We are people of Culture.

We are people of Culture. We are people of Literature. But first of all, we are People, we are Ukrainians. 

What we have to do is to celebrate love, humanity, tolerance and diversity. 

You, our colleagues, are aware of Ukrainian Culture, you know how rich and diverse it is. We present you Crimean Culture, talk about Lvivian Jews and their heritage, in Lviv, Ukraine, Europe, we speak of Lviv writers who had to run to Poland, etc. We, after all, always demonstrate and support the diversity of cultures. 

 

And now we are being “punished” for being different. And now we are being “punished” for being different. We hope none of you don’t believe that this war is liberative? russia somehow decided that Ukrainians needed to be “liberated” from… what? From democracy and supporting the common humanism values? From us wanting to go our own way, not following russian authority and propaganda? In the year 2014 they again encroached on our rights and freedoms and for 8 years already we are fighting for Sovereign Ukraine. For 8 years we shout out loud about what is happening, for 8 years already our writers are creating “Letters from Ukraine” and not only, creating films, doing projects… it’s not an 18-days-old problem, friend, that’s the problem of centuries. But it has never been as acute as it is now. 

 

Why, in the year 2022, we have to run to Poland or Germany, Czech Republic or even further, to Great Britain and Iceland. 

Hey, we don’t want to run anywhere! 

But still, people of Kyiv, Mariupol, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Melitopol, Kharkiv, have to go. They run to Lviv, or further in Europe, just imagine this, without any stuff. One backpack to carry your whole life, as your home is destroyed. 

As a result of shelling Kharkiv House “Slovo” (Word) was damaged. Historical literary place, the house where Mykola Khvylovy, Antin Krushelnitsky, Ivan Bagriany, Les Kurbas and others lived. They were later called the “Executed Renaissance” and known as the Geniuses of Ukrainian literature being executed by russians. 

In the century of Tolerance and Sustainable Development Goals we are again executed, destroying our “Word” and churches, our hospitals and maternity houses, they destroy our lives, thousands of them. 

 

It has been 18 days of active war, which seems like eternity.So many words and manifestations have been told and created, but none of them is not yet expressing the full spectrum of what we are feeling. And this post also is not. 

Lviv – a City of Literature, lots of you have been here, most of us live here, the City of Inspiration, City that carries Ukrainian traditions, hospitable and calm, today, for the first time since the war started, has been under shelling.

The bomb felt on International Peacekeeping Center, located not far from Lviv center and even closer to Polish border. To the EU. The distance is actually as much as we were walking a day during Nottwich. As a result, 35 people were killed, more than 100 – injured. People from the City of Literature. On the European Union border. Died from russian occupant. 

 

We have to stop it, together. n any possible way, with sanctions, protests and, of course, by closing the sky over Ukraine, we have to stop this nightmare. We ask you to spread the word as much as possible, ask you to donate https://www.comebackalive.in.ua/to try to affect cultural and political elites in your Cities. We ask you to be with and to know, Long Live Ukraine! We will win, we are Unbreakable! 

Ukrainian Assembly Comix Picture by Vira Kordoba