Sunday, April 2, 2023

"Gotta Get To Peekskill": Woody Guthrie's 1949 Confrontation with the KKK at a Paul Robeson Concert Becomes a 2023 Dropkick Murphys Song



From the forthcoming album from Dropkick Murphys. Okemah Rising [Dummy Luck Music] out May 12, 2023. Follow-up to last year's This Machine Still Kills Fascists, this also uses archival Woody Guthrie lyrics matched with contemporary tunes by Dropkicks Murphys. "Shipping Up To Boston" (used in "Gangs of New York" and last week as President Biden's walk-on musical at an event in Co. Mayo, Ireland) was the first time Dropkick Murphys drank from the Guthrie well. Famously, Billy Bragg and Wilco previously mined Guthrie's lyrics for Mermaid Avenue (1998) and New Multitudes (2006) (feat Jim James & Jay Farrar) did the same. Indeed, Woody lives, well into the 21st century. May the gods be praised!


Gotta Get To Peekskill

Big boat, little boat, whistle and pound
Little wheel, big wheel, roll on the ground
I'll have to ride like the bald eagle flies
I gotta get to Peekskill, break a leg or die

Break a leg or die, boys
Break a leg or die
Take a sled and slide, gals
Take a wing and fly
Walk in that gate when the daylight breaks
I gotta get to Peekskill, break a leg or die

Eight days ago those 'Klookluxers' come
Beatin' folks around and drink a sip of blood
When Paul sings tomorrow
Those Goon Thugs will try
I gotta get to Peekskill, break a leg or die

Break a leg or die, boys
Break a leg or die
Take a sled and slide, gals
Take a wing and fly
Walk in that gate when the daylight breaks
I gotta get to Peekskill, break a leg or die

I'll follow the new trail of blood on the ground
In through the gate, and mill with the crowd
I just got a feelin' that blood's gonna fly
I gotta get to Peekskill, bread a leg or die

Break a leg or die, boys
Break a leg or die
Take a sled and slide, gals
Take a wing and fly
Walk in that gate when the daylight breaks
I've gotta get to Peekskill, break a leg or die

Break a leg or die, boys
Break a leg or die
Take a sled and slide, gals
Take a wing and fly
Walk in that gate when the daylight breaks
I've gotta get to Peekskill, break a leg or die

Eight days ago those 'Klookluxers' come
Beatin' folks around and drink a sip of blood
When Paul sings tomorrow
Those Goon Thugs will try
I gotta get to Peekskill, break a leg or die

Break a leg or die, boys
Break a leg or die
Take a sled and slide, gals
Take a wing and fly
Walk in that gate when the daylight breaks
I gotta get to Peekskill, break a leg or die


Paul Robeson

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Peekskill riots (Wikipedia)


The Peekskill riots took place at Cortlandt Manor, New York in 1949. The catalyst for the rioting was an announced concert by black singer Paul Robeson, who was well known for his strong pro-trade union stance, civil rights activism, communist affiliations, and anti-colonialism. The concert, organized as a benefit for the Civil Rights Congress, was scheduled to take place on August 27 in Lakeland Acres, just north of Peekskill.

Robeson had given three earlier concerts in Peekskill without incident, but in recent years Robeson had been increasingly vocal against the Ku Klux Klanand other forces of white supremacy, both domestically and internationally. Robeson specifically made a transformation from someone who was primarily a singer into a political persona who vocally supported, what were at the time considered, "communist" causes, including the decolonization of Africa, anti-Jim Crow legislation, and peace with the USSR. Robeson had also appeared before the House Committee on Un-American Activities to oppose a bill that would require communists to register as foreign agents and, just months before the concerts in 1949, he had appeared at the Soviet-sponsored World Peace Conference in Paris. Referring to the growing tensions between the USA and the USSR, he stated:

We in America do not forget that it was the backs of white workers from Europe and on the backs of millions of blacks that the wealth of America was built. And we are resolved to share it equally. We reject any hysterical raving that urges us to make war on anyone. Our will to fight for peace is strong...We shall support peace and friendship among all nations, with Soviet Russia and the People's Republics.

