's movement into their abyss. The use of the words "totalitarian regimes" deliberately aim to falsely equate Nazism with communism and their own wars of aggression against sovereign countries in the name of a market economy, human rights and a multi-party democracy. This is what the U.S., European powers and Canada have done since the 1990s against Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, and have now also started against Syria as well as Iran.

The real historical significance of August 23 is that it is the anniversary of the 1939 Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) that gave the Soviet Union an extra 22 months to build up its defences against the expected Nazi invasion. By September 1939, Germany had occupied Austria and taken over Czechoslovakia. The Soviet Union called on Britain and France to sign a collective mutual assistance pact, which might have saved Europe from the Second World War or, at least, ensured that the war was shorter and less destructive. The British and French imperialists rejected the proposals for collective security because they hoped they could egg on Hitler to attack the Soviet Union. Of course Britain and France had already signed the sellout Munich Agreement with the Nazis in September 1938, which gave Hitler the green light to start invading Europe. The Soviet Union thwarted the Anglo-French plan by signing the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact, which simply stated that Germany would not attack the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union would not attack Germany, even though the Soviet Union had no illusions about Hitler's plans. When Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, the pact was immediately voided, and, as history shows, the Soviet Union then played a major role in ending the twisted Nazi dreams of world conquest.

Kenney clearly used his "Black Ribbon" speech on August 21 to try to falsely equate communism with Nazism. He constantly referred to Nazism as "national socialism" hoping to fool people into thinking that Nazism, the violent dictatorship of the biggest German monopolies and their U.S. collaborators, had something to do with socialism. Here he took a lesson from Hitler himself, who also tried to mislead the German people by pretending that Nazism had some kind of socialist content. At the end of his speech, Kenney thoroughly exposed his own deviousness in pretending to oppose Nazism by promoting the floundering project to build a monument in Canada to the "victims of communism," without mentioning Nazism at all. Here Kenney directly quoted Harper, stating that the so-called Memorial to Victims of Communism "shall stand as a reminder that all political systems are not the same, that our democracy and our freedoms are to be cherished, exercised and protected." Like all reactionaries, Harper and Kenney always raise the flag of democracy and freedom when they want to conceal their sinister agenda.

In mentioning the so-called "monument to the victims of communism" in their speeches, Harper and Kenney are referring to the shady state-supported monument project organized by a group calling themselves "Tribute to Liberty" (TTL). The group hopes to build a memorial that is officially called "A Memorial to Victims of Totalitarian Communism -- Canada, a Land of Refuge." The monument project in Canada is based on and linked to the very similar U.S. Victims of Communism Memorial Project, whose honourary chairman is war criminal George W. Bush and whose benefactors include monopolies such as defence contractor Lockheed Martin and the dominionist Amway Corporation. In Canada, the project was okayed in 2009 behind closed doors by the federal government's National Capital Commission (NCC), which oversees the use and development of national capital region land. Kenney suggested that the monument be built in Ottawa and the NCC approved the Garden of the Provinces and Territories in Ottawa, a prime location across from the Supreme Court of Canada.

Despite the fact that TTL's private anti-communist project has been made a public project by Harper and a number of his Cabinet Ministers and MPs, including Kenney, Peter Kent and Peter van Loan, as well as Liberal MP Irwin Cotler and Liberal Leader Bob Rae, all of whom have signed the list of project supporters and actively promote it, thus far it is a dismal failure that is receiving little support. Documents filed with Canada Revenue show that TTL is far from achieving its fund-raising goal for the project of $1.5 million, having raised a paltry $140,000, and spending most of that on operational and administrative costs. By the end of the 2011 year, TTL had only $9,600 in the bank. The National Capital Commission was supposed to hold a design competition for the monument this past spring, but first requires a deposit of two-thirds of the money for the construction costs, about $650,000.

To try to solve their financial problem, TTL has now applied to the Harper government for a grant of $750,000. Kenney's office said the government is working with TTL and would consider the funding application at a later date. Kenney's press secretary Alexis Pavlich noted that the government committed to the memorial in its 2010 Speech from the Throne and again in the Conservative Party's 2011 election campaign platform. The Harper government providing funds for the monument would be an interesting development in view of the fact that the federal Conservatives have been carrying out a concerted campaign to defund any charities in Canada who have a "political agenda" in order to try to silence them. Clearly, what is really meant by "political agenda" is an agenda that is opposed by the Harper government. Any charity like TTL that supports anti-communism and fascism can no doubt move to the head of the line for substantial Harper government handouts.

