Vancouver supports Ukraine
With the message of peace in the background, a call for direct action
All over the world people rallied to the support of Ukraine, and yesterday Irene and I attended the Vancouver version at the Vancouver Art Gallery. The turn out was huge, police closed off Georgia St. and the creativity of the signs was endless. A lot of speakers and clear and continued calls for NATO to step up and avoid a human tragedy. What can we do? The message of most of the speakers boiled down to the following three key points:
Support Ukraine by spreading the word, with whatever you prefer: social media, writing, messaging, connecting, and keeping the communication going;
Donate to the various organizations that are helping Ukraine now, here is a good summary you can choose from;
Talk to your local politician, your MP, keep them aware and apply pressure as time is of the essence.
The rapid action of governments all over the world is evidence politicians are indeed deeply aware and listening and are on top of deploying support on al levels. It is interesting to see that the war is not only fought on the battlefield, in a real first in history social media and global connectivity are changing the dynamic of this conflict.
As mentioned, a lot of great messaging at the rally, I stopped counting the many ‘Putler’ signs. It is key to note that most Russians do not want this war and I could only feel for this guy who made it very clear how he felt as a Russian:
Another important one was an older man from Hong Kong carrying the union flag. I approached him and we chatted, he asked me to let everyone know that Hong Kong was not China and never will be, the territory’s situation was directly comparable to what Ukraine is facing now. I wholeheartedly agreed.
One Australian guy made reference to flight MH17, the Malaysian Airlines flight that was taken down by Russian-supported rebels in the Ukraine in July 2014 and which killed 298 people. In other words: this has been going on for a while and he rightly pointed to things that may still come our way if it is not stopped.
I missed taking a photo, but I saw quite a few Canadian flags in blue/yellow, rather than red/white. It was a moving get together and really emphasized how people can come together quickly to support and make their voices heard. Keep spreading the word and donate!