A new provocative attempt to equate communism with Nazism and take measures against communist symbols took place in the European Parliament, “Rizospastis” newspaper has reported. Five MEPs of the European People's Party (EPP) asked the Commission to ban the hammer and sickle - which they shamelessly equate with the Nazi swastika (!) - just a few days after the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Anti-Fascist Victory of the Peoples, led by the Soviet Union and the Red Army.
They argue that "throughout Europe, we continue to see the glorification of repressive regimes through symbols such as the Soviet hammer and sickle and the Russian 'Z', which are associated with mass atrocities—both past and present. These symbols have no place in the public spaces of the EU, which should represent peace and the rule of law (...) We have drafted a letter to the Commission requesting the ban of these symbols, following the example of the ban on Nazi imagery."
In their hideous anti-communist frenzy, they add: "Soviet communism, represented by the hammer and sickle, is responsible for the deaths of over 100 million people worldwide. Regimes based on the Marxist-Leninist doctrine have destroyed entire nations, obliterated democratic institutions, imprisoned, tortured, and murdered their opponents. The totalitarian ideology of the Soviet Union was built on the same foundations of evil and hatred as Nazism. There is no justification for treating their symbols differently!"
In the same letter, they once again equate the symbol "Z” - currently used by the army of capitalist Russia in the Special Military Operation - with the hammer and sickle and all together with the swastika, accusing the EU of being unable to "tolerate the spread of symbols that represent genocide, dictatorship, and terrorism."
The reactionary MEPs are building on the precedent of the anti-communist campaign led by the EU, invoking resolutions from the European Parliament in 2009 and 2019, to demand "the prohibition of the public display and dissemination of symbols of the Soviet Union and today's Russian militarism, including the 'Z' symbol," the strengthening of the legal framework "to combat the glorification of totalitarian regimes, and to call on member states to ensure the strict prosecution of such acts," and the support of "initiatives to remove statues, monuments, and other elements that glorify the Soviet or Russian occupation from public spaces within the EU"!
European Parliament Group of the KKE: It won't pass!
The response from the MEPs of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), Kostas Papadakis and Lefteris Nikolaou-Alavanos, was immediate. In a letter addressed to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the members of the European Commission, they emphas;ize the following:
"With this letter, we want to denounce that an unacceptable letter is being circulated these days, being an initiative by five Members of the European Parliament from the European People's Party (EPP) abd addressed to the President of the European Commission. This letter 'urges' the EU to ban 'the use of Russian and Soviet symbols,' including the hammer and sickle, as it proposes a legislative framework invoking the fight against totalitarian regimes based on the reactionary 'theory of the two extremes.' The letter goes so far as to demand the 'prohibition of the public display and dissemination of Soviet Union symbols,' as well as the removal of statues, monuments, and other elements from public spaces in the EU, effectively criminalizing free political action and even artistic creation."
They vainly attempt to equate the perpetrator of Nazi-fascist atrocities with its most sworn enemy: the USSR, the Communist Parties, the resistance movements that gave millions of lives in the fight against fascism and Nazi occupation in dozens of countries, with the banners that these MEPs provocatively demand to be criminalized today.
This letter, filled with anti-communist fervor a week after the 80th anniversary of the definitive surrender of Nazi Germany and the Great Anti-Fascist Victory of the Peoples, with the decisive contribution of the USSR and the Red Army, provocatively repeats unhistorical fabrications against the struggles and memory of the peoples of Europe and the very Historical truth. At the same time, it attempts to exploit the hijacking of this historical anniversary by the leadership of capitalist Russia, provocatively equating it and its symbols with the Anti-Fascist Victory of the Peoples and distorting its content.
Such "initiatives" aim to
whitewash Nazism-Fascism, the far-right, and those who support them
play exactly this role. Regardless of any differing political
positions one might have, one should in no case take responsibility
and legitimize such dangerous "initiatives."