A spokesperson for TTL has suggested the reason for lack of funds for the monument is that, "It's a difficult project for a lot of the public to understand." An alternative explanation is that the working class and people of Canada understand the project very well and oppose it. Instead, the people think that the real victims who should be commemorated by a monument in Canada are the countless millions of victims of imperialism and capitalism, who have been slaughtered in the false name of opposing communism and "terrorism." They include all those killed in the anti-fascist war against Nazism and fascism and the peoples of Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America including the peoples of Korea, Viet Nam, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Yugoslavia, and most recently the peoples of Libya and Syria, to name only a few.

Historical Revanchism Under the Auspices of the European Union

In June 2008, Vaclav Havel and other prominent exponents of the political right and anti-communism put forward the Prague Declaration. In the Declaration, they insisted on the idea of equating Nazism and communism, issuing a verdict intended to be final, receiving support from the European Union. Apart from the lack of rigour of that declaration, and their recourse to the grossest of lies of the conservative libellers that ignore the obvious link between Nazism and fascism with the capitalist system, the idea was not new and in reality has precedents in the U.S. Cold War propaganda, and more recently in the political activity of the governments of the Baltic countries. Their current nationalist identity has an obvious affiliation with the national fascism that was Hitler Germany's accomplice during the Second World War; even if those links have been able to be concealed today.

Havel's Declaration (supported by various legislatures, including Bulgaria and the European Parliament itself in 2009) and other similar ones have encouraged the new historical revisionism in Europe, emphasizing the condemnation of communism and enabling the resurgence of Nazism from Europe's past, in a mad race that has the Baltic countries as some of its main protagonists and disseminators. In spite of the false parallel, the truth is that it is the communists who are being persecuted in Europe today, while the Nazi and fascist veterans and their followers are supported by the Baltic governments, and their activities are tolerated in other countries. For this reason, amongst other notable denunciations, Efraim Zuroff, American historian and head of the Simon Weisenthal Centre in Jerusalem, published an article in The Guardian in 2010 where he warned of the Nazi activities in Latvia and Lithuania and anti-Jewish slogans on the placards of the marches in those countries, as if more than 60 years had not passed since the end of the war. Zuroff also condemned the passivity of the European Union towards the activities of the Nazis. While European institutions, betraying their professed democratic convictions, have not been bothered in the least by the jailing of communist leaders or attempts to declare certain communist parties illegal, they apathetically watch Nazism being glorified within the borders of the European Union.

The situation is very concerning particularly in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. As these governments maintain their official discourse that seeks to equate communism with Nazism, soldiers of the Red Army with Nazi troops, Hitler's Germany with the Soviet Union, confusing the victims with the executioners, they treat Nazi veterans as "freedom fighters" -- as some government ministers have dared to call them. Estonia has become the regular meeting place of Nazi veterans from the Waffen-SS, with government support that even sends messages of greeting to their gatherings. Within the Estonian Ministry of Defence is found one of their main propagandists. For years there have been parades, events and gatherings to exalt Nazism. In 2004 news appeared in the international press about the plan to erect a monument in Estonia to the SS and veterans of the Waffen-SS 20th Division, 1st Estonia Grenadier who collaborated with the Nazis and continue to freely hold events in the country today. They were not isolated groups -- between 60,000 and 70,000 Estonians joined Nazi detachments fighting on the side of Hitler's Germany.

In Sinimäe, Estonia -- where the main battle between the German army and Soviet troops took place during World War II -- hundreds of people gather every year, accompanied by the local authorities and Nazi veterans from Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark and Austria, as well as past Waffen-SS members to march under Nazi flags. One of their requests is to erect a monument in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, to the veterans of the "Second Liberation War," as they call their participation alongside the Nazis during the war. After 1945, many of these Nazis continued to fight against the Red Army as guerrillas, backed by the CIA and British Secret Service, until their demise in the 1950s. Books such as The Estonian Legion and The Estonian Soldier written during the Second World War by Mart Laar (former Prime Minister of Estonia and current Minister of Defence), in which he takes up preserving their memory and defending the actions of those men inside the Nazi ranks, are regularly sold during these fascist propaganda events under the official protection of the Estonian government.

