Far-right nationalists were few but weighty in the Maidan protests

Evidence

And then there were the far-right nationalist militants. They are sometimes called “neo-Nazis” as shorthand, but if you get to know them, they will tell you there are different schools of thought within the movement. “Yes, a few of us are National Socialists,” they will say, “while others are just fascist, some are arch-conservatives in the monarchist tradition, and others identify as warriors defending the white race.” They are mostly united in revering Stepan Bandera. Nationalist militants put up a giant portrait of him on the city council building so that his huge face looked out upon the Maidan Square. It has always been wrong to claim (as some propaganda narratives do) that in 2013, significant numbers of the Ukrainian population were on the extreme right, or even that the country had more of these violent groups than other countries in the region. But in the special context of the Maidan occupation, the far-night nationalists managed to punch above their weight. They distinguished themselves for several reasons. — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 492

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: A tiny far-right fringe, not the population, dominated the Maidan’s militant core — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 492; Some leftist Maidan participants stayed despite the far-right’s prominent role — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 511; Armed resistance, not civil disobedience, defeated the state’s final crackdown on Maidan — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 509 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• A tiny far-right fringe, not the population, dominated the Maidan’s militant core #expands (0.95) — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 492
• Some leftist Maidan participants stayed despite the far-right’s prominent role #qualifies (0.82) — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 511
• Armed resistance, not civil disobedience, defeated the state’s final crackdown on Maidan #expands (0.75) — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 509