“I hope the Russian empire will be destroyed!”
Syrian-British journalist Robin Yassin-Kassab on the connections between the wars in Syria and Ukraine, the failure of the Western left, and ways to deepen democratic institutions.
2022
Ukraine and Syria: War and Resistance
The violence is there, it’s in the news: here are the numbers dead, here are the potential war crimes, the hospitals bombed, the markets bombed. We’ve become desensitized to this, globally. And yet there is so much that people are doing on the ground, and a lot of creative actions.
Absolutely Horizontal
Before the girl left, Katya and her guest hugged tightly. The girl ended up in Germany. “I was constantly thinking about what is it like to live when your city has been wiped off the face of the earth,” says Katya.
Remembering Youssef
Tracing the violent strategies that lead to the deaths of people on the move is crucial, as ignorance only reinforces the silent and invisible cycle of brutality behind the borders, resulting in more unseen deaths.
Our Wounds Are Bridges
Amplifying the voices of those who are in the middle of the fight, those who have suffered; asking people what life they want to live and then helping them to build it: this is what we need to be doing together.
I Am Angry
I am pleased that refugees from Ukraine are being helped. Refugees from Ukraine are seen as people, but refugees like me from Africa and middle eastern countries are not such ‘good’ humans. We are insulted!
Voices in the Wilderness
Today, near my building, I saw that my neighbors had painted the “Z” symbol on their cars, this new swastika that marks the Russian military equipment going to attack Ukraine. They’re all in favor of the hellishness, the blood and death, the war. It’s so scary.
Addressing Russian Propaganda
The default anti-military position is that when two imperial powers fight each other, you don’t take a side. This position is convenient but it’s not the situation that’s happening. There aren’t two imperialisms here, there’s just one imperialism against the people.