Quiet on the Polish border

In the autumn of 1938, the authorities of the Third Reich informed the Polish authorities about the arrival of a "special train" at the borders of the Second Rzeczpospolita (Polish-Luthuanian Commonwealth). In this echelon there were Polish Jews who were deported from the country by the German authorities. Polish border guards allowed the Jews into the country, but they were immediately blocked near the town of Zbonshin. And for several weeks, thousands of people were forced to huddle in temporary shelters while the European powers debated the fate of these unwanted refugees -- to the indignant cries of the Polish Black Hundred xenophobes.

Decades later, an acute migration crisis has re-emerged on the Polish border. In response to the actions of the West aimed at destabilizing the regime of Alexander Lukashenko, the Republic of Belarus withdrew from the readmission agreements -- that is, it refused to accept foreigners deported from the European Union on its territory. And then it stopped hindering migrants who in recent years have been seeking to enter the European Union -- encouraging their intentions to break through to Europe.       

Mass migration is a typical phenomenon of our capitalist era, when millions of people annually go in search of work in more developed countries and regions. Just a few days ago, the author of these lines drove through Kyrgyzstan, where once-flourishing factories and farms lie in ruins. In Soviet times, local residents did not think to leave their native steppes and mountains, but today Kyrgyz, Uzbeks and Tajiks go in search of work to the cities of Russia -- where they will be super-exploited and attacked by racists.

The same is happening in Eastern Europe. Residents of post-Maidan Ukraine are leaving en masse to raise the economy of Poland and other European countries -- because their country has been destroyed by de-industrialization and ruined by anti-social market reforms, which were carried out under direct pressure from European officials.

The fate of the people of Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq is even more tragic. In the vocabulary of U.S. politicians, over the past decades, these people have been "bombed into the stone age" by bombs and missiles. The citizens of these countries have to seek salvation not only from poverty, but also from the violence that has swept the Middle East region as a result of the "humanitarian interventions" of the United States.

Western leaders are very fond of sending bombers outside the habitats of the "golden billion,” staging coups and pushing market reforms -- but they do not like to deal with the consequences of their policies. It would seem that freedom of movement is one of the basic liberal freedoms -- just like the free movement of goods -- representing the backbone of the liberal economy and the fundamental principle on which the European Union is based.

But the most important commodity, labor, was never subject to this freedom. The reason for this is well understood -- the moment when the world’s borders are opened, the "good,” "real,” "civilized" capitalism will disappear in 24 hours. And "normal" countries will indeed come to the world norm, turning into enclaves of millionaires surrounded by barbed wire, nestled among ghettos of the desperately poor.

European countries have made every effort to protect themselves from the influx of refugees and migrants. And a significant role in this system is assigned to neighboring "buffer" countries, which are supposed to intercept and deport refugees rushing to the European paradise. But now a stream of refugees heading through Belarus has rushed to the borders of Lithuania and Poland, and the indignation of "civilized humanity" at the vile trick of the dictator Lukashenko knows no borders. How dare he incite a crowd of barbarians against innocent Warsaw and Vilnius?

Poland and Lithuania took part in the aggression against Iraq and Afghanistan, set up secret torture prisons on their territory for inhabitants of the Middle East who were illegally kidnapped by the CIA. They also tried with all their might to destabilize the Belarusian regime, attracting convinced anti-communists and ultra-rightists like Roman Protasevich, who “equated a feather to a bayonet” in the ranks of the famous Azov battalion. But this, of course, is a completely different matter. Once the Europeans have professed the only correct faith: yesterday they belonged to the highest Aryan race, and today they bring the only correct democracy to the world.

The Polish authorities compared the situation on the borders of their country with 1939 and pulled their troops to the eastern borders. Journalists have no access to the Polish-Belarusian border. According to the Polish communists, contrary to international law, soldiers beat asylum seekers and chase them into the forest, which has already led to the death of at least six people who died as a result of hypothermia.

Polish civil society is being mobilized to help the army and police. Representatives of Nazi organizations from all over Europe rushed to Poland to take part in the fight against the eastern barbarians. Ukrainian politicians, without exchanging trifles, simply called for declaring war on Minsk, and the Ukrainian military promised to kill refugees right at the border, publishing this statement directly on tolerant Facebook. As for the Ukrainian Nazis, they are actively preparing to go to the Belarusian border, anticipating the opportunity to take part in a "safari" there.

A 1920 Polish propaganda poster -- on the theme of "defending the eastern civilizational frontier" -- carries strong anti-communist and anti-Semitic meanings.

But the loudest of all today is the chorus of the liberal community. Even many "democratic socialists" feel uncomfortable with the statements of their friends, who demand to shoot at Kurds, Arabs and Afghans. This is all the more ridiculous since the Russian liberal media glorifies emigration to the West on a daily basis -- as the choice of the most talented and energetic citizens. And many post-Soviet fighters against migrants themselves ended up in the United States, Israel, Germany or France, successfully jumping into bed with a foreigner, inventing the correct ancestors for themselves in the documents, or simply going on a tourist visa and legalizing themselves by hook or by crook. Who drove them in "human waves" to the West -- Yeltsin, Kravchuk or Yasha Kedmi -- science does not know for sure.

The level of xenophobia of the Russian opposition is not too different from the xenophobia of the Russian guardians. Which, however, is not surprising -- given that both of them came out of the same "democratic" movement of the 1980s and 1990s.   

The Belarusian opposition demonstrated an equally remarkable coming-out. Until recently, we were shown its exceptionally liberal and democratic character, diligently calling black white. Today, the “free media” from Vilnius and Warsaw are broadcasting stories with demonstratively racist headlines and content.

“I couldn’t believe it until I saw with my own eyes -- fighters against Lukashenko’s dictatorship from Nekhta posted a video about the life of refugees from Arab and African countries under the headline “In the world of animals -- new videos from border camps of illegal immigrants.” And after that, these oppositional racists will demand sympathy when regime truncheons walk on their xenophobic backs?

“All this is not surprising. Disdain for people is a commonplace for post-Soviet liberals. Americans at least know the code, and how to behave, what can be said in public, and what only in the smoke-filled room above the restaurant. But our liberal gives out everything as it is with his furry mouth: for him, these people fleeing from war are animals. Because they are forced to sleep in the forest, fleeing the misfortune that is caused in their countries by the one who pays the Nekhtas?” writes Anatoly Ulyanov, a political refugee from Ukraine, from the United States.

However, the liberal TV networks in Western Europe are not far behind these advanced Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians. They also demand to stop the hordes from the east, and journalists from the British BBC even lament that it is difficult for border guards to identify illegal immigrants, since most of them are decently dressed and have the necessary documents. The time-tested identification of hooked noses and curly hair doesn’t seem to be effective enough now.

Over the past hundred years, Europe has not changed as much as it seemed to many of us yesterday. New hated outcasts have been chosen for the role of "Jews," and the ultra-right is preparing to persecute them under the condescending gaze of the liberal public. And the level of Nazi violence will constantly increase, fueled by xenophobic propaganda from the "democratic" media.

The migration issue can only be solved in one way -- by creating decent living conditions in the countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe. However, the ruin and poverty of the Third World is a prerequisite for the prosperity of developed Western countries -- which is precisely what leads to a massive exodus of migrants. And only the dismantling of the capitalist system can remove this acute social, political and economic problem from the agenda.

Artem Kirpichenok

Translated by Greg Butterfield 

Original