This discussion is a collaboration between LeftEast, Dis:orient, and the Bildungswerk der Heinrich-Böll-Foundation.
As Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its fourth month, its impact on West Asia and North Africa (WANA) remains only sporadically analyzed. This, despite the multitude of political, military, and economic ties both Russia and Ukraine hold with WANA.
This virtual talk offers a space for such a critical discussion between experts from the region, starting from a leftist perspective.
The questions we explore include:
*What is the war’s economic and social impact on WANA communities?
*What lessons can be learnt from Russia’s military engagement in the WANA region, especially its support for the Syrian regime?
*How can “solidarity from below” be a meaningful practice in protracted armed conflicts?
Speakers:
*Oksana Dutchak is a researcher from Ukraine and an activist at Commons, a Ukrainian journal of social criticism founded in 2009.
*Rabie Lahbibi is based in Paris and works for the Federation of Tunisians for Citizenship of the Two Shores (FTCR), formerly Union of Tunisian Immigrant Workers (UTIT).
*Serge Harfouch is a farmer and a food sovereignty activist based in Lebanon.
*Léone is from The Cantine Syrienne de Montreuil; a collective of Syrian exiles and their comrades from Montreuil that has reflected on how their experiences in the Syrian Revolution can inform efforts to support the resistance to the invasion in Ukraine and the anti-war movement in Russia, see their piece “War in Ukraine: Ten Lessons from Syria” here.
This event was realized with funds from the Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin.