I was born in Belarus, I have friends in Ukraine and Russia – no one wants this war. Lukashenko, the illegitimate president of Belarus, who does not represent the wish of Belarusian people, is preparing to send troops to Ukraine and join the Russian invasion. This makes me angry. We are all brothers, our history is one braid. And this is madness.
To all Belarusian soldiers who are ordered to join Russia, to all the Russian people who are holding their fingers on a trigger, and to all those who allow them to:
Today, you can’t hide behind a command. Today, your responsibility is to think. You can’t afford the comfort of ‘our leaders know best, they know more than we do’ – they don’t. Your leaders know only one faith – power for the sake of power. And you mine it for them, deaf and blind, mind and heart in fog, while your wives and sisters pray for you to come home, when they should have screamed at you to wake up. They should have thrown themselves at you, begged you to be a real soldier, to be a human. Instead, they looked at you as a human for the last time, their own humanity waning, because you denounced this holy status as soon as you fired your first bullet. That bullet carried you in it and as it burnt through the innocent flesh, your soul burnt with it. ‘It was an order,’ you say to us, to yourself. No – it is an anachronism, a relic. Today, the truth is at your fingertips, it is in the air available with each breath – love and freedom. Find courage to breathe it and think and act. Be a human. A child one of you killed – all of you killed. A war your leaders began – you began.
My name is Yarema. I’m 16 and I’m from Lviv, Ukraine. At the moment, the situation in Lviv is calm and stable, but things can change at any moment. A few minutes ago, sirens started to scream. That’s how unpredictable the situation is. I want to say that sanctions that different countries impose against Russia aren’t enough to change the situation. It seems that the SWIFT blockation may help, but nobody is completely sure about that. Measures that are taken must be more radical and serious. Three days ago, the Russian military killed a family of five (two of them were kids). They have done that, and keep doing it for no reason. They are horrible, they aren’t people, they are monsters. They have no heart. They are the disappointment of humanity. I try to do my best to help my country. I block Russian propagandistic information sources. I do broadcasts where I tell people the news from official Ukrainian information sources. What can foreign civils do for Ukrainian civils? They can spread such information.
Both Russian and Ukrainian civilians were attacked by the Russian army.
The Ukrainian army is powerful, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t need help from foreign partners.
If you have the ability to donate some money to our army, visit this site.
Go on the streets and protest, no matter where you are in the world. Spread information about the violence of the Russian military against civilians.
I’m a Ukrainian and it’s heartbreaking to see how many lives of my fellow citizens and militarists are being claimed at the moment. It depends on everyone when this hell will end, so please don’t be indifferent. We need your help right now. We are the same people as others are. We want to turn back to our normal lives as soon as possible. I’ll repeat again, it depends on EVERYONE.
For those wondering what they can do for the people of Ukraine, there’s a helpful piece in the Independenthere, and there is a page with links to charities and funds where donations can be put to good use here.
In the creative industries we rarely have to think about war games, strategy and international diplomacy, but the not-so-roaring twenties have been an unpleasant surprise on many fronts.
In the face of the Ukraine crisis escalating into full-on invasion, I’m sure you feel as helpless and hopeless as I do – what can we do from all the way over here, as writers, as publishers, not soldiers or leaders? I’ve been speaking with Simon Mundy of PEN International’s Writers for Peace Committee about the international response that PEN International and friends have been co-ordinating, and the pen does, in this case, wield power.
It seems clear that Putin’s playbook isn’t wildly different from that of the Nazi party, in many ways – not least in his demonisation of certain peoples and those whose existence he objects to the most – and as a publisher whose raison d’être is providing a platform to many of those Putin seeks to subjugate, to celebrate difference and diversity while he seeks to destroy it, we think it’s important to extend our platform to add our voices to those shouting ‘I object!’
As our pal George Orwell says, ‘Writers are persecuted in Russia… any attack on intellectual liberty, and on the concept of objective truth, threatens in the long run every department of thought.’
This is why we have set up this blog page, dedicated to writerly solidarity in the face of these threatening authoritarian forces. While Renard is a business, and many businesses like to remain apolitical, we feel that some things are just too important.
If you have comments or questions, or, indeed, if you’re a writer and would like to contribute, please contact us.
Like all websites, this one uses cookies to help it function. More infoNO PROBLEM
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Sign up to our beguiling newsletter to receive news, invitations to events and special offers!
By way of thanks for signing up, we’ll send you a 30% coupon code, which you can use on your first order.
We promise not to spam you! We don't email too often, and hope you'll find it all fascinating. You can unsubscribe at any time.