Around these Nazi brotherhoods, other initiatives are proliferating. Musical groups like Untsakad have released recordings of Estonian Nazi songs. In 2008, all the country's book stores were selling a calendar with twelve propaganda posters of the 20th Waffen-SS Division. In spite of protests from citizens on the left and democratic anti-fascist groups, the government has continued to tolerate and protect Nazi activities that are spilling over into neighbouring countries. In Helsinki -- taking advantage of an annual exposition that promotes Estonian products -- t-shirts glorifying the Estonian SS Legion and pro-war pamphlets calling for attacking Russia and destroying Moscow are often sold. The Anti-Fascist Committee of Estonia, that works to stop the promotion of Nazi ideas, has denounced the justifications being given for the crimes against humanity that the Estonian members of the Waffen-SS committed.

The Estonian government's complicity toward Nazi activities contrasts with its commitment to the persecution of communists. In May 2008, entrepreneurs and politicians (among them the former Prime Minister Mart Laar, Count Damian von Stauffenberg and businessman Meelis Niinepuu) established a foundation to "launch an inquiry into the crimes of communism." The foundation was headed by Ranno Roosi, former advisor to Lennart Meri (a conservative who came to the presidency as the Ismaaliitt [Fatherland Union] candidate, and passed away in 2006). In an attempt to avoid international criticism, Estonian government officials formulate ritual declarations condemning both communism and Nazism, even though their practical application is limited to persecuting communist ideas and everything that has to do with the Soviet Union. These include: the demolition and removal of monuments dedicated to the Red Army such as in 2007, where the government dismantled the monument to the Soviet soldiers who liberated Tallinn, located in the centre of the city, and moved it to a military cemetery (although they have not been able to stop people from putting flowers on it); and the trial of Arnold Meri, an elderly Estonian man who had been awarded the distinction of Hero by the Soviet Union for his guerrilla activities against the Nazis during World War II. The liberation of Estonia from the Nazis cost the lives of 150,000 Red Army soldiers.

The conservative governments that have ruled Estonia have made a point of condemning the "Estonian genocide," supposedly organized by the Soviet Union between 1940 and 1953, accusing Moscow of the deaths of 60,000 Estonians during that period. However, the true numbers were made known when historian Alexander Diukov published his investigation in 2009 (The Myth of Genocide, Soviet Repression in Estonia, 1940-1953) that reduced the number of deaths to less than 10,000 and affirmed that genocide did take place, but against the Soviet population, which in 1941 saw 2.5 million Soviet prisoners of war perish at the hands of the Nazis.

In addition, each year the Erna Raid is held to commemorate the special Waffen-SS battalion, the Erna Long-Range Reconnaissance Group. The Raid retraces the route from Tallinn to a former Nazi military base 150 kilometres away. Under the pretext of a military exercise and competition, the Raid is actually a glorification of Nazism and the actions of the Estonian legionnaires during the Second World War. Government support has gone so far that former Estonian Minister of Defence, Jaak Aaviksoo opened the 17th annual Raid in 2010 [Aaviksoo also opened the Erna Raid in 2009 -- TML Ed Note]. The Raid has been taking place for 18 years. The latest provocation came from former Prime Minister Mart Laar who launched an initiative to call the Estonians from the Waffen-SS "freedom fighters" though, due to international reaction, the government was forced to cover up its intentions by publishing a communiqué in January 2012 in which it claimed its aim was to "recognize those who fought for the independence of Estonia," a category that could include the country's Nazi veterans and, for external consumption, equate the actions of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

The open support of the Estonian government for these activities goes so far as to announce them on official websites in a deliberate attempt to make heroes out of yesterday's criminals. Collaborating in the glorification of Nazism, the government sets up all sorts of roadblocks to anti-fascist demonstrations and has gone to the extent of declaring the Anti-Nazi Committee of Estonia a "danger to the state." Members of the anti-fascist organization Nochoy Dozor among others, demonstrate against the Nazi activities and continue to pay tribute to the Red Army soldiers and Estonian victims of the Nazi extermination camps, but many other Estonians who adhere to a nationalist ideology are pleased with the Nazi veteran parades. It was not in vain that historical figures of Estonian nationalism like Juri Uluots, the Prime Minister in 1940, led the call to fight with the German Nazi troops against the Red Army.

Each year on March 16 in Latvia, there is an official commemoration of the Latvian Legion of the Waffen-SS, an initiative started in 1994 soon after the fall of the USSR. The Latvian Legion, that came to number over 100,000 men, participated in the Nazi siege of Leningrad where more than a million Soviet citizens died. In spite of this, Latvian authorities did nothing to impede the wide circulation of a film, The Soviet Story, containing gross historical manipulations. In 2001, Vaira Vike-Fraiberga, former president and daughter of a Nazi collaborator, tried to avoid international criticism by having the commemoration continue unofficially. In Lestene, (Latvia) there is a monument that pays tribute to Latvian Nazis that was inaugurated by government ministers. In addition, organizations like Daugavas Vanagi (Hawks of the River Daugava) openly support the Nazi parades. Daugavas Vanagi is an organization created in 1945 in Belgium to help Latvian Nazi prisoners. It has offices in the US, Canada, Australia and in other countries, where they continue to maintain youth groups that dress in paramilitary attire.

