Bandera-glorifying flyers handed out by counter-protesters of Toronto rally against NATO proxy war
Caption: A picture of the back of the poster honouring OUN-B leader Stepan Bandera.
Written by: Aidan Jonah
The Canada Files’ investigation shows that at least a dozen flyers glorifying Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera were distributed and held at a Ukrainian counter-protest to a Toronto event against NATO’s proxy war.
This rally, held by Toronto Coalition Against NATO on October 1, focused on demanding an end to the NATO proxy war on Russia using Ukraine. The rally was counterprotested by Ukrainian Resistance Canada, which demanded continued Western arms shipments and ‘aid’ sent to Ukraine, along with continued NATO ‘support’ for Ukraine.
After this rally, this author was handed a pro-Ukraine flyer which sought to make a vigorous defense of OUN-B leader Stepan Bandera, and told it was handed out by counter-protesters. After a deep analysis, the protestor who handed the poster to this author, was more correct than they likely even realized.
Who is that man on the back of the poster
The poster’s front is banal for a pro-Ukraine counter-protest, ignoring the Ukrainian government’s war on the people of the Donbass since the Maidan coup in 2014, saying that “if Russia stops fighting, there will be no war”, finishing by urging people to “stand with Ukraine!”
But the back of the poster is where the story lies. The back venerates Stepan Bandera, complaining that Russians call “him a bloody criminal and a tool of the Nazis”, alleging that this is done only be “he dedicates his life to Independent Ukraine without Russian ‘brothers’”.
Stepan Bandera was a fascist and the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists-B, which came from a split within the OUN. The OUN was founded in 1929, while its fascist and openly anti-Semitic ideology was that Jews and Russian-speaking citizens must be removed from Ukrainian society at any cost.
Members of the OUN collaborated with the Nazis as early as 1937, (OUN split into OUN-B and OUN-M in 1940) before Nazi Germany occupied Soviet Ukraine in 1941. Even Britannica acknowledges that “The Germans were accompanied on their entry into Lviv on June 30 by members of OUN-B”.
Bandera’s right-hand man, Yaroslav Stetsko, stated in his 1941 autobiography:
“I therefore support the destruction of the Jews and the expedience of bringing German methods of exterminating Jewry to Ukraine, barring their assimilation and the like."
Throughout World War II, the OUN-B and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) massacred more than 100,000 Poles and Jews, while the OUN-M collaborated with the Nazis throughout. During the Nazi occupation of Soviet Ukraine, 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews died and 800 000 were forced to flee. The OUN-B collaborated with the Nazis before their push for Ukrainian independence alienated them.
The OUN-B and UPA still fought against the Soviets, even when the Nazis cracked down on them, though this certainly didn’t stop them from killing Poles and Jews over the next few years.
Bandera was assassinated by the Soviet KGB in 1959, but his legacy lives on Ukraine, which since 2018 has had a national holiday to honour him.
On the poster and the counter-protest
This poster with Bandera glorification on the back was different from other posters handed out by counter-protesters, as it had a front section with a vertical set of eight dots in the bottom left and top right corners. A similar poster with the same front text, did not have the dot sets in front, and did not speak of Bandera on the back.
The front of at least nine posters honouring Stepan Bandera can be seen within the counter-protest.
In further Instagram story posts by Ukrainian Resistance Canada, the backside of two posters matching the back of the Bandera poster can be seen, being held by counter-protesters.
The organizer of Ukraine Resistance Canada’s counter-protest, Tetiana Podobailo, said in comment that “The Ukrainian Resistance Canada organization did not create, did not approve, and did not distribute these posters” and that “The individuals shown in the photos are not part of our organization.”
Remarkably, despite at least 11 posters honouring Bandera, and one photo showing a person holding a stack of more of these flyers, being viewable in publicly available footage/images from pro-Ukraine organizations and media, Podobailo said “The members of our organization did not see the posters in question during the demonstration.” Further, she stated that “Many people attend the protests, but tracking each one is not possible.”
Halyna Padalko is an individual who stated in an Instagram comment under Ukrainian Resistance Canada’s Instagram post, that she was proud to have made the materials/flyers for the counter-protest.
The Canada Files asked Padalko which posters she made for the counter-protest, but Padalko did not respond to the question nor the request for comment. Instead, Padalko has gone private on Instagram.
Glenn Michalchuk, head of the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, said of the counter-protesters holding up Bandera posters:
“The defence of the OUN-B and its leader Stepan Bandera clearly indicates the political ideology of some, or all, of the counter protestors. They espouse the most reactionary form of Ukrainian nationalism.
During World War II the OUN-B, side-by-side with German SS, participated in heinous crimes against the civilian populations of Poland and Ukraine and were responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Jews and others.”
Speaking further on the OUN-B and its legacy, Michalchuk said:
“In present day Ukraine they, and their sympathizers, are the pro-Nazi elements that have been elevated into official positions of the Ukraine state and, in large measure, are responsible for the conditions that have led to war with Russia.
The Canadian Government should fully investigate and take appropriate measures against these far-right groups, and their potential to engage in terrorist attacks on progressive Canadians and their organizations."
In the bottom left corner of a picture shared by Ukrainian Resistance Canada, an individual can be seen holding a set of flyers whose back colours and text match the back of the Bandera glorifying poster.
Irony is a remarkable thing. The sign centered in the full image says: “It smells like Russian propaganda here”.
Editor’s note: Introducing Operation 135, The Canada Files’ campaign to go from 65 to 200 consistent financial supporters. The Canada Files is the country's only news outlet focused on Canadian foreign policy. We've provided critical investigations & hard-hitting analysis on Canadian foreign policy since 2019, and need your support.
Please consider joining 74 consistent financial supporters, in setting up a monthly or annual donation through Donorbox.
Aidan Jonah is the Editor-in-Chief of The Canada Files, a socialist, anti-imperialist news outlet founded in 2019. Jonah has broken numerous stories, including how the Canadian Armed Forces trained neo-Nazi "journalist" Roman Protasevich while he was with the Azov Battalion, and how a CIA front group (the NED) funded the group (URAP) which drove the "Uyghur genocide" vote in parliament to pass in February 2021. Jonah recently wrote a report for the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council, held in September 2021.
More Articles
