Recently a press release was sent to my e-mail. I think its publication is urgently important.
“The project ‘See Ukraine: Docudays UA on tour’ arrived to Athens on May 13. Exile Room, which was going to be the principal festival’s location in Greece, terminated the agreement on the night before the opening. They were afraid of radical groups, which threatened to protest outside the establishment. The organizers urgently contacted the Embassy of Ukraine in Greece in order to have the screenings and discussions held at the Embassy’s territory.
“In the evening on May 13, as Euromaidan: Rough Cut movie was being shown at the festival’s opening ceremony elsewhere, pro-Russian forces, which call themselves ‘Greek anti-fascists,’ gathered for a rally outside Exile Room. After that, the rally moved towards the gallery that was scheduled to display the exhibition by Oleksandr Gliadielov ‘Do you hear me, brother?’ in a week. The protesters threatened the gallery owners and accused them of supporting Ukrainian Nazis.
“Currently, local sources are spreading misinformation about the ‘See Ukraine’ project, distorting the facts and accusing us of slander against inhabitants of Crimea and Donbas. Our program, though, has no films on that topic.
“‘The example of the initiative by Docudays UA in cultural diplomacy shows that an information campaign is being carried out against Ukraine, and how important it is not to fall for provocations. We should not believe that Greeks are hostile to Ukrainians – it is not true. Pro-Russian forces create this myth deliberately, trying to incite a quarrel between the two countries. Therefore, despite the difficulties, we conducted the first part of the festival in Greece as planned,’ explains Olha Birzul, PR-manager of “See Ukraine: Docudays UA on tour.
“In three days, the audience in Athens has seen Euromaidan. Rough Cut and two short films by Ukrainian filmmakers: The Doctor Leaves Last by Svitlana Shymko and Sirs and Misters by Oleksandr Techynsky. Additionally, there was a discussion titled ‘The Course of Ukraine after Euromaidan,’ attended by Ukrainian-Greek experts: philosopher Volodymyr Yermolenko, journalist Tetiana Oharkova, professor of geopolitics Nikos Lygeros, and historian Michalis Varlas.
“‘The discussion was memorable, above all, because of interest the audience has shown. People had many questions about the situation in Ukraine, the fight against corruption, the strengths of Ukrainian society, as well as about the Russian aggression, the causes of Crimea annexation, and the future of Donbas,’ says Tetiana Oharkova (Ukrainian Crisis Media Center, Hromadske TV). ‘We also spoke about the difficulties in explaining Ukraine’s European choice in Greece, which is a country with a powerful Euro-skeptical sentiment.’
“The team of the festival is grateful to the Association of Ukrainian Diaspora ‘Ukrainian-Greek Thought’ for the help in organizing ‘See Ukraine: Docudays UA on tour’ and the Embassy of Ukraine, which provided the venue for the events. Currently, the team of ‘See Ukraine’ suspends the second part of the project, which was scheduled for May 27-29, before a safe location is found.
“Docudays UA is Ukraine’s only international festival of documentary films on human rights. It takes place every year on the last week of March in Kyiv. After the initial event is finished, Docudays UA traditionally presents its best films across Ukraine’s regions in a traveling festival. These are shown October through December. The festival is non-political and non-profit.”
As for me, I can only add that I have many friends who follow the leftist beliefs to some extent – anarchists and socialists. So, I know very well that a leftist who consistently adheres to their principles sees no greater nonsense than supporting (in any form) the ultra-nationalistic, xenophobic, aggressive Russian imperialism. That is why the word “left” in the title is put into quotation marks. Unfortunately, many of such “left” in Europe have turned into Putin’s obedient underlings. Regardless of whether it was because of money or by sheer ignorance, the main thing is that they have become indistinguishable in this and many other issues from the European Nazis, against which they seem to be carrying on such a fierce fight.
