WAR, RESISTANCE & UKRAINE'S FUTURE
Friday, April 14th, 2023
11am PT, 2pm ET, 9pm Ukraine
Registration required:
https://vfp4ukraine.org/
This is the second webinar in the "Veterans For Peace For Ukraine" caucus peace solidarity series. Endorsed and supported by Courage to Resist.
Featuring:
ALONA LIASHEVA, co-editor of Commons Journal (Lviv/Kyiv, Ukraine)
KARYNA LAZARUK, communications researcher (Lviv, Ukraine/Berlin, Germany)
YOSH, director of Feminist Workshop (Lviv, Ukraine), moderator
Hosted by Jeff Paterson and Jeremiah Knowles, VFP National Board Members
Direct registration link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_47E_OxnjSjmlDAjZN0kamw
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Responses we've received promoting this webinar underscore why it's necessary. These comments have included, "You support Nazi Ukraine, go to hell," and "You aren't going to get any sense from those people [our webinar presenters] in Kiev/Lvov [sic] given that ever since the 2014 coup d'état ... any truth-tellers get murdered by the explicitly genocidal Banderist Nazis who control Zelensky." In short, there are plenty of Western leftists who have uncritically adopted Russia's anti-Ukraine propaganda. On the political left, I see this affinity with Russian imperialism primarily sprout from the assertion that US-based peace organizers should only oppose US imperialism, and de facto embrace the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" mentality. But that world view now has to reconcile itself with the undeniable horrors of Russia's invasion and occupation of Ukraine. So, we hear variations of "Ukraine doesn't really exist," but if it does exist, it is "populated and run by nazis," but if any Ukrainians are not nazis they are only "lemmings/proxies for US imperialism" devoid of agency. The next time you see a "peace rally" that calls for NATO to be abolished but can't muster a demand that "Russia get out of Ukraine," that's how we got here.
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About the presenters:
Alona Liasheva; Co-Editor (Lviv/Kyiv, Ukraine)·Commons Journal
Alona is a postdoctoral researcher at Center for Eastern European Studies at the University of Bremen.
Karyna Lazaruk; Researcher (Lviv, Ukraine/Berlin, Germany)
Karyna has extensively studied Russian war narratives. She's a graphic designer, researcher and activist. From Lviv, she's worked from Berlin the last year. She has a MA in Media and Communications.
Yosh; Webinar Moderator (Lviv, Ukraine)
Yosh is the director of the Feminist Workshop which seeks to build feminist spaces and community in Lviv and throughout Ukraine.
