You've been inactive for a while. I hope you're okay
Hi, I hope I didn't cause too much worry with my inactivity. I am alive, but I don't think I'll be posting on tumblr anymore.
This blog began with the intention of making the ukrainian perspective on war in Ukraine visible for the foreign audience, and with most of the interaction coming from other Ukrainians, I feel like I'm in an echo chamber.
Not to dissmiss the foreigners who still care - rest assured, your support is seen, appreciated and much needed.
But the majority of people on this website are actively hostile, condescending and dissmissive towards Ukrainians, and my time is better spent elsewhere than arguing with privileged teenagers who think the peak tragedy of the war in Ukraine is that "russian culture is being destroyed" (reality check: russian artists are thriving in Europe on foreign grants, while ukrainian artists and art are being destroyed every day, together with everything we have).
If anyone still cares, please donate to any trustworthy initiative (if you don't know any, United24, BackAndAlive, Serhiy Prytula Foundation and Hospitaliers are always sound choices). The word "desperate" fails to describe the atmosphere right now. We feel like we are left to die.
Chernihiv, Ukraine today after russian attack. At least 14 dead, 61 injured. They know we're out of air defence, so attacks like these are going to happen even more often. Ukraine urgently needs more Patriot systems. Call your representatives!
We must start to hold people and nations to account. Nations who "stand with Palestine" yet have a history of antisemitism and Jew hate.
Spain, Portugal, and Ireland are very good examples of this.
Spain and Portugal expelled their Jews, and forced other Jews to either convert or die. These policies wouldn't be relaxed until the 1800s.
Ireland had pogroms, and the nationalist party Sinn Fein had newspapers who accused Jews many antisemitic stereotypes.
By far the biggest one however is Russia. Russia not only has ties to Hamas and the IRGC, but has a deep antisemitic history. Pogroms, the pale of settlement, the cantonist system, the black hundreds, antisemitic legislation etc.
There are several other nations who haven't owned up to their antisemitic past, and still don't support Israel's right to exist as a nation and the home of the Jewish people.
Sorry if this hurts your feelings, but it has to be said. There's a clear pattern between nations who support Israel and owned up to their past, and those who don't and haven't owned up.
“Соврать по-своему – ведь это почти лучше, чем правда по одному по-чужому; в первом случае ты человек, а во втором ты только что птица!”
-Фёдор Достоевский, Преступление и наказание.
Translation:
“Lying in your own way is almost better than telling the truth in someone else’s way; in the first case you are a man, and in the second you are just a bird!”
I'm so numb and exhausted. Our "allies" abandoning us means even more deaths, even more destruction. Today I was walking home and thinking how much I love my city, my country, people around me, but we can't catch missiles with our bare hands, we need air defence, we need weapons. The only thing that keeps me going is the fact that we owe persistence to the people who died. We owe them to keep going. We owe our defenders, they can't just give up because they feel like it. My level of tiredness isn't even 1% of the one our defenders, first responders and volunteers feel. Call your representatives, ask for air defence for Ukraine. We need it to survive.