Leftists in Ukraine don’t all think the same

Nor do the Russian people, or the people of anywhere else.

Borotba supporters, Odessa, May 1, 2014. Their banner reads: “The junta will be defeated. Victory will be ours.” It’s a protest against the US-backed regime change of February that year. NOVOROSS via Wikimedia Commons.

Is there any country in the world where everyone thinks the same? I doubt it.

So we should be careful of any generalisation about the views of people in a particular country, especially in times of violent conflict like now.

I found an example of dubious generalisation in recent statements about Ukraine by George Monbiot, a progressive activist whose sincerity and intelligence are beyond question.

Monbiot’s generalisation refers to the “the Ukrainian left”, not to everyone in Ukraine. The thing is, leftists in Ukraine don’t all think the same either.

George Monbiot wrote an article in the Guardian and a series of tweets criticising some of his leftist friends for assisting the “propaganda war” of Russia’s President Putin.

He tweeted: “Perhaps you can’t hear this from me. Fair enough: what do I know about Ukraine? If so, please listen to what the Ukrainian left is saying.”

He linked to articles by two Ukrainians who identify themselves as leftists, Taras Bilous and Volodymyr Artiukh.

Both Artiukh and Bilous are staunchly anti-Putin. Bilous mentions, though, that he has a grandfather in Luhansk…