What came over the wires to news agencies via the AP in the United States was as follows,

We colonial peoples have contributed to the building of the United States and are determined to share its wealth. We denounce the policy of the United States government which is similar to Hitler and Goebbels.... It is unthinkable that American Negros would go to war on behalf of those who have oppressed us for generations against the Soviet Union which in one generation has lifted our people to full human dignity.

Later examination of time records showed that the AP dispatched this fabricated version on its wires as Robeson began speaking.The comment was not investigated by the American press for its veracity and there was nationwide condemnation of Robeson. In the early stages of the Cold War and its accompanying wide anti-communist sentiments in the West, this statement was seen by many as very anti-American. The local paper, the Peekskill Evening Star, condemned the concert and encouraged people to make their position on communism felt, but did not directly espouse violence. The riots were explicitly racist, with the rioters shouting racist terms for African Americans and Jews, burning crosses, and lynching effigies of Robeson both in Peekskill and in other areas of the United States

The concert, organized as a benefit for the Civil Rights Congress, was scheduled to take place on August 27 in Lakeland Acres, just north of Peekskill. Before Robeson arrived, a mob of locals attacked concert-goers with baseball bats and rocks. The local police arrived hours later and did little to intervene. Thirteen people were seriously injured, Robeson was lynched in effigy, and a cross was seen burning on an adjacent hillside. The concert was then postponed until September 4. Following the concert, request for Klan memberships from the Peekskill area numbered 748 persons.

Robeson's longtime friend and Peekskill resident, Helen Rosen, who had agreed to collect Robeson at the train station, had heard on the radio that protesters were massing at the concert grounds. Robeson drove with Rosen and two others to the concert site and saw marauding groups of youngsters, a burning cross on a nearby hill and a jeering crowd throwing rocks]and chanting "Dirty Commie" and "Dirty Kikes." Robeson made more than one attempt to get out of the car and confront the mob but was restrained by his friends.

The media were flooded with reactions and charges. The Joint Veterans Council of Peekskill refused to admit any involvement, describing its activities as a "protest parade...held without disorder and...perfectly disbanded." Peekskill police officials said the picnic grounds had been outside their jurisdiction; a state police spokesman said there had never been a request for state troopers. The commander of Peekskill Post 274 of the American Legion stated: "Our objective was to prevent the Paul Robeson concert and I think our objective was reached."

Following a meeting of local citizens, union members, and Robeson supporters who formed The Westchester Committee for Law and Order, it unanimously was determined that Robeson should be invited back to perform at Peekskill. Representatives from various left wing unions - the Fur and Leather Workers, the Longshoremen and the United Electrical Workers - all agreed to converge and serve as a wall of defense around the concert grounds. Ten union men slept on the property of the Rosens, effectively guarding it. A call was put out by the Emergency Committee to Protest the Peekskill Riot. On Tuesday, August 30, an overflow crowd of 3,000 people assembled peacefully and without incident at the Golden Gate Ballroom in Harlem to hear Robeson speak,

I will be loyal to America of true traditions; to the America of the abolitionists, of Harriet Tubman, of Thaddeus Stevens, of those who fought for my people's freedom, not of those who tried to enslave them. And I will have no loyalty to the Forrestals, to the Harrimans, to the WallStreeters... the surest way to get police protection is to have it very clear that we'll protect ourselves, and good!... I'll be back with my friends in Peekskill...

The rescheduled September 4, 1949 concert was free from violence, but marred by the presence of a police helicopter overhead and the flushing out of at least one sniper's nest. The concert was located on the grounds of the old Hollow Brook Golf Course in Cortlandt Manor, near the site of the original concert. 20,000 people showed up. Security was organized by the Communist Party and Communist-dominated labor unions. The men were directed by the Communist Party and some unions to form a line around the outer edge of the concert area and were sitting with Robeson on the stage. They were there to fight any protestors who objected to Robeson's presence. They effectively kept the local police from the concert area. The musicians performed without incident.

Robeson's accompaniment was provided by Larry Brown.

