What was US teachers union president Randi Weingarten doing in Kiev?
By Jerry White
26 March 2014
Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), joined a delegation of international union officials that traveled to Kiev March 13-14. The trip, coordinated with officials from the US embassy and the European Union, was aimed at providing a democratic veneer for last month’s Western-backed fascist-led coup, which installed an anti-Russian government in Ukraine.
Weingarten was part of a delegation organized by Education International (EI), including officials from teachers unions in the UK, Poland, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Denmark. The group met with Ukrainian teacher unions, visited Maidan Square for photo ops, and held discussions with US embassy officials and EU representatives.
Public statements by EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen and Weingarten dovetailed entirely with US and European propaganda against supposed “Russian aggression.” This propaganda campaign has been used to justify a build-up of US and NATO military forces throughout Eastern Europe and threats of devastating economic sanctions against Russia.
In a statement on the trip, van Leeuwen declared, “The annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by Mr. Putin is a gross violation of international law, if not an act of war, which should not be accepted.”
According to the EI statement, the Trade Union of Education and Science Workers of Ukraine (STESU), the largest union in the country, hosted the delegation. STESU’s central office building on Maidan Square was apparently an organizing center for the Maidan protests and was demolished by What was US teachers union president Randi Weingarten doing in Kiev? - World Socialist Web Site