Ukraine war and the left: We need a discussion, not censorship

It’s the XXI century, we have most crucial things to achieve together – but we cannot even discuss the war crisis we are in now. How can we work on much more complex issues, if some of us do not even want to have a real debate?  How are we presenting ourselves in the eyes of decision-making elites? Are they more vigilant now, aware that a social-oriented left can pose a challenge to them – or relaxed seeing this farce of unity and discussion?

Comment by Wojciech Łobodziński

Position of the Polish, more broadly speaking, Central-European left-wing forces on the conflict in Ukraine for some might be uncanny. It is not easy for Western left-wing activists to watch the enthusiasm for NATO and to hear calls for more arms for Ukraine -yet, knowing the history of the region allows to understand the background of such a position. And the war, with its chaos and constantly developing events, is not making the debate easier.

In fact, the debate is hardly taking place. And I need to say that: there are also some limits after which disapproval becomes censorship, provoking hatred between international comrades. Needless to say, this is absolutely counter-productive: if we do not discuss issues from our diverse viewpoints, how can we work together for a better world?

Cross-border Talks received key support!

(source: Cross-border Talks)

By having the Transform!Europe foundation as a partner the blog moves towards its expansion and adds a new co-host who is a Czech-Finnish cross-border person

Cross-border Talks, 2 April 2022

In March 2022 the Cross-border Talks podcast won a grant from the Austria-based Transform!Europe foundation for the development of 26 episodes. The grant covers various types of costs, related to production: episode preparation, transcription, translation, edition and other technical and operative costs. It doesn’t harm the editorial independence of the team, but provides new opportunities, as it opens the hosts of the podcast to a large group of progressive European and international activists, experts and politicians, who are part of the Transform!Europe network. 

Also in March, the team of the podcast was joined by Veronika Sušová-Salminen, another cross-border person. She is a Czech historian and political analyst currently living in Finland. She holds a Ph.D. in historical anthropology from the Faculty of Humanities of Charles University. Her research areas are nineteenth- and twentieth-century Central European and Russian history and politics. She is a regular political commentator in several Czech newspapers. Her book on the politics of Putin’s Russia was published in 2015.

We see these two pieces of news as recognition that the initial efforts of the podcast, accomplished by Malgorzata Kulbaczewska-Figat and Vladimir Mitev have been seen positively by knowledgeable and open-minded people, who have realised that there is potential in this media effort. All of us are looking with fresh powers to continue practicing the cross-border reflection on international relations, which we see as our humble contribution to the formation of a regional and EU public space.

Photo: Transform!Europe’s logo (source: Transform!Europe)

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