The aftermath of the concert, however, was far from peaceful. After some violence to south-going buses near the intersection of Locust Avenue and Hillside Avenue,[25] Hillside Avenue having since been renamed Oregon Road,[26] concertgoers were diverted to head northward to Oregon Corners and forced to run a gauntlet miles long of veterans and their families, who threw rocks through windshields of the cars and buses. Much of the violence was also caused by anti-Communist members of local Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion chapters. Standing off the angry mob of rioters chanting "go on back to Russia, you niggers" and "white niggers", some of the concertgoers and union members, along with writer Howard Fast and others assembled a non-violent line of resistance, locked arms, and sang the song "We Shall Not Be Moved." Some people were reportedly dragged from their vehicles and beaten. Over 140 people were injured and numerous vehicles were severely damaged as police stood by.

Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie

One car carried Woody Guthrie, Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, Seeger's wife Toshi, and his infant children. Guthrie pinned a shirt to the inside of the window to stop it shattering. "Wouldn't you know it, Woody pinned up a red shirt," Hays was to remember.[29] Seeger used some of the thrown rocks to build the chimney of his cabin in the Town of Fishkill, New York, to stand as a reminder of the incident.[30]

Eugene Bullard

Eugene Bullard, the first black combat pilot and decorated World War I veteran, was knocked to the ground and beaten by the mob, which included white members of state and local law enforcement. The beating was captured on film and can be seen in the 1970s documentary The Tallest Tree in Our Forestand the Oscar-winning, Sidney Poitier-narrated documentary Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist. Despite recorded evidence of the beating, no one was prosecuted for the assault. Graphic photos of Eugene Bullard being beaten by two policemen, a state trooper and concert-goer, were published in The Whole World in His Hands: A Pictorial Biography of Paul Robeson, by Susan Robeson.

Protests afterward

Following the riots, more than 300 people went to Albany, New York to express their indignation to Governor Thomas Dewey, who refused to meet with them, blaming communists for provoking the violence. Twenty-seven plaintiffs filed a civil suit against Westchester County and two veterans' groups. The charges were dismissed three years later.

Reactions in the U.S. House of Representatives

Following the Peekskill riots, Democratic House Representative John E. Rankin of Mississippi condemned Robeson on the house floor. When Republican New York Congressman Jacob Javits spoke to the United States House of Representatives, deploring the Peekskill riots as a violation of constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and free assembly,[33] Rankin replied angrily: "It was not surprising to hear the gentlemen from New York defend the Communist enclave." Rankin said that he wanted it known that the American people are not in sympathy "with that Nigger Communist and that bunch of Reds who went up there." On a point of order, American Labor Party House Representative Vito Marcantonio protested to House Speaker Sam Rayburn that "the gentlemen from Mississippi used the word 'nigger.' I ask that the word be taken down and stricken from the RECORD inasmuch as there are two members in this house of Negro race." Rayburn claimed that Rankin had not said "nigger" but "Negro" but Rankin yelled over him saying "I said Niggra! Just as I have said since I have been able to talk and shall continue to say." Speaker Rayburn then defended Rankin, ruling that "the gentlemen from Mississippi is not subject to a point of order...referred to the Negro race and they should not be afraid of that designation." Then Democratic Representative Edward E. Cox of Georgia denounced Robeson on the House floor as a "Communist agent provocateur."

Aftermath

Within a few days, hundreds of editorials and letters appeared in newspapers across the nation and abroad by prominent individuals, organizations, trade unions, churches and others. They condemned the attacks and the failure of Governor Dewey and the State Police to protect the lives and property of citizens as well as called for a full investigation of the violence and prosecution of the perpetrators. Despite condemnation from progressives and civil rights activists, the mainstream press and local officials overwhelmingly blamed Robeson and his fans for "provoking" the violence. Following the Peekskill riots, other cities became fearful of similar incidents, and over 80 scheduled concert dates of Robeson's were canceled.

On September 12, 1949, in response to Robeson's controversial status in the press and leftist affiliations, the National Maritime Union convention considered a motion that Robeson's name be removed from the union's honorary membership list. The motion was withdrawn for lack of support among members. Later that month, the All-China Art and Literature Workers' Association and All-China Association of Musicians of Liberated China protested the Peekskill attack on Robeson. On October 2, 1949, Robeson spoke at a luncheon for the National Labor Conference for Peace, Ashland Auditorium, Chicago, and referred to the riots.

