Neboskhyl - Neboskhyl

How can I, someone outside of Georgia (the country), help fight the foreign agent bill?

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Brands you can boycott to help Georgia (the country) fight against the foreign agent law +what you need to know about it:

[Image ID: Three logos of different international chains depicted on a white background. On top the bands presented are Wendy's and Subway.

For information about brands you can boycott and the summary of what the foreign agent law entails, click on the link above, which refers to my older post. The government's escalating use of force and intimidation techniques during and outside of protests, such as threat phone calls, jumping people in the street, paying sportsmen to physically assault people. The police force has been using methods such as physical violence, torture, tear gas, rubber bullets, and water streams. Along with boycotting, there is a big amount of Georgians emigrating from the country, and organizing protests in other countries. Think about the resources and skills you have that you can use to help demonstrations on the ground and spread awareness on the issue. This might include your graphic design or copywriting skills, a large social media following - aid the protesters by spreading the word. SHARE information that might be useful for protesters inside and outside of Georgia. And most importantly donate, speak to people around you, and attend protests closeby to where you live. Some details of protests outside of Georgia and donation links will be listed below: List of currently known international protests: 12/05 15:00 Venice Biennale Georgian Pavilion | Venice 12/05 15:00 Piazza Garibaldi | Naples 12/05 16:00 Placa de Catalunya | Barcelona 12/05 16:00 Consulado de Georgia | Madrid 13/05 18:00-20:00 Brighton 4th & broadwalk | New York 14/05 18:30-20:30 Place du Pantheon | Paris 17/05 17:30 EU Commission | Brussels 17/05 18:30 Embassy of Georgia | London (And keep an eye on gza.europe on Instagram, for any further news on protests in Europe) Donation links: Shame Movement - Provides gear for protests, organizing demonstrations. GYLA - Georgia's Young Lawyer Association, providing legal help to those detained at demonstrations. All we ask for, is to have you fight together with us.

regarding the genocide song contest:

various past eurovision contestants are campaigning for the removal of israel and some national finalists are now choosing to boycott. olly alexander, who will rep the uk, condemned the palestinian genocide and was subsequently attacked by israeli media (in a blatant rule violation the ebu did nothing about)

slovenian broadcaster rtvslo is purportedly trying to negotiate the removal of israel

1000 artists from host country sweden are preparing to send an open letter to the ebu to ban israel; the swedish left wing has also called for israel to be removed immediately

iceland is officially threatening to boycott eurovision pending the removal of israel

word on the street is that if iceland does compete, it will send palestinian artist bashar murad who is openly anti-israel and has collabed with previous icelandic reps hatari, aka the guys who did this back in 2019

iceland is now leading in the odds whereas israel has been steadily dropping, suggesting that the bookies are aware israel is becoming increasingly unpopular

lastly, in a move so ridiculous i'm beginning to suspect eurovision is a figment of our collective imagination, israel is seemingly gearing up to enter eden golan, a moscow-based russian singer. while russia is still banned for terrorism.

if you're european: please contact your participating broadcaster and demand for the removal of israel, or try to contact your nation's selected artist to put pressure on the broadcaster. if you're swedish, please try contacting svt or authorities with security concerns regarding the inclusion of israel. if israel does enter eden golan, complain about her selection and ties to russia. and absolutely DO NOT vote on, watch or promote this show if israel does end up competing.

Nothing that the Russians say or do on their television and social media can trigger and frustrate a Ukrainian more than the attitude of the Western world towards the Russians.

I read the morning news and see that Jared Leto on his show in Serbia happily told his Russian fans that he'll come to Russia and Ukraine when these "problems" are over. I go on tumblr and see people I follow reblogging a post about Discord being blocked in Russia, and instructions on how to use the VPN as if literally all Russians don't know it already. This post has over 2k notes! A post about atrocities that Russians willingly commit in Ukraine on a daily basis will get you 60-100 notes, 95% of which will be from other Ukrainians.

This is beyond triggering. How do you live in this Russian-loving world with Russian-induced PTSD?

This is not a "Ukrainian crisis", not "temporary difficulties", not just a "problem" that can go away without a trace. It's an invasion, a Russian war against Ukraine, genocide of Ukrainians. We are not crazy and overdramatic, we see the true face of Russia. The one you will never be able to see through your red square glasses.

I see so many reflections today from different people: someone woke up from the explosions, some from a phone call, some woke up and saw hundreds of notifications from different telegram channels. It is still so unimaginably bizarre. I have no ability to put into words the feeling of your world falling apart and we didn’t even understand half of the danger that was surrounding us. We were so damn close to disaster with half of Europe believing that nothing good will come out of it.

Ukrainians didn’t care what Europeans thought though, I personally saw news pieces about "Russia will take control of Kyiv" a lot later, somewhere in May, when Ukrainian military took control over the north of the country. And I’m so eternally grateful to every Ukrainian who made sure that all this "experts" sat in those flashy studios red from guilt. I’m grateful for my life, I’m grateful for our Ukraine. She persist. She is still the love of our lives. She’s hurt and devastated but she lives despite all the attempts to destroy her. Same as us. Somehow still here.

