by Marcy Winograd, LA Progressive
As Codepink’s Chair of the US-based Peace in Ukraine Coalition, I interviewed Yurii Sheliazhenko, Executive Secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, about the war in Ukraine and military mobilization against the Russian invasion. Yurii lives in Kyiv, where he faces routine electricity shortages and daily air raid sirens that send people running to subway stations for shelter.
Inspired by pacifists Leo Tostoy, Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, as well as Indian and Dutch non-violent resistance, Yurii calls for an end to US and NATO weapons to Ukraine. Arming Ukraine undermined past peace agreements and discouraged negotiations to end the current crisis, he says.
The Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, with ten members at its core, opposes the war in Ukraine and all wars by advocating for protection of human rights, especially the right to conscientious objection to military service.
Yurii, please tell us about the pacifist or anti-war movement in Ukraine. How many people are involved? Are you working with other European and Russian anti-war organizations? What actions have or can you take to end the war in Ukraine? What has been the reaction?
Ukraine has a thriving civil society politically poisoned by warmongering mainstream. Brazen militarism dominates the media, education and all public sphere. Peace culture is weak and fragmented. Still, we have many organized and spontaneous forms of nonviolent war resistance, mostly hypocritically pretending to be in line with war effort. Without such conventional hypocrisy it would be impossible for the ruling elite to manufacture consent for the painfully ambitious aim of “peace through victory.” For example, the same actors could express commitments to incompatible humanitarian and militarist values.
Recent Posts
‘Unconstitutional. Unethical. Authoritarian.’ ICE Bars Millions Of Immigrants From Bond Hearings
Take Action Now One watchdog said the new policy “seems like a blatant attempt to stop them from exercising their right to due process.”……
Americans Are Not Nearly Alarmed Enough About Climate Change
Take Action Now Americans still don’t comprehend how imminent, dangerous, and far-reaching the threat is—and journalists are partly to blame.By…
The IRS Is Building A Vast System To Share Millions Of Taxpayers’ Data With ICE
Take Action Now ProPublica has obtained the blueprint for the Trump administration’s unprecedented plan to turn over IRS records to Homeland Security…
Israel’s Sudden Assault On Syria Is Unchecked Aggression
Take Action Now Jerusalem is bombing Damascus and threatening al-Sharaa’s rule, while Washington was hoping to help the nascent government on…