Legacy and reconciliation ceremonies

In recent years, Westchester County has gone to great lengths to make amends to the survivors of the riots by holding a commemorative ceremony, at which an apology was made for their treatment. In September 1999, county officials held a "Remembrance and Reconciliation Ceremony, 50th anniversary commemoration of the 1949 Peekskill riots." It included speakers Paul Robeson, Jr., folk singer Peter Seeger and several local elected officials.

The Peekskill riots in fiction

  • The Peekskill riots appear in E. L. Doctorow's novel The Book of Daniel. Paul Isaacson (a fictionalized version of Julius Rosenberg) leaves the bus to reason with the mob, and is beaten up by them.
  • The riots figure prominently in T.C. Boyle's World's End. The protagonist's adoptive parents serve as local, assistant organizers of the concert (alias of "Peterskill" riots within the book).
  • In George Mandel's Flee the Angry Strangers, published in 1952, there is brief mention of the riots.
  • In Ring Lardner Jr.'s The Ecstasy of Owen Muir (1954), there is an extensive segment concerning the incidents at Peekskill.

Peekskill in Recordings & On Film
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Cool, New Music: ThisSmallPlanet Spring 2023 Music Playlist




                                                              The Zombies, SXSW 2023

ALBUMS

BEST NEW ALBUM (tie): Lana Del Rey. Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd

BEST NEW ALBUM (tie): boygenius. the record. Supergroup featuring Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus & Julien Baker

BEST NEW ALBUM (tie): Wednesday. Rat Saw God. Indie rock band on the rise.

Ellie Goulding. Higher Than Heaven. 

Depeche Mode. Memento Mori

Black Country, New Road. Live at Bush Hall

The Zombies. Different Game

Baaba Maal. Being

Steve Gunn / David Moore. Let the Moon Be a Planet

The Hold Steady. The Price of Progress

Mudhoney. Plastic Eternity.

Titus Andronicus. Basement Brainstorm

Angel Olsen. Forever Means (EP).

Kara Jackson. Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?

Ann-Margret. Born To Be Wild.

Fruit Bats. A River Running To Your Heart.

Temples. Exotico.


                                                 


SINGLES

Dropkick Murphys. "Gotta Get To Peekskill" (feat. Violent Femmes). Archival lyrics by Woody Guthrie about a 1949 confrontation with the KKK in Peekskill, New York. An earlier concert by activist Paul Robeson was disrupted by the local KKK, veterans, and American Legion "patriots". Leftists rallied to protect a second concert, but were menaced by a crazed right-wing mob who attacked concert-goers as they left. They threw rocks at a car that held Guthrie, Pete Seeger, his wife Toshi, and their young children. Woody wrote a song about it. Pete used some of the rocks thrown at them to build his new fireplace.

The Beatles. "Now & Then". "New" Beatles song based on a 1978 John Lennon solo demo. Intended for release in 1995 on the Beatles Anthology but unreleased officially until now.

Bully. "Days Move Slow" (see video below):



                                         The Zombies, "Time Of The Season"- SXSW 2023
                                             

ARCHIVAL

The Who. Live At Leeds (1970). Some people say it's the best live album ever.

The Kinks. Mojo 2023.05: The Kinks (A 60th Anniversary Sampler). Compiled by the surviving original members: Ray Davies (voice), his brother Dave Davies (guitar) & Mick Avory (drum). Included with Mojo Magazine: Issue #354 (May 2023). A very interesting sampler featuring some of their best lesser known and overlooked songs.

Malvina Reynolds. Magical Songs.

Ray Anderson. "Joe Stalin Kicked The Bucket" [Kentucky 573] c. 1954 45 RPM. A novelty song for the ages.

