War and Liberation in Ukraine: The Ukrainian Left since the Russian Full-Scale Invasion

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

How are the emancipatory values inherent to leftist politics imagined in the context of national survival? This roundtable invites scholar-activists to describe how they perceive the new contours of leftist activism in Ukraine since the country’s existential confrontation with Russian aggression. This conversation will probe some of the fault lines that have opened up since 2022, when Ukrainian leftist activists and organizations adopted various, sometimes incompatible, positions with respect to the defense of Ukraine. While some organized battalions, others participated in mutual aid and other forms of horizontal organizing from within the country and abroad. Still others joined segments of the left that argued against the Ukrainian military defense to Russian aggression. In many cases, these responses diverge from the reaction to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine in 2014; in others, they build on previous leftist engagement with territorial defense and humanitarian response. The fluidity and flexibility of some leftist positions since 2014–and the rigidity of others–lead to the questions that frame this discussion. What is the place of class analysis in emergent formations of the Ukrainian left? How are anti-racist, feminist and queer activist communities positioning themselves with respect to materialist analysis in this time of war? As the stakes for the future of Ukraine remain uncertain, how do Ukrainian scholars and activists on the left envision a just future for all Ukrainians? What space do leftists see for themselves in a post-liberation Ukraine?

Sub Unit

• International Relations, Security Studies, Foreign Policy

Chair

• Emily S. Channell-Justice, Harvard U

Roundtable Members

• Volodymyr Artiukh, U of Oxford (UK)

• Taras Fedirko, U of Glasgow (UK)

• Hanna Perekhoda, U of Lausanne (Switzerland)

• Dafna Rachok, UNC at Chapel Hill

• Yuliya Yurchenko, U of Greenwich (UK)