Peasant protests at the Ukraine border
Featured image: Protests in the border with Ukraine. Source: Activist Post
During the past weeks, we have informed about farmers’ protests in imperialist countries such as Spain, Germany or France and peasant’s struggle in semi-colonial and semi-feudal countries such as India. This week, the protests have continued, especially at the border with Ukraine, in relation to one of their issues: the massive entry of Ukrainian grain at a very low price that has affected their profits.
On Tuesday, February 20, Polish peasants have blocked borders with Ukraine and have protested by burning tires and throwing away Ukrainian grain. The tractor protests have also taken place in large cities such as Gdansk and Krakow, among other cities. The peasants demanded to their prime minister, Donald Tusk, to unlink Poland from the European Green Trade, a pact for the “climate neutrality” of agriculture by 2050, and among its measures the significant reduction of fertilizers and the rotation of the crops. They also demanded the prohibition of Ukrainian grain in the EU. However, from the Ukrainian government, criticism came soon. For example, the Ukrainian prime minister, Zelensky, faithful servant of imperialism, mainly Yankee, has not taken long to relate Polish peasants’ protests with Russian armed attacks. Next Wednesday, February 28 Zelensky and Tusk will hold a meeting where the Polish prime minister tries to get the support of the peasants and, at the same time, keep the imperialists objectives with the war, that implicates the support to NATO and the entry of materials through land border.
Railway blockade in Maedyk-Sheghini, Poland. Source: Radio Svoboda on X
In the rest of the Eastern European countries, such as Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, the Czech Republic and others these demonstrations take place in a similar way in all countries. All under the same goal: minimize the impact caused by the Ukrainian grain. Either through state aid or prohibiting the free circulation of the Ukrainian grain.
However, all the governments of these countries follow the objectives of imperialism and this implies allowing the massive entry of Ukrainian products for the benefit of monopolies at the expense of the country’s peasants. Bulgaria, while gathering with Ukraine to inform about companies that “violate” the licensing regime, take the opportunity to strengthen relationships and new product treaties with Ukraine in the midst of the protests of the peasants.
Nor are these protest new. Since the beginning of the war and exports without tariffs of Ukraine products to the EU, these have been repeated several times, especially in the countries of Eastern Europe. In April of last year, Romanian farmers also protested for the same reason at the border with Ukraine, where they blocked the roads to prevent trucks from entering Romania.
Many of the protests focus on the stoppage of agreements with semi-feudal and semi-colonial countries, which they classify as unfair since the same environmental requirements are not required as the farmers and peasants of the European Union, which causes a price increase and a disadvantage when competing. However, it is the European monopolies themselves, especially of German imperialism as a dominant power in the EU, who take advantage of the war in Ukraine allow the free circulation of the Ukraine grain in the EU and thus lower the prices of the grain under the excuse of the “Global Food Security” after the Russian Block of exports through the Black Sea with the beginning of the war.
