“As Russian citizens and feminists, we condemn this war. Feminism as a political force cannot be on the side of a war of aggression and military occupation. The feminist movement in Russia struggles for vulnerable groups and the development of a just society with equal opportunities and prospects, in which there can be no place for violence…”
The Feminist Anti-war Resistance manifesto (#FeministAntiWarResistance) has called for solidarity action for International Women’s Day, against Putin and his war and in solidarity with Ukraine.
Hardly surprising, it’s difficult to find any up-to-date commentary and activity from feminist groups in Ukraine right now amidst the chaos of war. But Ukraine has a variety of feminist groups and organisations. They mostly exist online through Facebook and other social media. As with feminist movements everywhere, there are many healthy, and some not so healthy, with divisions around gender, LGBTQ rights and sex workers.
According to Kateryna Semchuk, the only left-wing feminist group in Ukraine is the “Queer Anarcho-Feminism” group. In more peaceful times it concerns itself with the rights of Roma women, support for sex workers, and campaigning for rights for women living with HIV.
Commentary on women’s lives that can be followed more easily, though with fewer demands, is in the glossy magazines such as the Ukraine Marie Claire. Over the last two weeks articles on fashion, diet, careers and sex have taken a back seat to articles such as “How to get your acrylic nails off so you can more easily hold a weapon”; “A guide to child-birth at home during the war”; “Menstruation and war; tips from a gynaecologist”; “What to do if you find yourself trapped under the rubble of your home”.
These popular magazines have responded to the real world around them with less of their usual myth-making articles about women’s lives and bodies. They have responded to women giving birth in air raid shelters and on the metro as hospitals and nurseries are shelled by the Russian army. To reports of rape and other sexual offences by Russian soldiers. They have responded to the real world where droves of women and children flee Ukraine with their lives packed into carrier bags and suit cases; where grandmas take on Russian soldiers; and women of all ages set up makeshift Molotov cocktail factories, and take up rifles to join the Ukraine resistance.
For now, at least, the real world is shaping the content. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of most of the organised British left groups: they have a real-world bypass.
International Women’s Day 2022, and beyond, must be about solidarity with Ukraine and Russian women opposing Putin, opposing Russian imperialism. We should give practical support, attending protests, raising funds for the Ukraine trade movement for them to buy arms to defend themselves. The best solidarity we can show to any oppressed groups anywhere and especially Ukraine right now is to take up the arguments and fight to defeat the Putin apologists in our own labour movement.
Solidarity with women in Ukraine and Russia opposing Putin and fighting against Russian imperialism!