As many as one million Russians have fled their country in protest against Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. The exiles include intellectuals, journalists, and high-tech workers, as well as draft-age men who refused to go to war for Putin’s territorial ambitions. This weekend, exiles plan to demonstrate against the war in 44 countries.
Russian opposition groups in more than 100 cities in 44 countries around the world — from Berlin to Seoul to Los Angeles — plan to mark the anniversary of the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Friday with three days of demonstrations outside of Russian diplomatic missions or on public squares.
The organizers are calling the protests a test of whether their historically fractious groups, which operate outside of Russia, can work in a coordinated manner to oppose the Kremlin. The groups are hoping to achieve “an unprecedented level of cooperation within the diaspora,” said one coordinator, Inna Berezkina, of the Moscow School for Civic Education, which is now operating out of the Baltics.
The initial idea was to hold the protests on Friday, but that changed after some Ukrainian groups objected because they felt the anniversary should be a day to commemorate the toll of the war in their country. Individual Ukrainian diaspora groups around the world are also planning protests.
So the Russian coordinators decided to shift many of their events to Saturday, thinking that separate demonstrations would also highlight the fact that there is Russian opposition to the war.
“This is about solidarity and grief on the one hand, but also about the visibility of Russian protests,” said Ms. Berezkina. It is impossible to predict turnout, she noted, but all independent Russian media have been plugging the demonstrations on their broadcasts.
Demonstrations are scheduled for the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Friday afternoon, as well as outside the United Nations in New York, plus another 14 American cities over the weekend, as well as in virtually every major European capital.
Most opposition leaders have fled the country in the face of heavy repression since the invasion a year ago when the Kremlin criminalized opposing the war.
Any thoughts that demonstrations inside the country might be part of the protests were dashed with the arrest earlier in February of a Russian activist who brazenly sought a permit to hold a public protest against the war on Moscow’s Lubyanka Square, outside the headquarters of the Federal Security Service, the main security police.
It’s essential to the US and European democracies that Russians who have become American citizens and who have political influence show support for Ukraine and against Putin. It should act as a litmus test.
Clearly there are high placed Putin allies planting pro-Putin info in the media and some are elected Republicans influencing the electorate and legislation. There is pro-Putin authoritarian influence within some conservative American churches (Putin and his Bishop Krill are orthodox Christian). There are double agents at the top in well-funded Republican political networks and unfortunately, a small number in federal agencies.
In addition to money acting as a motivator to betray democracy, some believe in repressive regimes like Putin’s and in theocracies.
Love to read this. Some older sayings come to mind:
Power to the people.
Make love, not war.
Stop the war pigs.
We can all head over to United Nations Headquarters.
To Bear Witness against those nations NOT voting to Stand With Ukraine.
End The War & Get Russia OUT Of Ukraine NOW.
2/23/2023
VOTING NO: Syria, Nicaragua, Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Mali, Russia.
32 Countries Abstaining.
Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burundi, Central African Republic, China, Congo, Cuba, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan, Togo, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Zimbabwe.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/24/un-ukraine-resolution-vote-countries/
It is wonderful to see fellow Russians disapprove of the war in Ukraine. Over the years I had the good fortune to teach both Ukrainian and Russian newcomers. In the 1970s when I taught high school, I had a number of Jewish boys that were refugees from the Soviet Union. They were lovely young men that had a decent academic background. I also had both Russian and Ukrainian newcomers when I moved to the elementary school. The Russian children, particularly those from orphanages, were troubled as they had been abused or they suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome. Some of the boys were quite arrogant, and they looked down on the other Black and Brown students. The Ukrainian children had a better academic background, and they had a far better social and emotional outlook. My conclusion is that democracy is far healthier for children than authoritarian rule. I hope we keep this in mind when we go to the polls in 2024.
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