I drifted out of the Diem25 galaxy a couple of years ago (disappointment about the lack of democracy within the "Democracy in Europe Movement", distaste at the democratic-centralist manoeuvrings of Varoufakis and his clique of devotees), but I am in touch with a diaspora of former members, from whom I picked up this cathartic rant by the Polish news editor of the British anarchist site Freedom News

Earlier this week, the Polish parliamentary progressive left party, Razem, issued a statement in which they announce that they are cutting ties with two European organisations: Progressive International and DiEM25.

"The Russian aggression in Ukraine demands a lot of work from us and- unfortunately- explaining of many issues to the west European left," Razem states on their socials, "Yesterday, our National Council decided to leave Progressive International and DiEM25. Why? For reasons incomprehensible to us, both movements did not unequivocally condemn the imperialist and aggressive actions of the Russian Federation and did not unequivocally support the sovereignty of Ukraine, dangerously relativising this war."

I support this very polite and carefully worded statement, but this is Freedom so let me deliver this message by Razem differently: Fuck.You. Or, at the very least, Shut.The.Fuck.Up.

[snip]
This text was written with consultations with other Eastern European comrades. I am signing it with my name, mainly so you can then give me the joy of an accusation of myself being CIA-funded or something, but be informed that many East Europe leftists are on the same page here, and we have been discussing it for a while now.

This text will be a bit chaotic and I request you put up with this. Like most Eastern Europeans, I have spent the past week or so living in some kind of haze, where news cycles really last 24hrs, there is no sleep, and your phone rings constantly. Some of my friends, those from Central and Eastern Europe mostly, want to share their worries, they are organising support networks, collecting money, publishing How-To-Flee-Ukraine guides in multiple languages, cooking, driving scared and exhausted people to their temporary accommodation. Many, rightfully, share their disgust in the differences in how the Polish state and society (and wider, European states and societies) approach another "refugee crisis" just a bit further north, on the Belarusian parts of the Polish border, or the "refugee crisis" in other parts of Europe. Some are facing the very real possibility of finding themselves in combat soon. Some worry about their family currently in a war zone, some are in this war zone themselves. All are angry. All are sad to the point you are unlikely to understand.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}