Joe Stalin Kicked The Bucket: Ray Anderson [1953] Old Joe kicked the bucket, he's long gone He won't worry us from now on He lived in a place they call Moscow His number came up and he had to go Yes, old Joe's dead and gone He stayed around too long And nobody now can save his hide 'Cause old Joe laid right down and died Old Joe won't worry us no more He killed the helpless by the score Now I hope he's satisfied Since old Joe's taken his last ride Yes, old Joe's dead and gone He stayed around too long And nobody now can save his hide 'Cause old Joe laid right down and died While near the end, he couldn't talk He's paralyzed and he couldn't walk He died with a hemorrhage in the brain They have a new fireman on the devil's train Yes, old Joe's dead and gone He stayed around too long And nobody now can save his hide 'Cause old Joe laid right down and died Although he was a man of power He was scared of Eisenhower So now the devil can retire 'Cause old Joe Stalin will keep the fire Yes, old Joe's dead and gone He stayed around too long And nobody now can save his hide 'Cause old Joe laid right down and died



Highly Anticipated Spring/Summer Releases


Ian Hunter. Defiance Part 1. [Sun Label] April 21

The Mars Volta. Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon. [Clouds Hill] April 21. Acoustic versions of songs from last year's The Mars Volta album. 

Y La Bamba. Lucha [Tender Loving Empire] April 28

Dropkick Murphys. Okemah Rising. [Dummy Luck Music] May 12. Follow-up to last year's This Machine Still Kills Fascists, this also uses archival Woody Guthrie lyrics matched with contemporary tunes by Dropkicks Murphys.

Tinariwen. Amatssou. [Wedge] May 19

Kevin Morby. More Photographs: A Continuum. [Dead Oceans] May 26

Bully. Lucky For You. [Sub Pop] June 2

Bob Dylan. Shadow Kingdom [Columbia] June 2. The soundtrack of last year's concert film of the same name. Dylan reworks some of his all-time classics.

PJ Harvey. I Inside The Old Year Dying. [Partisan] July 7

Various Artists. Playing For The Man At The Door: Field Recordings From Mack McCormick, 1958-1971. Feat. Lightnin' Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb, and other classic recordings. [Smithsonian Folkways] August 4



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ThisSmallPlanet Best Music of 2022

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Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Putin's State of The Nation speech, February 21, 2023


 

Good afternoon!

Dear deputies of the Federal Assembly – senators, deputies of the State Duma!

Dear citizens of Russia!

With today’s Address, I am speaking at a difficult time – we all know this very well – a milestone time for our country, at a time of cardinal, irreversible changes throughout the world, the most important historical events that determine the future of our country and our people, when each of we have a huge responsibility.

A year ago, in order to protect people on our historical lands, to ensure the security of our country, to eliminate the threat posed by the neo-Nazi regime that emerged in Ukraine after the 2014 coup, a decision was made to conduct a special military operation. And step by step, carefully and consistently, we will solve the tasks before us.

Starting from 2014, Donbass fought, defended the right to live on its own land, speak its native language, fought and did not give up in the conditions of blockade and constant shelling, undisguised hatred from the Kiev regime, believed and waited for Russia to come to the rescue.

Meanwhile – and you know this well – we did everything possible, really everything possible to solve this problem by peaceful means, patiently negotiated a peaceful way out of this grave conflict.

But a completely different scenario was being prepared behind our backs. The promises of the Western rulers, their assurances about the desire for peace in the Donbass turned out to be, as we now see, a forgery, a cruel lie. They simply played for time, engaged in chicanery, turned a blind eye to political assassinations, to the repressions of the Kiev regime against objectionable people, to mockery of believers, and more and more encouraged Ukrainian neo-Nazis to carry out terrorist actions in the Donbass. In Western academies and schools, officers of nationalist battalions were trained and weapons were supplied.

And I want to emphasize that even before the start of the special military operation, Kyiv was negotiating with the West on the supply of air defense systems, combat aircraft, and other heavy equipment to Ukraine. We also remember the attempts of the Kyiv regime to acquire nuclear weapons, because we talked about it publicly.

The United States and NATO rapidly deployed their army bases and secret biological laboratories near the borders of our country, mastered the theater of future military operations in the course of maneuvers, prepared the Kiev regime subject to them, the Ukraine they had enslaved, for a big war.

