On the 5th anniversary of the Russian invasions in Ukraine, the Ukrainian territorial defense forces were seen in a basement that was used as a military base. This was in Dnipro (Ukraine), February 28, 2022. Andrea Carrubba / Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesSounds of sirens and explosions have rocked Yurii Sheliazhenko’s five-story house in Kyiv every day since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Sheliazhenko, the executive director of Ukraine Pacifist Movement, is a determined voice for peace in a war-torn country. She has experienced a “lot of hate” for refusing to bear arms and to join neighbors in making Molotov cocktails to fend off advancing Russian forces, which face stiff resistance from civilians turned fighters determined to defend Ukraine.
“Firstly, tell the truth, that there is no violent way to peace,” Sheliazhenko said when asked over email about what people in the U.S. can do to support activists in Ukraine.
Somewhere else near Kyiv, “Ilya” and his comrades have taken up arms against the Russian military and are training for battle. Due to the increasing violence, Ilya must hide his identity. He is an anarchist who fled from political repression in a neighbouring country and decided that he would resist the Russian invasion. Along with fellow anarchists, democratic socialists, anti-fascists and other leftists from Ukraine and around the world, Ilya joined one of the “territorial defense” units that operate like voluntary militias under the Ukrainian military with some degree of autonomy. With support from a horizontal alliance of mutual aid groups and volunteers with civilian duties, anti-authoritarians have their own “international detachment” within the territorial defense structure and are fundraisingFor supplies accordingTo a group known by the Resistance Committee.
“When the enemy is attacking you, it is very difficult take an antiwar pacifist stance, and this is because you need to defend yourself,” Ilya said in an interview with Truthout.
Sheliazhenko and Ilya’s divergent paths illustrate the difficult and often extremely limited choices facing activists and progressive social movements in Ukraine. Their differing views on the role violence plays in politics has led both activists to engage in active struggles that compliment rather than rival each other.
Ilya and his comrades have no illusions about the Ukrainian state, which he says “obviously has a lot of shortcomings and a lot of rotten systems.” However, Ukraine, Russia and pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine have engaged in low-level warfare since 2014, and like many others on the left, Ilya believes “Russian imperialist aggression” that could impose Putin’s style of brutal authoritarianism is the greatest common threat at this moment. Ukrainian may not be a well-functioning democracy, but anti-authoritarian activists say the country’s problems will not be solvedRussian intervention and the extremely restrictive political conditions that accompany it. Russian demonstrators are currently resisting a brutal police crackdown, and risking their lives. lengthy prison sentencesProtest the war
“In Russia a broad antiwar movement is arising and I greet it for sure, but here as far as I can estimate, most progressives, socialists, leftists and libertarian movements are now taking sides against Russian aggression, which does not necessarily mean solidarizing with Ukrainian state,” Ilya said.
Sheliazhenko attributes the war to right-wing nationalists from both sides. hundreds and possibly thousandsSo far, a total of 62 civilian deaths. Sheliazhenko and a fellow peace activist were doxed or “blacklisted” as traitors for opposing war with Russian-backed separatists by a far right websiteBefore being attacked by neo Nazis on the streets, she was in Ukraine. She said that fascist gangs have been rising since then, as well as far-right ultranationalists. 2014 Maidan uprisingPutin claims that the fact that Ukraine’s pro-Russian president was deposed is not an excuse for the Russian invasion.
“The current crisis has a long history of misbehavior on all sides, and further attitudes like ‘we the angels can do whatever we wish,’ and ‘they the demons should suffer for their ugliness’ will lead to further escalation, not excluding nuclear apocalypse, and truth should help all sides to calm down and negotiate peace,” Sheliazhenko said.
Many civilians have offered to fight alongside the Ukrainian military. However, there are many other activities that activists can do as the war enters its second-week. Ilya said “civil volunteers” are helping families flee violence, speaking to media outlets worldwide, supporting the families of resistance fighters, gathering donations and supplies, and providing care to those returning from the front lines. Trade unions are currently organizing resources and helping refugeesThey flee war-ravaged Eastern Ukraine and seek refuge in the West, as well as neighboring countries like Poland, as they flee to safety.
Volunteers come from many political backgrounds. But for anarchists such as Ilya, participation in resistance allows them to increase their ability to influence politics and social development both now and after the war. Grassroots “self-organizations” that provide mutual aid and autonomous resistance are also springing up everywhere as a means of survival.
“To specify, not everyone in our unit identifies as anarchist. More important is the fact that a lot people organized spontaneously to help one another, to protect their neighborhoods, towns and villages, and to confront those with Molotov. [cocktails],” Ilya said.
Sheliazhenko, along with scattered peace activists, continue to oppose forced conscription into the military. Their tactics include non-violent civil resistance. Sheliazhenko said men aged 18 to 60 are “prohibited from freedom of movement” and cannot even rent a hotel room without authorization from a military official.
Sheliazhenko claimed that bureaucratic red tape, as well as discriminatory options to military service, prevent religious people and others from exercising their right to conscientious object to military service. She suggested that activists in the U.S. should demand that all civilians be evacuated from conflict zones, regardless of their race, gender, or age, and that they donate to aid organizations that do not bring in weapons into Ukraine that could worsen conflict. The U.S.-led NATO coalition already provided the military with plenty weapons and the possibility that Ukraine joined NATO was a major pretext for the war.
“Underdeveloped peace culture, militarized education training rather obedient conscripts than creative citizens and responsible voters is common problem in Ukraine, Russia and all post-Soviet countries,” Sheliazhenko said. “Without investments in development of peace culture and peace education for citizenship, we will not achieve genuine peace.”
