NaziGate highlights Canadian ties to far-right Ukrainian nationalism, support for NATO and a long history of conflict with Russia. It should also shine a light on a foreign policy entangled with fascistic groups in many places. But politicians and media, as well as many on the left, have minimized the most salient points of NaziGate.
Jingoist politicians who stood for an individual lauded for killing Russians during the Second World War have (understandably) sought to portray the incident as an “error” by the speaker of Parliament or incompetence by the Liberal party. The media that initially described the standing ovations for former SS Waffen soldier Jaroslav Hunka as a touching moment have largely gone along for the ride. While rejecting the notion it was simply an error, leftists have largely ignored the role of war jingoism in NaziGate. Few have commented on Justin Trudeau apologizing to nearly everyone harmed by the Nazis except the over 10 million Russians killed.
Concurrent with the glaring omission, leftists have made the fascist threat principally about the danger to Canadians. Many have posted about how Canada opened its door to far-right Ukrainians to undermine the once large Ukrainian Canadian left and to break strikes. This is, of course, important history as it highlights Canadian politicians and capitalists’ fascistic tendencies.
But Hunka’s admission to Canada was primarily linked to the west’s bid to weaken the Soviet Union. At the time senior Foreign Affairs staffer Robert Mackay wrote that “Ukrainian nationalism was deserving of support … to break up the Soviet Union into a large number of successor states.” In referring to the establishment of the CBC’s International Service Ukraine’s section in 1952 Mackay wrote that “Canada’s large Ukrainian community would provide good propaganda material.” (more...)
Liberal alliances with Nazis produce inevitable blowback
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