And today they admit it – they admit it publicly, openly, without hesitation. They seem to be proud, reveling in their treachery, calling both the Minsk agreements and the Normandy format a diplomatic performance, a bluff. It turns out that all the time when the Donbass was on fire, when blood was shed, when Russia was sincerely – I want to emphasize this – it was sincerely striving for a peaceful solution, they were playing on people’s lives, they were playing, in fact, as they say in well-known circles, with marked cards.

This disgusting method of deception has been tried many times before. They behaved just as shamelessly, duplicitously, destroying Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Syria. From this shame they will never be washed off. The concepts of honor, trust, decency are not for them.

Over the long centuries of colonialism, diktat, hegemony, they got used to being allowed everything, got used to spitting on the whole world. It turned out that they treat the peoples of their own countries just as disdainfully, like a master – after all, they cynically deceived them too or deceived them with fables about the search for peace, about adherence to the UN Security Council resolutions on Donbass. Indeed, the Western elites have become a symbol of total unprincipled lies.

We firmly defend not only our interests, but also our position that in the modern world there should be no division into the so-called civilized countries and all the rest, that an honest partnership is needed, which in principle denies any exclusivity, especially aggressive.

We were open, sincerely ready for a constructive dialogue with the West, we said and insisted that both Europe and the whole world needed an indivisible security system equal for all states, and for many years we suggested that our partners discuss this idea together and work on it. implementation. But in response, they received an indistinct or hypocritical reaction. This is about words. But there were also specific actions: the expansion of NATO to our borders, the creation of new positional areas for missile defense in Europe and Asia – they decided to hide behind us with an “umbrella”, this is the deployment of military contingents, and not only near the borders of Russia.

I want to emphasize, yes, in fact, it is well known to everyone: not a single country in the world has such a number of military bases abroad as the United States of America. There are hundreds of them, I want to emphasize this, hundreds of bases around the world, the whole planet is littered, you just need to look at the map.

The whole world has seen them pull out of fundamental armaments agreements, including the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, unilaterally tear apart the fundamental agreements that keep the world on track. For some reason, they did it – they don’t do anything just like that, as you know.

Finally, in December 2021, we officially submitted draft security assurance agreements to the US and NATO. But in all key, fundamental positions for us, they received, in fact, a direct refusal. Then it finally became clear that the go-ahead for the implementation of aggressive plans was given and they were not going to stop.

The threat is growing, and every day. The incoming information left no doubt that by February 2022, everything was ready for another bloody punitive action in the Donbass, against which, let me remind you, the Kiev regime threw artillery, tanks, and planes back in 2014.

We all remember well the pictures when air strikes were carried out on Donetsk, air strikes were carried out not only on it, but also on other cities. In 2015, they again attempted a direct attack on the Donbass, while continuing the blockade, shelling, and terror against civilians. All this, let me remind you, completely contradicted the relevant documents and resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council, completely – everyone pretended that nothing was happening.

I want to repeat this: it was they who unleashed the war, and we used force and use it to stop it.

Those who planned a new attack on Donetsk, Donbass, and Luhansk clearly understood that the next target was a strike on Crimea and Sevastopol, and we knew and understood this. And now such far-reaching plans are also openly spoken about in Kyiv – they have revealed, they have revealed what we already knew so well.

We protect people’s lives, our own home. And the goal of the West is unlimited power. He has already spent more than $150 billion on aiding and arming the Kyiv regime. For comparison: according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the G7 countries have allocated about $60 billion in 2020-2021 to help the world’s poorest states. Understandable, right? For the war – 150, and for the poorest countries, which are allegedly constantly taken care of – 60, and even under the well-known demands of obedience from the countries – recipients of this money. And where is all the talk about the fight against poverty, about sustainable development, about the environment? Where does it all go? Where did it all go? At the same time, the flow of money for the war does not decrease. Also, they spare no expense to encourage unrest and upheavals in other countries, and again all over the world.

At a recent conference in Munich, there were endless accusations against Russia. One gets the impression that this was done only so that everyone would forget what the so-called West has done in recent decades. And it was they who let the genie out of the bottle, plunged entire regions into chaos.

