(https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjw6ep37469o)
‘Parliament speaker’? I went and did the mandatory nazi check on him. It’s not even a tenuous link - right at the top of his Wikipedia page:
"In 1991 he founded the far-right Social-National Party of Ukraine together with Oleh Tyahnybok; the party combined radical nationalism and neo-Nazi features (by its name and the “Wolfsangel”-like sign). In 1998–2004 Parubiy led the paramilitary organization of SNPU, the Patriot of Ukraine.
Literal Banderite Neo Nazi. Could not be a more blatant nazi if he tried.
Another article I found states:
UKRAINIAN progressives called today for the immediate dismissal of parliament speaker Andriy Parubiy after he said on TV that Hitler had been history’s “greatest democrat.”
condemnation of these remarks came from Communist Party of Ukraine leader Petro Symonenko
This part was in fact propaganda, taken out of context by Russian media. I did not do proper research (as I admitted in making the post, but still). Thank you to the commenter who alerted me to this fact.
And yet, the it’s on the front page of the ‘neutral’ BBC, with absolutely no mention his past at all. They only state that he helped bring down Yanukovich in Maidan times.
They go as far as giving these rather revealing quotes, once you know the context:
"Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described Parubiy as “a patriot and statesman who made an enormous contribution to the defence of Ukraine’s freedom, independence and sovereignty”.
Sybiha added: “He was a man who rightfully belongs in the history books.”
Former President Petro Poroshenko said the killing of Parubiy was “a shot fired at the heart of Ukraine”.
“Andriy was a great man and a true friend. That is why they take revenge, that is what they are afraid of,” he wrote on Telegram, pointing to Parubiy’s contribution to building the Ukrainian army."
Well I never…
Despite his move away from the Social-National Party in 2004[28] Parubiy was frequently the target by pro-Russian media, who routinely refer to him as a Nazi, especially after the Revolution of Dignity. For example, after the Constitutional Court of Ukraine declared the Law on National Referendums unconstitutional, Parubiy cautioned against the use of referendums to manipulate the population, pointing out that Adolf Hitler also used referendums in Nazi Germany to accomplish his goals;[29] Russian media (such as RIA Novosti, RT, Zvezda, NTV, Sputnik, and others), Ukrainian pro-Russian media (112 Ukraine, NewsOne, Strana.ua, KP, and others) and Ukrainian pro-Russian politicians (such as Vadim Rabinovich and Viktor Medvedchuk) distorted Parubyi’s phrase, stating that Parubiy had openly praised Hitler. It was eventually debunked by the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group and the media watchdog Detector Media.
Parubiy organized the snipers who murdered people to spark the Euromaiden coup, led the right-wing rioters who torched leftists alive in the Odessa trade union building, and led the ultra-nationalist’s ethnic cleansing in the Donbass in 2014 that started the war. He’s Nazi enough for me.
Regarding the incident you quoted, it’s worth noting that the context was a law which allowed the expansion of minority rights (e.g. state-recognition of the Russian language) by direct democracy.
Parubiy was against any recognition of Russian minority rights in Ukraine because he was an ultra-nationalist—that was his only guiding principle. In order to defend the post-Maidan state’s repealing of these minority privileges, he cynically compared direct democracy to actions taken by Hitler:
(paraphrasing) Oh yeah? You think repealing democratic reforms is bad? Well, you know who else used direct democracy? HITLER! And I thought you guys hated Hitler. Tsk tsk tsk.
This is similar to alt-right Republicans comparing feminism to Nazism: He didn’t say it because he hated Hitler; he said it because he knew his enemies hated Hitler.
It was indeed a mistake by pro-Eastern media to interpret his “Hitler loved direct democracy!” comment as praising Hitler (although I can see why they made the error), but Parubiy’s comments were also certainly not an earnest rebuke of far-right politics.
Very interesting, yes, it does seem I was brazen there. That has been taken out of context, and in the moment I fell for it. Thank you for the correction.
That said, he did still create a neo nazi party. It’s also worth saying that I don’t believe he was killed (or any of Ukraine was attacked) for the reason of purging Neo Nazis. It’s just a conveniently true fact for Russia to exploit.
no worries, not really trying to correct as much as add some context
whether he really moved on from his neo-Nazi sympathies or not is irrelevant to me, he continued to be a nationalist and conservative - and so many of them are closet Nazis who realized they can achieve their political ends by playing a more moderate position publicly
Russia, like the U.S. and other nations, is not always trustworthy or honest, and will try to present their invasion as morally righteous or justified by arguing they are de-Nazifying Ukraine, but this is hardly believable when we have a larger context of the Cold War, the post-USSR collapse, and the consistent violations by the U.S. in their commitments to not antagonize Russia, etc.
Why leave the post up if you know now that the information in it is wrong? I have a lot of respect for people acknowledging that they fell for something and I try to do that myself as well when it happens. However, by leaving the post up without any correction, you are contributing to more people falling for the same things.
Edit: Apparently it was changed but did not show up for me.
I corrected it with context as to why I corrected it about 30 mins after finding it out? Re read it, everything in the post is accurate.
It was not visible for me for some reason. I edited my comment.
Despite his move away from the Social-National Party
Oh he left the national-socialist party he cant be a nazi ebil russians are saying he loves hitler but actually in this one quote we picked he actually didnt say that he loves hitler no dont look up more on this guy and what he has actually done noo
that’s what gets me, there is no reason to lie when he has a past as a neo-Nazi … like, that should be condemning enough …
