#UkrainianSpaces

Thanks to our generous Patreon family, #UkrainianSpaces is back for season three. For this one, we feel big decolonization energy and tried something completely new - a live-audience show. Recorded in late February in Warsaw, a sold-out event featured brilliant Ukrainians like:

• Mariam Naiem, a prominent Ukrainian artist and researcher working on mainstreaming global understanding of the colonial and racial aspects of Russian ...

It has been the worst year for every Ukrainian. In a way, it also has been the best one. Those Ukrainians who survived through it are transformed forever. Despite the trauma, pain, and heartbreak, they keep dreaming, creating, and daring. There are millions of Ukrainian stories that can inspire anyone to live in a better world and to be a better person. But for the season two finale, we decided to keep it within the close family an...

Russian-backed conspiracies about Ukraine and Ukrainians might come across as bizarre, entertaining, or even funny. But every piece of anti-Ukrainian propaganda shared abroad, even if accidentally or as a hate share, has a specific price in actual Ukrainian lives. That's why Ukrainians take so seriously the work on the information frontline, and it is universally regarded as important as defending our freedom with actual weapons in...

This is not the first time russia is trying to eradicate Ukrainians. This is not the first time fascism is trying to wipe an entire nation from the face of the Earth, either. Nevertheless, there has never been so much global unity when it comes to helping Ukrainians like today. But does it mean that we are finally learning our 'never again' lessons? Let's do a quick rundown of things foreigners historically always get wrong about U...

When Ukrainians express discomfort by being pushed into a space with a russian person without consent, some foreigners label it 'hatred' or 'russophobia.' When Ukrainians talk about centuries-old pattern of serial abusive behaviour of Russian society towards the neighbours, we are dismissed as 'emotional' and 'hysterical.' Could it be just a lack of empathy or education? Lia Dostlieva, a Ukrainian artist, anthropologist and our fea...

Through centuries of colonial oppression, music remained a secret superpower for Ukrainians to keep their resistance up. The ongoing genocide is no different. Ukrainian music artists have been creating breathtaking art that keeps our spirits up and inspires not to give up. For this one we feature Zbaraski, one of our favourite Ukrainian musicians, to explain deep anti-colonial roots of Ukrainian music and where Ukrainian artists fi...

We took the theme of our second season, building bridges with Ukrainian allies worldwide, and thought why not go more ambitious? That's how Volya Hub was founded. A sister Ukrainian Spaces project, it unites journalists, storytellers and scholars across former Russian colonies to expand public awareness about the crimes of Russian colonialism — in languages of the communities that are affected by it. We invited our friends and part...

How does one go from a foreign journalist to a NAFO founding figure to a Ukrainian soldier putting your life on the line for Ukraine daily? For this one, we talk to James (his second name will remain secret due to security concerns) from Spaghetti Kozak Media. We discuss the price of freedom, colonialism, the NAFO phenomena, russian propaganda in the most honest, raw way. Because facing death on the Ukrainian frontline puts all of ...

Despite what russia claims, the roots of Ukrainian identity reach as far back as thousands of years. Despite what russia is trying to do, a new generation of Ukrainian artists resists the cultural erasure and makes ancient Ukrainian culture reborn and reimagined again. For this one, a Ukrainian ethnographic researcher, style icon and the founder of Nadiia, Nadiia Shapoval, explains how centuries of Ukrainian traditions are inspirin...

We talk so much about cultural appropriation by white westerners. But russians have been doing the same thing to Ukrainians - and so many other neighboring cultures - for centuries, presenting stolen cultures as their own. We've had enough. Receipts of colonialism are ready to be shown, anti-colonial tea is ready to be spilled. Our featured Ukrainian is Oleksandra Povoroznyk, a culture critic and just an insanely smart person. ...

Before russia started mass-slaughtering us, Ukrainians had global traction for exceptional work ethic, 'everything-is-possible' attitude, and breathtaking creativity. Exactly for the same reasons, Ukraine turned into one of the main global hubs for high-end movie and video production in recent years. But what it has to do with our colonial past? Everything. For this one, we feature Kateryna Galytska, an executive producer behind th...

sport plays such an important identity-shaping role in Ukraine - athletes of different genders, ethnicities, skin colors helped to crystalize our feeling of national pride and what it means to be a Ukrainian in the last three decades since the end of the last Russian occupation. That's why it is no surprise that when another Russian assault started this year, thousands of Ukrainian athletes went to the frontline to defend Ukraine o...

there's so much queerness in being a Ukrainian. there's so much Ukrainianness in being queer. both are making the backbone of the holy Ukrainian resistance. We promise, this all will make perfect sense once you are finished with this powerful, raw, and defiant episode featuring Natalka Gurba, a Ukrainian artist, activist, and storyteller. They recently authored 'Queer Joy. Ukrainian Liberation' zine. 

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Back in February, most Ukrainians still had no idea about the harrowing scale of genocide awaiting them in the coming months. But our friends from Syria and other parts of the Middle East reached out instantly with live-saving tips. Before unleashing it onto Ukraine, Russia tested and polished most of its terrorist and war crimes tactics on Syrian civilians — facing zero consequences or meaningful condemnation. But the hope is that...

"Being free people is not cheap. What Ukrainians are going through is very much similar to what many people in Africa went through or are still going through." For another bridge episode of anti-colonial solidarity, we invited a legend of the South Sudanese liberation movement and prominent African thinker Peter Ajak Blair. In a powerful, raw, and moving chat, he explains why the Ukrainian liberation struggle triggers so many perso...

when genocide in Ukraine started we were overwhelmed with the outpouring of support and solidarity from Japan. What makes people from, literally, the other side of our planet, to hurt, rally and cheer together with Ukrainians — as if their own lives depend on it? For another bridge episode, we feature Ihor Ihnatiev, an activist from Stand With Ukraine Japan and Asami Terajima, a Kyiv-based journalist with Kyiv Independent. We will ...

this battle is not only about our land. it is about our values, our identity, and our right to proudly manifest who we are. facing genocidal evil that is trying to assimilate us, Ukrainians resist by doubling down on our diversity, creativity, and belief that we can build a better world. for this one, we feature Alice Zhuravel, a proud mixed Ukrainian, a wartime artist making brilliant things at the nexus of tech and media, and the...

'that's very unfair, that you, Ukrainians, have to pay for all of us to find ourselves, to start valuing ourselves, to start emancipating ourselves.' we entered this bridge episode to find some similarities between Kazakhstan and Ukraine in our shared anti-colonial struggle. we ended up with one of our most powerful and moving episodes to date. our featured Ukrainian ally is Botakoz Kassymbekova, a prominent Kazakh scholar and thin...

Genocide in Ukraine triggers millions across russian neighborhood. It is more than empathy, though. The history of colonial violence, erasure, and assimilation by russia is a shared experience for dozens of nations. For another bridge episode, we foster Ukrainian-Kyrgyz anti-colonial solidarity and feature brilliant Kyrgyz journalist Bektour Iskender.

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