Much has been made of abstinence during the pandemic. But the virtues of ‘doing without’ have nothing to do with the refugee’s involuntary loss of home and family. For those never forced to flee, this existential experience is almost beyond imagination.
Word from those on the ground in Ukraine is coming through. And the message is – everyone who needs to leave should, but please don’t say goodbye anymore.
Amidst bipartisan solidarity with Ukraine, Joe Biden’s State of the Union address focused on unity and reconciliation. But in reality, deep rifts remain not just between the parties, but within them too. The jockeying for 2024 has already long begun.
The result of this war is impossible to predict, but one thing is clear: ‘Great Russian Humanist Culture’ has suffered a defeat. Serhiy Zhadan on what the war means for the language of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy.
‘We would prefer to talk about art and literature, but right now we are asking for solidarity. Overcome fear, close the skies above Ukraine, save those who may tomorrow join the ranks of the killed and wounded.’
A woman of many words, marginalized amongst feminists during her lifetime, who continued to speak out against sexual violence – take an International Women’s Day moment to engage with the #MeToo movement’s posthumous champion.
The border town of Przemyśl is the main point of entry for Ukrainian refugees entering Poland. Most have come from Lviv, the central node for Ukrainians heading west. The photographer Florian Rainer has followed the route in the other direction. His images record both the anxiety and resilience of people forced to abandon their homes from one day to the next.
Independent sources of information have been almost entirely destroyed in Russia. It is critical to reveal to Russian citizens the full truth about the suffering of the Ukrainian nation. An appeal to Russian speakers worldwide from prominent members of the Russian literary intelligentsia.
Freedom, dignity and security: our belief in the aspirations that animate civil society is why we affirm our support for Ukraine today. A statement by the editors of the Eurozine partner journal ‘Esprit’.
Anton Shekhovtsov tells about Russian imperialist mythology and how the insane propaganda of Ukraine’s denazification came about; the new status of Belarus as a mere vassal state; desertion as a political option; and how western elites have abandoned their alliances with Vladimir Putin – with a few notable exceptions.
Clinging to his nukes, Putin will only lose power if his own turn on him. It’s hard to predict when, if ever, the leaders he has humiliated and threatened into submission will do the basic calculus and find that obeying the tyrant will inevitably cost way more than defiance.
A diary from the front, a Syrian scenario for Putin, and opportunities to help: here’s a review of what editors and authors of the Eurozine network have to say about Ukraine.
Putin’s war is being fought in the interests of a political elite, not the Russian nation. But the information bubble is preventing the Russian public from speaking out. That is where those outside Russia come in. An appeal from Russian civil society.
A large part of the western Left, focused on NATO and the USA, failed to see Russian aggression. Of course, the war on terror needs to be brought into the discussion – but critique of liberal internationalism cannot add up to support for the ‘spheres of interest’ doctrine.
When war becomes a reality, time is of the essence. Slow political responses raise questions about underlying reasons for reluctance. And as Russia wages war on Ukraine, how the situation is described at distance also matters. How can Putin’s position be pulled back from the black hole of media and political acquiescence?
Putin’s autocracy has a reason to be afraid of its smaller neighbour: a working democracy always threatens a tyrant. Supporting Ukrainians’ fight for self-determination is not only a moral obligation, but an existential question for the democratic world.