First and foremost, this site and the news megathread’s user base are not a monolith, and there are frequent discussions about who to support and to what degree. Nonetheless, we nearly universally acknowledge that the West’s role in the world, through organizations such as NATO, the IMF, and the World Bank - among many others - are deeply harmful to the billions of people living both inside and outside of their imperial core, both militarily through wars of aggression and coups, and economic means, giving them unpayable loans, imposing austerity, and applying sanctions to keep these countries in permanent debt peonage. These organizations constitute the modern imperial order, with the United States at its heart - we are not fooled by the term “rules-based international order.” It is in the Left’s interest for these organizations to be demolished. When and how this will occur, and what precisely comes after, is the cause of great debate and discussion on this site, but it is necessary for a better world.

We do not, as a site, have an official line regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and a wide variety of viewpoints are represented in discussions. This includes many users with varying degrees of support for Russia, which some people may find confusing or objectionable. To understand this perspective, it is essential to understand two things: the historical context that led to the invasion, and theoretical concept known as “critical support.” Critical support means that we acknowlede and recognize a nation’s flaws, and do not uphold it as an example to emulate, yet we believe that the nation’s success is in alignment with our goals. While Russia may be a capitalist country, it is still a thorn in the side of the modern imperial order, but on the other hand, whle Russia may be a thorn in the side of the modern imperial order, it is still a capitalist country.

Understanding the war in Ukraine requires understanding that neither history nor the war began in February 2022, the Ukrainian government has been at war with its people since 2014. The Maidan protests started with many legitimate grievances but were heavily backed by western funding and support, especially to the right-wing groups that overtook the movement and accomplished the coup of the Ukrainian government. The people whose democratically elected candidate had just been removed by the western-backed coup were unhappy and many did not recognize the new illegally appointed government as legitimate. This group was especially prevalent in the eastern part of Ukraine and formed the basis of the separatist movement (always referred to as “Russia-backed separatists” in western media). The new government in Kyiv attempted to suppress the separatist movement with its army but the army refused to start shooting their own countrymen. This led the Kyiv government to turn to far-right paramilitaries like Azov, Aidar, C14, Right Sector, and Donbas battalion in order to attack the people of Donbas, these paramilitaries were later folded completely into the Ukrainian military. Crimea was spared this fate as it was annexed by Russia and didn’t have to deal with 8 years of war. Multiple ceasefires, including Minsk 2, were brokered by Russia and European nations and signed by the Ukrainian government but were then simply ignored and the shelling of Donbas continued for 8 years. While Kyiv was waging war on its own countrymen with far-right paramilitary groups it was also promoting the far-right within itself. Stepan Bandera, a Nazi collaborator and genocidal murderer, was made into a national hero. His birthday was made into a national holiday and the street near the Babi Yar monument, a monument commemorating the largest Nazi massacre in Ukraine, was renamed in his honor. Far-right people were placed in high positions in the military and police. Politicians ran under the slogan “Military, Language, Faith”. Official use of the Russian language was suppressed, despite it being the majority language among eastern Ukrainians. The Ukrainian people still desired peace with Donbas and Zelensky ran as a peace candidate, however after he won he refused or was unable to stop the the shelling of Donbas. In 2022 Russia recognized the Donbas Republics as sovereign states, Ukraine responded by further escalating their artillery attacks on the Donbas Republics, Russia responded with the invasion of Ukraine.

Hexbear is unwaveringly supportive of LGBTQIA+ rights and we unequivocally denounce the reactionary laws enacted in many countries in the anti-Western bloc, including Russia, Iran, and others. It is worth noting that some countries in this bloc are experiencing positive trends towards social progress, such as Cuba and Venezuela, while some countries in the Western bloc have either never supported LGBTQIA+ rights, or are experiencing a backslide. Tragically, some people have the perception that LGBTQIA+ rights are a Western export, ignoring both the bigotry that exists in Western countries, and the long history of LGBTQIA+ people in non-Western countries. The war in Ukraine, however, is not being fought over LGBTQIA+ rights. Neither side upholds these rights, nor will victory or defeat cause them to change their laws. The battle for LGBTQIA+ rights around the world is, as it has always been, really fucking hard, but if we make the mistake of trusting the imperialists to have our back, we will soon find a knife in it.