For Western double standards, the opinion of 2.5 million people in Crimea is worthless, it seems. We are reaching a point where even such flagrant actions as the coup attempt in Belarus or the Western-backed coup that took place in Ukraine are silenced by their press and political class. It is remarkable that such indignant actions as the recently divulged attempt to organise a coup in Belarus and murder the president of this country are not condemned by the Western community.
Summary
Decommunisation is a path to fascism, it is a wild policy aimed to destroy national memory. The first stage of decommunisation started in 1991, when Ukrainian nationalists – who were weapons in the hands of the Americans – began transforming Ukraine and building a capitalist society. The Soviet Constitution was repealed and all the basics of economic sovereignty were destroyed. The second stage came when former president Viktor Yushchenko took power and the policy of state fascistisation began. The third stage dates back to 2015, when the decommunisation legislation was adopted.
Disproof
This is a disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin media outlets claiming that decommunisation wipes out national memory and that not all was bad under Soviet rule. In reality, decommunisation is a process all former Soviet satellite countries and most former Soviet union republics had to undergo during transition from communism to democracy. Decommunisation does not mean a negation of the past. Its aim is to change the conditions for people and make society more open to the future. It also supposes an enhancement of national memory, which allows people to recall and venerate the national heroes.
Decommunisation mainly includes getting rid of the last vestiges of Communism, such as changing the names of cities, streets and squares dedicated to prominent Communist personalities, first and foremost Lenin, and the removal of monuments reminiscent of the Soviet era. Many of these monuments, if not most of them, are of poor quality and cannot be regarded as art objects of any real value. Decommunisation calls back the bitter memories about the harm Communist authorities had brought to Ukraine, such as arbitrary political repressions and the terrible famine (The Holodomor) that took the lives of millions of Ukrainians in 1931-1933 following forced farm collectivisation.
The law referred to in the disinformation condemns two totalitarian ideologies - Communism and Nazism. The document recognises the Communist totalitarian regime of 1917–1991 in Ukraine as criminal and pursuing a policy of state terror.
Read more pro-Kremlin propaganda narratives alleging that decommunisation is tantamount to Russophobia.