According to American experts themselves, as a result of wars – I want to draw attention to this: we did not come up with these figures, the Americans themselves give them – as a result of the wars that the United States unleashed after 2001, almost 900 thousand people died, more than 38 million became refugees . Now they just want to erase all this from the memory of mankind, they pretend that nothing happened. But no one in the world has forgotten and will not forget this.

None of them consider human casualties and tragedies, because, of course, trillions and trillions of dollars are at stake; the ability to continue to rob everyone; under the guise of words about democracy and freedoms, to spread neoliberal and inherently totalitarian values; hang labels on entire countries and peoples, publicly insult their leaders; suppress dissent in their own countries; creating the image of an enemy, diverting people’s attention from corruption scandals – after all, all this does not leave the screens, we see it all – from the growing internal economic, social, interethnic problems and contradictions.

Let me remind you that in the 30s of the last century, the West actually opened the way for the Nazis to power in Germany. And in our time, they began to make “anti-Russia” out of Ukraine. The project is actually not new. People who are at least a little immersed in history know perfectly well: this project goes back to the 19th century, it was cultivated in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and in Poland, and other countries with one goal – to tear off these historical territories, which today are called Ukraine , from our country. That’s what this goal is. There is nothing new, no novelty, everything is repeated.

The West accelerated the implementation of this project today by supporting the 2014 coup. After all, the coup is bloody, anti-state, anti-constitutional – as if nothing had happened, as if it was necessary, they even reported how much money was spent on it. Russophobia, extremely aggressive nationalism, was laid in the ideological basis.

Recently, one of the brigades of the armed forces of Ukraine, ashamed to say – we are ashamed, they are not, – was given the name “Edelweiss”, as the Nazi division, which participated in the deportation of Jews, the execution of prisoners of war, in punitive operations against the partisans of Yugoslavia, Italy, Czechoslovakia and Greece . The Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Guard of Ukraine are especially popular with the chevrons Das Reich, “Dead Head”, “Galicia”, other SS units, , which also have blood on their hands to the elbow.  The identification marks of the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany are applied to Ukrainian armored vehicles.

Neo-Nazis do not hide whose heirs they consider themselves to be. It is surprising that in the West, none of the powers that be does not notice. Why? Because they, excuse me for bad manners, do not care. It doesn’t give a damn who to bet on in the fight against us, in the fight against Russia. The main thing is that they fight against us, against our country, which means that everyone can be used. And we saw it, and it happened: both terrorists and neo-Nazis, even if the devil is bald, you can use it, God forgive me, if only they would fulfill their will, serve as a weapon against Russia.

The “anti-Russia” project is, in fact, part of a revanchist policy towards our country, to create hotbeds of instability and conflicts right at our borders. And then, in the 30s of the last century, and now the plan is the same – to direct aggression to the east, to kindle a war in Europe, to eliminate competitors by proxy.

We are not at war with the people of Ukraine, I have already spoken about this many times. The people of Ukraine themselves became a hostage of the Kyiv regime and its Western masters, who actually occupied this country in the political, military, economic sense, destroyed Ukrainian industry for decades, and plundered natural resources. The natural result was social degradation, a colossal increase in poverty and inequality. And in such conditions, of course, it is easy to scoop up material for military operations. Nobody thought about people, they were prepared for slaughter and eventually turned into consumables. It’s sad, it’s just scary to talk about it, but it’s a fact.

Responsibility for inciting the Ukrainian conflict, for the escalation, for the increase in the number of its victims lies entirely with the Western elites and, of course, with the current Kiev regime, for which the Ukrainian people are, in fact, a stranger. The current Ukrainian regime serves not national interests, but the interests of third countries.

The West is using Ukraine both as a battering ram against Russia and as a training ground. I will not now dwell on the West’s attempts to turn the tide of hostilities, on their plans to increase military supplies – everyone is already well aware of this. But one circumstance should be clear to everyone: the more long-range Western systems will come to Ukraine, the further we will be forced to move the threat away from our borders. It's natural.

The elites of the West make no secret of their goal: to inflict – as they say, this is direct speech – “the strategic defeat of Russia.” What does it mean? For us, what is it? This means finishing with us once and for all, that is, they intend to transfer a local conflict into a phase of global confrontation. This is exactly how we understand all this and will react accordingly, because in this case we are talking about the existence of our country.

