On May 2, five years after the massacre of 48 anti-fascists at the House of Trade Unions in Odessa, Ukraine, Struggle-La Lucha activists joined the Odessa Solidarity Campaign for a vigil outside the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
In 2014, shortly after a U.S.-backed coup overthrew the government of Ukraine, neo-Nazis were bused into the city of Odessa. They attacked a protest encampment on Kulikovo Field. When anti-fascists sought refuge in the nearby trade union building, the fascists set fire to the structure, shooting and beating to death those who tried to escape the inferno.
Many videos and photographs document the massacre and identify those responsible. But none of the perpetrators have been punished.
In Odessa itself, thousands of people came to a memorial event organized by victims’ families. They laid flowers at the House of Trade Unions and released black balloons representing those who had died. A delegation of U.S. antiwar activists from the United National Antiwar Coalition attended the memorial.
