Remembering Black Ribbon Day

Black Ribbon Day, August 23, commemorates the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia which led to their joint attack on Poland and the start of the Second World War a week later. 

DAY OF INFAMY: Alberta govt marks 85th anniversary of Nazi-Soviet Pact | Western Standard | Shaun Polczer: 

Black Ribbon Day logo. Courtesy RFE/RL.

 

August 21, 2024 - "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. That’s why the Alberta government is marking one of the darkest days in 20th Century history by commemorating ‘Black Ribbon Day’ — the 85th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.... [O]n August 23, 1939 the foreign ministers of Germany and Russia signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact that set the groundwork for the invasion of Poland and the start of the Second World War a week later on September 1.

"In a statement, the UCP government said it plans to mark the ignominious event with a special event in the rotunda of the Legislature on Friday. 'On the 85th anniversary of Black Ribbon Day we pause to look upon the horrific events of the past and renew our resolve to forever honour the victims of tyranny,' said Legislative Assembly Speaker Nathan Cooper. 'People from around the world observe Black Ribbon Day and we stand with them to uphold the importance of freedom from oppression now and for the generations to come.'

"On August 22 [1939], Joachim von Ribbentrop flew to Moscow to finalize the treaty.... The so-called Hitler-Stalin pact, signed the next day, guaranteed peace between the parties and was a commitment neither government would aid or ally itself with an enemy of the other.... [T]he treaty included the Secret Protocol, which defined the borders of Soviet and German spheres of influence across Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland which would later make up the Iron Curtain....

"‘Black Ribbon Day’ originated in the protests held against the Soviet Union in western capitals, including Ottawa, in the 1980s that led up to the Baltic Revolutions in the countries directly affected by the deal and its aftermath starting in 1989.... In 2009 the European Parliament formally recognized August 23 as the European day of Remembrance for the Victims of Stalinism and Nazism which was briefly even acknowledged by Russian president Vladimir Putin. 

"[Putin] backtracked in 2014 and called the treaty as 'necessary for Russia's survival.' Then in February 2021, the State Duma voted in favor of a law to punish the dissemination of 'fake news' regarding the Soviet Union's role in the Second World War, including claiming that Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union held equal responsibility due to the pact."
Read more: https://www.westernstandard.news/alberta/day-of-infamy-alberta-govt-marks-85th-anniversary-of-nazi-soviet-pact/57170

Black Ribbon Day: An International Day of Remembrance | Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty: 

Black Ribbon Day poster, 1989. Courtesy Western Standard.

August 23, 2013 - "Black Ribbon Day, also called the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism, originated in the 1980s. Central and Eastern European refugees then living in Canada organized a series of peaceful protests on both sides of the Iron Curtain to draw attention to the rampant human rights abuses perpetrated by authorities across the Soviet bloc. They chose August 23, the anniversary of the infamous 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany to hold the annual rallies.

"On August 23, 1989, about 2 million people formed a human chain spanning more than 600 kilometers across the Baltic republics. Known as the Baltic Way, this protest is seen as a defining moment in the Baltic states' battle for independence from the Soviet Union. As the Soviet bloc crumbled in 1991, Black Ribbon Day demonstrations were held in as many as 56 cities around the world. 

"Today, Black Ribbon Day commemorates both victims of Stalinism and Nazism and, more generally, all those who died, suffered, or perished under authoritarian regimes. In 2008, the European Parliament became the first entity to formally designate August 23 as a day of remembrance for victims of Stalinism and Nazism. Canada followed suit in 2009 and Georgia, in the Caucasus, one year later."
Read more: https://www.rferl.org/a/black-ribbon-day/25083982.html

The Libertarian Republican Heritage by Justin Raimondo -- Part 1

The Libertarian Republican Heritage by Justin Raimondo -- Antiwar.com:

Part I: From the Old Right to the New Nixon: Downhill All the Way

March 4, 2013 "The Republican party wasn’t always the party of war, unlimited military spending, and reckless foreign entanglements. There is a long albeit largely unknown tradition of opposition to militarism in the GOP, starting with the so-called "isolationist" opposition to US intervention in World War II and continuing right up until the 1960s....

"The conservative wing of the Republican party had been at the center of opposition to US entry into World War II. They had rightly feared two things: 1) that the war would rescue the Soviet Union from certain destruction, and 2) that we would defeat national socialism on the battlefield, only to find it had triumphed on the home front. In his public pronouncements, President Franklin Roosevelt bowed to popular opinion, which was overwhelmingly opposed to entering the European war, while slowly but surely – and covertly – involving us on the side of Great Britain. He was opposed in this by a coalition of conservative Republicans and Midwestern progressives, such as the Democratic Senator Burton K. Wheeler, who resisted the New Deal as a quasi-totalitarian betrayal of American ideals, and who also saw foreign intervention as a way for the New Dealers to further centralize power in Washington and cement their own dominance of the political landscape."

"The major anti-war organization of that time, the America First Committee, was founded and funded by conservative Republican Midwestern businessmen, such as Gen. Robert E. Woods, the head of Sears & Roebuck, and Henry Regnery, a Chicago businessman who would later go on to establish the first large scale conservative book publisher.... At its height, the Committee had 800,000 dues-paying members, and the sympathies of 75 percent of the American people.

"In those days, it was the left that constituted the core of the War Party. While ostensibly opposed to US intervention in principle, the far-left – that is, the Communist Party and its fellow travelers – turned on a dime the moment Germany invaded the Soviet Union. From that point on, it was the Communists who were in the vanguard of the War Party: it was they who led the vicious attack [on] the America Firsters as pro-Nazi and demanded they be prosecuted for treason....

"When war finally came, the America First Committee dissolved.... Rationing was imposed: the economy was militarized, and a wave of political repression swept the nation from coast to coast, as thousands of Japanese-Americans were put in concentration camps and political dissenters from both sides of the political spectrum were charged with 'sedition.' The federal government spent 43 percent of the gross domestic product in the years 1943-45.... A country that had once been the freest on earth was now only half-free, with the rudiments of the welfare state established and thriving. Worse, the outlines of the American empire began to take shape: far from freeing the US from the alleged necessity of meddling in the affairs of other nations, our victory only presaged a deeper involvement."

Read more: http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2013/03/03/the-libertarian-republican-heritage/
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