Today is Independence Day of Ukraine, and half a year since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, which, we believe, will fail completely. On this day, we publish our program in addition to our original manifesto:
What are we standing for, and what are we fighting against?
1. For the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine and the return to Ukraine of all occupied territories (restoration within the borders until 2014);
2. For the values of conscious pacifism, in which we recognize that defense against military aggression cannot be non-violent;
3. For the demilitarization and disarmament of the Russian Federation: all these years, despite the sanctions of 2014, European states have supplied arms to Russia, thus making a significant contribution to today’s war. All global trade contracts relating to the armament of the Russian Federation must be canceled or revised. We are also fighting for internal demilitarization: the production of military equipment must be limited, and all power structures (the police, the army, the Federal Penitentiary Service, the FSB, etc.) must undergo serious reorganization and reforms so as not to threaten not only the world but also our Russian citizens who daily face politically motivated violence from law enforcement agencies.
4. We demand to stop financing Russian militarism with funds from selling coal, gas, and oil.
5. We fight gender-based violence and discrimination in all its manifestations – domestic and sexualized violence. We are fighting for the adoption of a law on domestic violence; we are fighting for the repeal of discriminatory laws on the so-called “LGBT propaganda”. A society that is tolerant of domestic violence, a society that labels some families as acceptable and others not, is also more tolerant of militaristic violence: all types of violence are connected, and we as feminists are aware of this. The war starts at home. We also fight for reproductive justice for all: every womxn should have the right both to have a child and to an affordable and safe abortion, maternal and parental work should have decent state support, and access to contraception should not be difficult or limited. Demographic problems should be solved not by a ban on abortions and not by controlling other people’s bodies but by sustainable social policies and raising living standards. For this, the war must be stopped immediately.
6. We fight for decent working conditions for all and the observance of labor rights. With the onset of the invasion, the number of laid-off and unemployed increased. Employers use their power and pressure to punish workers for anti-war stance. The first to suffer from the cuts in labor laws are womxn, minorities, and migrants. We support the work of independent trade unions and strikes.
7. We are fighting against Putin’s dictatorship in Russia – for the impeachment and trial of all officials involved in this war, for the abolition of conservative amendments to the constitution, for the abolition of censorship, for the dismantling of the institution of state propaganda, for freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. We oppose the monopoly of the state on the information field and the field of culture and education.
8. We stand for the exchange of prisoners – “all for all”, for the return to Ukraine of all Ukrainian children and orphans who were involuntarily taken to the Russian Federation, for an international trial of all war criminals. We stand for the introduction of reparations to Ukraine for the damage caused. Russian money spent on continuing this war should be directed to restoring Ukraine.
9. We oppose discrimination against all nationalities and peoples of Russia on the territory of Russia, against forced Russification, and disregard for local history and context. Russia needs decolonization: at the level of education, culture, and collective memory, we must study and realize our imperial present and past, the history of crimes against different peoples in tsarist and Soviet times (deportations, repressions, imprisonment, the extermination of people on a national basis, the destruction of foreign cultures and languages). Equality of all languages and cultures, ensuring security for all nationalities on the territory of the Russian Federation, and the liberation of Russia itself from Russian fascism and Nazism is a priority tasks for our common future.
Feminist Anti-War Resistance
22-8-2022
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