Sarah Waring

Why does peace in Ukraine hang on a ‘mineral deal’ whose handling is more reminiscent of trade than negotiations? Perhaps because the global race for critical raw material mining is well and truly underway, digging for today’s equivalent of gold: raw earth elements and lithium critical for renewables and digital technology but also modern weaponry.

From regular TV coverage to constant online streaming, war imagery is so profuse it makes for compulsive viewing that appears to have already reached a pinnacle of disassociation. Meanwhile, the imaging technologies behind war have developed to the point of supposedly ‘predicting’ violence, threatening to occupy the future. And what is left of the real world in their wake?

Literature can’t save the world, but it does provide insight into the behaviour that drives cultural trends. And given the anthropocenic tendency towards self-destruction, we need all the help we can get with cultivating solidarity, combating injustice and resisting censorship.

Trump returns to the White House at a time when the global stakes are higher than ever. What can be expected from his unpredictable foreign policy, and what does this mean for international solidarity, geopolitical stability and democratic values?

The difference between knowing from distance that war is being waged and living that reality couldn’t be more extreme. But can awareness of multiple repercussions turn protective disassociation from violence into active solidarity? ‘The Most Documented War’ symposium in Lviv, Ukraine, provides valuable pointers regarding engagement and responsibility.

In a bid to implement its Rwanda legislation, the UK government is rushing to inhumanely detain refugees, instilling panic, impacting its politically sensitive border with Ireland. The EU, meanwhile, is planning off-shore processing facilities. And surveillance technology is proving just as invasive as past obsessions with the ‘born criminal’.

Refugees coming to Europe face a de-humanizing process wrought with violence, both physical and structural. Protectionist rhetoric is being used to justify aggressive border regimes. And, in Gaza, already displaced civilians are being targeted while unable to leave Rafah –Israel’s escalation of bombardment, a breach of international human rights law.

Despite divisive nationalist politics, there are those who manage to overcome the odds, forming meaningful acts of solidarity. Eurozine’s new focal point ‘The world in pieces’ looks critically at what divides, tackling the complexities of destablized identity.

Whether defending human rights on an international stage, checking facts from the frontline, processing traumatic experiences over a lifetime, or even questioning the language you have spoken since childhood – all matter in the collective fight for justice.

Given the amount of concerns we currently face, it can sometimes feel overwhelming to address the most pertinent issue that should be otherwise impossible to avoid. So how can ecological needs take their rightful place in relation to other human preoccupations?

One year on from the escalation of Russia’s invasion and there’s no sign of conflict resolution in Ukraine. While controversy abounds over political negotiations, constructive discussions about bearing witness to war and what of Ukraine’s cultural heritage should be preserved are forward thinking.

Is it possible to value time for oneself when barely able to make ends meet? Can fears of energy crises be soothed by ideas of fairer distribution? And can knowledge of more-than-human intelligence ease Anthropocene insecurity and feelings of isolation?

What’s in a word, a term, a meme, a full-blown narrative? At a moment of Russian unilateral ceasefire for the Orthodox Christmas, considered by many Ukrainians as hypocritical, Eurozine authors take an investigative look at the rhetoric of war and Russia’s victim narrative.

Taking on imperial knowledge, cultural denial and dogmatic absolutism requires authors who can find their way around tricky narrative strategies, using their wits to juggle cultural preconceptions.

Eurozine welcomes its newest partner, Gwara Media, to the network with an article written on residency by the Ukrainian organisation’s editor-in-chief. Is media fatigue an inevitable fallout of war? Or can new angles be found that still reach tired audiences? What can history and reflection teach us about war reporting?