The annual parade of the Latvian Waffen-SS Legionnaires was banned by Riga's Municipal Council (in Latvia), but the courts overturned the decision, having received support (up until 2011) of Latvian President Valdis Zatlers, who publicly defended ceremonies in homage to the Nazi veterans. Latvians who collaborated with Nazi Germany in the extermination camps were particularly bloodthirsty. The confrontations between participants in the Nazi marches and the anti-fascists (who have at times attended dressed as concentration camp prisoners) have been frequent and the Latvian police have not hesitated to arrest anti-fascists such as Deputy Victor Dergunov. Complicity with the Nazis has reached such an extreme that the former Latvian President Valdis Zatlers declared in March 2008 that international public opinion made a mistake when it characterized Latvian members of the Waffen-SS as Nazis.

Barricades and a heavy police presence are deployed against a peaceful anti-Nazi protest in Riga, Lativa, March 16, 2012, while Nazis and their supporters march freely in an annual parade to honour the Latvian Waffen-SS Legionnaires. Many protestors donned concentration camp uniforms as a reminder of the Nazis' brutal crimes. (Defending History)

This complicity is contrasted with an anti-communist obsession. It should be remembered that in Latvia, the Communist Party is banned and communists operate under the name socialists. The main communist leader, Alfreds Rubiks, has been incarcerated numerous times by conservative governments, having served a total of six years in prison. The anti-communist and anti-Russian obsession led the Latvian parliament (the Saeima) in February 2004, to revoke the right of Latvian citizens to educate their children in Russian, by passing a discriminatory law that promotes an actual segregation of Russian-speaking Latvian citizens. Incredible as it is, this is taking place within the borders of the European Union. Latvian nationalism denies citizenship to close to 20% of the population, who as a result have no rights; transforming these citizens, who cannot even vote in elections, into stateless persons even though they were born in Latvia.

Entry into NATO and the EU has reinforced the segregationist inclinations of the conservative government, which calculated that neither the western military alliance nor Brussels would object to the decision, as has effectively been the case.

The Latvian government has also begun the revision of World War II history. Vasili Kononov, a veteran communist guerrilla, of almost 90 years, was accused of having killed civilians who collaborated with the Nazis during the war. Kononov, whose family died in the extermination camps, is a Latvian who fought against the Nazi troops in Latvia, destroying military targets with explosives and blowing up trains that were transporting arms. He has been tried six times in Latvia and has served two years in prison. He was accused of having executed peasants who exposed Soviet guerrillas to the Nazi occupation authorities. His sentence was overturned by the European Court of Human Rights, but in 2010, a government appeal successfully reversed it. One of the representatives of the Anti-fascist Committee of Latvia, Eduard Goncharov, asserted that the Latvian conservative government's plan was to begin a process to challenge the verdict of the Nuremberg Trials and that this was a consequence of revanchism: those who fled with the Nazis when they withdrew from Latvia, are today in power in the Republic. For that reason it should be no surprise that in Latvia propaganda for communist ideas is prohibited, and although spreading Nazi ideas is also prohibited, it is clearly tolerated.

In Lithuania, where the Nazis assassinated more than 200,000 Jews, conservative governments have sought to erase the history of the killings, because nationalist ideology and the Lithuanian Nazi collaborators are implicated in them. It is no coincidence that the killings were carried out by Lithuanians under Nazi orders, which is why those currently in power are trying to hide these facts. It is not by chance that, during her visit to the United States, the Minister of Defence Rasa Jukneviciene laid a wreath at the tomb of General Povilas Plechavicius. Plechavicius arrived in Lithuania with the Nazi troops during Operation Barbarossa and fought against the anti-fascist Polish guerrillas, as did many thousands of Latvian nationalists.

