Svoboda has its roots in neo-nazism, those roots still exist, while not in open rhetoric, in the people still leading it.
"History
Social-National Party of Ukraine
The Wolfsangel, Svoboda's first party logo (1991–2003)
The Social-National Party of Ukraine (SNPU) was registered as a party on October 16, 1995;[1][23] although the original movement was founded on October 13, 1991, in Lviv. The name of the party was an intentional reference to the Nazi Party in Germany.[24][25] Membership was restricted to ethnic Ukrainians, and for a period the party did not accept atheists or former members of the Communist Party. The party also recruited skinheads and football hooligans.[26]
The SNPU's official program defined itself as an "irreconcilable enemy of Communist ideology" and all other parties to be either collaborators and enemies of the Ukrainian revolution, or romanticists. According to Svoboda's website, during the 1994 Ukrainian parliamentary elections the party presented its platform as distinct from those of the communists and social democrats.[27]
In the 1998 parliamentary elections the party joined a bloc of parties (together with the All-Ukrainian Political Movement "State Independence of Ukraine")[28] called "Less Words" (Ukrainian: Менше слів), which collected 0.16% of the national vote.[23][29][30] Party member Oleh Tyahnybok[31] was voted into the Ukrainian Parliament in this election.[31] He became a member of the People's Movement of Ukraine faction.[31]
The party established the paramilitary organization Patriots of Ukraine in 1999 as an "Association of Support" for the Military of Ukraine. The paramilitary organization, which continues to use the Wolfsangel symbol, was disbanded in 2004 during the SNPU's reformation and reformed in 2005.[2] Svoboda officially ended association with the group in 2007,[32] but they remain informally linked,[33][34][35] with representatives of Svoboda attending social campaigns such as protests against price increases and leafleting against drugs and alcohol.[36] In 2014, Svoboda was noted for clashing with the far-right group Right Sector, a coalition which includes Patriot of Ukraine.[37]
In 2001, the party joined some actions of the "Ukraine without Kuchma" protest campaign and was active in forming the association of Ukraine's rightist parties and in supporting Viktor Yushchenko's candidacy for prime minister, although it did not participate in the 2002 parliamentary elections.[23] However, as a member of Victor Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine bloc, Tyahnybok was reelected to the Ukrainian parliament.[31] The SNPU won two seats in the Lviv oblast council of deputies and representation in the city and district councils in the Lviv and Volyn oblasts.[27][third-party source needed]
In 2004 the party had less than 1,000 members.[14]
All-Ukrainian Union "Svoboda"
The Social-National Party of Ukraine changed its name to the All-Ukrainian Union "Svoboda" in February 2004 with the arrival of Oleh Tyahnybok as party leader.[2] Tyahnybok made significant efforts to moderate the party's extremist image by replacing the "I + N" ("Idea Natsii" ukr. "idea of a nation") Wolfsangel logo (a symbol also popular among neo-Nazi groups)[2][26] with a three-fingered hand reminiscent of the 'Tryzub' pro-independence gesture of the late 1980s,[26] and by pushing neo-Nazi and other radical groups out the party.[38]
In 2004, Tyahnybok was expelled from the Our Ukraine parliamentary faction for a speech calling for Ukrainians to fight against a "Muscovite-Jewish mafia,"[39] and celebrated the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists for having fought "Moscovites, Germans, Jews and other scum who wanted to take away our Ukrainian state."[26] The speech was delivered at the grave-site of a commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army where Tyahnybok praised its struggle against "Moskaly", a derogatory term for either Russians[40] or pan-Russian nationalists;[41][42] Germans; and "Zhydy", an archaic but controversial term for Jews in Ukraine due to it being a slur when used in the Russian language.[43][44]
Claiming that svoboda has not played a major role in the revolution is, lets say, misleading.
http://www.channel4.com/news/kiev-svoboda-far-right-protests-right-sector-riot-policewikipedia lists Oleh tyahnybok as the 3rd leading figure in the revolution.
While you can clearly see A LOT more than 2-3 neo nazis symbols, what you CANT refute is that you can easily see a whole lot of svoboda flags being waved at the protests.
This is starting to feel exactly like the time when some of us maintained that a lot of the syrian rebels were actually off-country terrorists. even there people tried to refute it with "RUSSIAN PROPOGANDA!"
Author
Topic: UR's Post-USSR politics megathread (Read 309365 times)