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Acts of resistance

View of the 2nd anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine

February 2024

Acts of resistance

A recent article by Andrey Kurkov the Ukrainian novelist, ends with the description of a failure by the “Checkpoint Drum school” in Kyiv to attract veterans of the war to a “free rehabilitation through percussion”. Unfortunately, not a single veteran took up the offer despite an “extensive advertising campaign. “He concludes his very interesting and lively piece by stating” We all believe we are ok. and this could be the greatest weakness both for former soldiers and ordinary civilians. The fact is, we are all traumatised by this war and the trauma will remain a feature of our society for a long time to come”
Prior to this conclusion, Kurkov evokes scenes and acts of resistance in every day life in the Ukraine at war. “Even if our bodies have not been captured by the enemies, our minds have been, our dreams have been” he says. The effort “to keep on keeping on ”that has been a form of resistance for civilians in Ukraine at war, has been tested in recent months by the vacillating support by the lack of European unity and American politics. For Ukrainians to maintain this hope of support might be diffcult. Could it be, that a sense of apparent tiredness of the war by the Ukraine EU and US partners could contaminate Ukrainian civilians and undermine the hope of this vital support.?
“There is perhaps less optimism but there is no pessimism either .” Kurkov believes the time has come for realism and “ an understanding that this war will last a long time and that we must learn to live with it” This is something that applies also to Europe and the Europeans. We also need to stop oscillating between optimism and pessimism looking at military gains and losses and realise that this war which inevitably is also our war, will be so for a number of years.
Is there not spring on the horizon? Kurkov paints the image of the white storks coming back to Ukraine from Northern Africa, nesting on telegraph poles and on chimneys of abandoned houses. A symbol of spring. Timko, the national groundhog who lives in a research facility Karazin at Kharkiv National University, has predicted it will be an early spring this year. Timkos process of predicting spring was shown on national television” and for a moment those present could put the war aside and think about spring” Farmers begin to prepare their felds for the sowing season, city dwellers ready their allotments for the growing season. The shoots of spring is apparent in small acts of resistance up and down the land.
Oleksandr Usyk, the heavyweight boxing champion, originally resident in Crimea wrote the lyrics to a popular song “be patient, Cossack” that is on the airwaves, sung by a young singer.
Dozens of rock groups and solo artists are appearing in small venues up and down the country to express their thoughts, feelings and their dreams about the present and future. The journalist and poet Mykolaiv Rachok, editor of the cultural magazine “Kunsht” dreamt of opening a bookstore but never returned from the front he volunteered for in 2022. His parents and sister decided to open a bookstore in his memory and not having ever been engaged in business activities they had to learn everything as they went along. Kurkov writes about his friend, a master Sommelier, who is on leave from the front line and talks about his dream “to pay more attention to small craft wineries after the war.” And so the stories go on about acts of resistance and hope in a country at war.

But what about those who have been drafted into the armed forces and may only dream of returning to their former life of sowing and harvesting? And the memory of those fallen and their relatives and friends who have to live with the knowledge that they can never return?
The Ukrainian government does not publish statistics and will do so only after the end of the war. Nevertheless, it is estimated that at least 70.000 have been killed. Picture Ukrainian fags futtering in the wind in cemeteries all over the land. “For Ukrainians the war is a permanent background to their daily lives “ Most people carry an app on their phone alerting them to incoming rockets and drones. The proposed National Military Memorial Cemetery has been agreed upon but has to be still build to eventually hold the names and ashes of those who have perished and paid the ultimate price to defend their homeland and to defend also ours, our values, our democracies and our freedom.

Hansjorg Messner & Cristina Calarasanu

For the EFPP “Help Ukraine – https://ukraine.efpp.org/events/ ” Committee in light of remembrance of the 2nd anniversary of Putins Russia’s Aggression against an independent Ukraine

The conference “Thoughts and Dreams” organised by the APPU takes place the following weekend (23-25 February 2024). Even if you can’t participate, please register and if you can, pay the fee. You can thereby support our colleagues in Ukraine.