But they also cannot but be aware that it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield, therefore they are conducting more and more aggressive information attacks against us. First of all, of course, young people, young generations are chosen as the target. And here again they constantly lie, distort historical facts, do not stop attacks on our culture, on the Russian Orthodox Church, and other traditional religious organizations of our country.

Look at what they are doing with their own peoples: the destruction of the family, cultural and national identity, perversion, abuse of children, up to pedophilia, are declared the norm, the norm of their life, and clergy, priests are forced to bless same-sex marriages. God bless them, let them do what they want. What do you want to say here? Adults have the right to live as they want, we have treated this in Russia and will always treat it this way: no one intrudes into private life, and we are not going to do it.

But I want to tell them: but look, excuse me, the sacred scriptures, the main books of all other world religions. Everything is said there, including that the family is the union of a man and a woman, but these sacred texts are now being questioned. The Anglican Church, for example, has been reported to be planning—planning, though only just yet—to explore the idea of a gender-neutral god. What can you say? God forgive me, they don’t know what they’re doing.

Millions of people in the West understand that they are being led to a real spiritual catastrophe. The elites, frankly, are just going crazy, and it seems that there is no cure. But these are their problems, as I said, and we are obliged to protect our children, and we will do it: we will protect our children from degradation and degeneration.

t is obvious that the West will try to undermine and split our society, to rely on national traitors who at all times – I want to emphasize this – have the same poison of contempt for their own Fatherland and the desire to make money by selling this poison to those who are ready pay for it. It’s always been that way.

Whoever embarked on the path of direct betrayal, committing terrorist and other crimes against the security of our society, the territorial integrity of the country, will be held accountable under the law.

But we will never be like the Kyiv regime and the Western elites who are engaged in and have been engaged in the “witch hunt”, we will not settle scores with those who took a step aside, retreated from their homeland. Let it remain on their conscience, let them live with it – they have to live with it. The main thing is that the people, the citizens of Russia gave them a moral assessment.

I am proud – I think that we are all proud – that our multinational people, the vast majority of citizens have taken a principled position regarding the special military operation, understood the meaning of the actions we are doing, supported our actions to protect Donbass. In this support, first of all, real patriotism was manifested – a feeling that is historically inherent in our people. It amazes with its dignity, deep awareness by everyone, I emphasize, by everyone, of their own inextricable fate with the fate of the Fatherland.

Dear friends, I want to thank everyone, all the people of Russia for their courage and determination, to say thank you to our heroes, soldiers and officers of the army and navy, the National Guard, members of the special services and all law enforcement agencies, soldiers of the Donetsk and Luhansk corps, volunteers, patriots who fight in the ranks combat army reserve BARS.

I want to apologize: I’m sorry that during today’s speech I can’t name everyone. You know, when I was preparing this speech, I wrote a long, long list of these heroic units, then I took it out of today’s speech, because, as I said, it is impossible to name everyone, and I was simply afraid to offend those whom I would not name.

Low bow to the parents, wives, families of our defenders, doctors and paramedics, medical instructors, nurses who save the wounded, railway workers and drivers who supply the front, builders who erect fortifications and restore housing, roads, civilian facilities, workers and engineers of defense plants, who now work almost around the clock, in several shifts, to rural workers who reliably ensure the food security of the country.

I thank the teachers who sincerely care about the young generations of Russia, especially those teachers who work in the most difficult, in fact front-line, conditions; cultural figures who come to the war zone, to hospitals to support soldiers and officers; volunteers who help the front and civilians; journalists, above all, of course, war correspondents who take risks on the front lines to tell the whole world the truth; pastors of Russian traditional religions, military priests, whose wise word supports and inspires people; civil servants and entrepreneurs – all those who perform their professional, civic and simply human duty.

Special words for residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. You yourself, dear friends, you yourself determined your future in referendums, made a firm choice, despite the threats and terror of neo-Nazis, in conditions when military operations were very close, but there was and is nothing stronger than your determination to be with Russia, with your Motherland.

(Applause.)







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