The Lithuanian president, Valdas Adamkus (2004-2009), fought on the side of the Nazis during the Second World War against the Soviet Army, and after the war ended settled in Germany with his family; not an isolated case among Lithuanian nationalist politicians. The Lithuanian parliament, in June 2008, also banned Soviet and Nazi symbols, resorting in the same clumsy manner to equating fascist and communist ideology that Vaclav Havel introduced in the Prague Declaration. However, in May 2010, in a revealing act, the Lithuanian courts established that the Nazi swastika is part of the "cultural heritage of the country," and as such it can be used, unlike the hammer and sickle or other communist symbols. This longstanding understanding for Nazism and the persecution of communism has managed to find its way into European institutions due to the passivity of the EU, as denounced by Efraim Zuroff. As an example, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) communicated a verdict in 2008, that dismissed the charges presented against the Lithuanian authorities for the kidnapping and imprisoning of communist leaders, like doctor Mikolas Burkiavicius, who was the secretary of the Lithuanian Communist Party. Burkiavicius had spent eleven years in prison since his conviction in 1994 for participating in activities of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Since 1991, thousands of Lithuanian communists have been subjected to political persecution. A real insult to justice, with this verdict, the ECHR collaborated de facto with the passivity of the European institutions -- of both the European Union and the Council of Europe -- in restricting citizens' rights in Lithuania.

However, while the authorities allow demonstrations with racist slogans ("Lithuania for the Lithuanians," obviously directed toward those who are "different"), and neo-Nazi symbols, repression rages against the communists and the left. In April 2011, the trial against the president of the Popular Socialist Front, Algirdas Paleckis, opened. Paleckis stands accused of "denying the Soviet aggression against Lithuania." The basis for the trial was that Paleckis challenged the official version of what took place on January 13, 1991 at the Vilnius Television Tower, where 14 people died, supposedly assassinated by Soviet troops during the last months of the Gorbachev government. Paleckis maintains, with solid proof and testimonies, that the killings were a provocation organized by the Lithuanian nationalists, whose armed forces (Department of Territorial Protection, DPT) fired on a crowd with the intention of later holding the Soviet government and army responsible. They achieved their objective. Even though Paleckis was acquitted in January 2012, the prosecutor put forward an appeal, reopening the trial.

In Lithuania, the political degradation of the country has even led to the deposing of a president, Rolandas Paksas, in April 2004 for links to the mafia; meanwhile, the "democratic sensibilities" of the country's authorities can justify the fact that in 2009, evidence appeared (cited by the U.S. ABC television network, that echoed the declarations of a former U.S. secret service agent) that the government had permitted the creation of a secret CIA prison on the outskirts of Vilnius in 2002 where detainees were tortured. The current president, Dalia Grybauskait did "not dismiss the possibility" of the existence of this secret prison.

In the Baltics, nationalism seeks to dispute the outcome of the Second World War and even reverse, if it could, the verdicts of the Nuremberg Trials. Racism, the cult of weapons and militarism, contempt for minorities, xenophobia and hatred toward Jews and Roma are becoming ever more prevalent in this and other regions of Eastern Europe. Tolerance towards acts glorifying Nazism and fascism, nationalist racism and contempt for minorities coexist with the repression of communism and a troubling anti-democratic shift that should worry the citizens and institutions of Europe; as the alarm bells are not only coming from the Baltic countries -- even though they have become the focus of most concern. Similar campaigns have arisen in Romania; Hungary (where there is severe persecution against communists); the Czech Republic (where the right wants to make the communist party, one of the most important in the country, illegal); as well as in Poland. As a result of these nationalist and conservative politics, fascist movements are growing. While the witch-hunt continues in the Baltics against the communists, and the persecution and suspicion of Jews, minorities and the left continues to be the standard of conduct for the governments of these countries, to date no trial has been initiated against the Nazi criminals from Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania. The venom of the fascist snake continues to poison the continent: no one can imagine, without being moved, the idea of Nazi soldiers once again parading in Germany and because of that, it is disturbing that Nazi flags are still fluttering in the winds of the Baltic countries.

Our Security Lies in Our Fight for the Rights of All,
Not in Imperialist Domination!

Our Security Lies in Our Fight for the Rights of All,
Not in Imperialist Domination!

Harper Government Continues to Support Torture

Canada's Relations with the Baltic States

Government's Ongoing Anti-Communist Crusade

Historical Revanchism Under the Auspices of the European Union

Our Security Lies in Our Fight for the Rights of All, Not in Imperialist Domination!

Our Security Lies in Our Fight for the Rights of All, Not in Imperialist Domination!

Harper Government Continues to Support Torture

Canada's Relations with the Baltic States

Government's Ongoing Anti-Communist Crusade

Historical Revanchism Under the Auspices of the European Union

Our Security Lies in Our Fight for the Rights of All,
Not in Imperialist Domination!

Our Security Lies in Our Fight for the Rights of All,
Not in Imperialist Domination!