Yet I feel more detached from the western world than ever and I’m so fucking jealous of you all. It’s not even about the rockets or shakheds - somewhere along the lines you accept the fact that you may die in any moment - it’s about normal things like your Twitter feed that doesn’t look like a necrology, military terms that don’t make any sense to you, your city that doesn’t stop everyday to mourn the dead, you don’t feel guilty for trying to live a normal life while your classmate, who wanted to be a director, posts stories from the trenches. All of that and more. I’m not even entitled to my emotions because there always will be someone who says that my country is not suffering enough. I no longer react to comments like this as emotionally as I’ve done before but it is still so bizarre to see stuff like that from people whose countries have always been the one to inflict suffering on others.

I may sound mean or sarcastic or whatever but there is so much negativity inside of us that was put there by people like I’ve mentioned above that it is going to be released from time to time. "Your country shouldn’t exist", "Only 9 thousand killed", "You all are nazis/racist/zionists/any of the -ist terms" - yet you should always react in a constructive way because the moment you let your emotions go, you are the worst person on the planet. But who am I kidding, some people here do believe that we are. There is a thousand bad people with sketchy patches in a 40-million country and suddenly "That’s why I no longer support Ukraine". Well, honey, that means you never did. Because Syrian flags were quickly replaced with Ukrainian ones and just as quickly with Palestinian. It’s not about the "Support the oppressed", it’s "Anything to not feel guilty" because then you’ll find the reason to hate Palestinians, just as you did with us. If only you cared about the problematic shit happening in you country as much as you care about our political and social life.

But there are people who still are there for us. Countries that are still here. We may not say it as often but we are thankful. So very thankful for everything you’ve done and are doing for us. Thank you for hearing us and uplifting our voices.

Recently one of the most beautiful people here have lost her life defending me and you. She was always in my notes, always making sure that we didn’t feel uncomfortable even if she of all the people had all the right to be upfront about her thoughts and feelings. I don’t think I will ever get rid of the feeling of guilt. She was there while I wasn’t. She said to mourn her through anger. Anger towards the oppressor. Anger that should be directed into something useful: donations, sharing info, contacting your MPs and so on.

The soldier‘s death is not something out of ordinary during the war, it’s not considered a war crime but what if half of the army are civilians? Volunteers who left their homes to protect them. What if the soldier was a teacher, a poet, an actor, an IT-specialist, a scientist, what then? Isn’t it a tragedy? My country is loosing yet another generation of beautiful talented people and it makes my view of the future even darker.

But what can I say? I’m still here. My country still stands. Ukrainian air defence is doing everything possible and impossible to protect the lives of the civilians. Ukrainian military is still the only thing keeping us all alive. Heroes, titans, gods. Glory to them. Eternal glory to those who lost their lives defending Ukraine.

To Ukrainians: якось буде, прорвемся.

okay here we go.

this year I have absolutely no creative energy to put all my emotions and feelings into words but I’ll try to.

i have little positivity left in me, the only thing I’m thinking about today is gratitude. I am so very thankful to Ukrainian Armed Forces, to titans and gods, who are holding my world together. my Ukraine stands tall despite all of the hardships thanks to you only. i can only hope that I can repay you with something.

there is less hope than last year. I remember writing about "victorious year" and I still stand by it but it was also a year of tragedies, so many tragedies. there are simply no words to describe this pain.

and one can only hope this year will be just a little better. that it will be successful for Ukrainian Air Forces and they would proudly say 100 out of 100 missiles were downed, for all brunches of Ukrainian defence forces on the ground: may Ukrainian flag fly about all of our country again!

thank you to all of the people who help us in any way possible. maybe we don’t say it enough but we are grateful, eternally grateful.

and sorry to anyone who find me annoying for posting only about Ukraine. that is my life and my Ukraine, and I only have one of each.

to 2024, may you be less awful.

Babyn Yar, 82 years past.

Last year, I walked there a lot - and couldn't help but cry, every time. You always knew the Holocaust happened, and what it happened to Ukraine as well, but there, in the memorial park, you see the photos, read the text describing it, you see these ravines, you walk along the graves/monuments of the Jewish cemetery, you listen to the prayers and memorial songs... Can you not cry?

And then there's the rocket attack on Babyn Yar last year. And there's the occupation, execution of civilians, mobile crematoriums. The theater, inscription "KIDS". "Filtration camps". Deportation of children. Blowing up the prisoners' barrack. The damn. The market. The train station... No, I couldn't.

82 years later, and the only thing that changed is the language of the invaders.

Thank you. Дякую.

BBC News

British volunteer killed fighting in Ukraine - BBC News

The family of Samuel Newey say he died fighting alongside Ukrainian forces on Wednesday.

And another one of us (foreigners fighting for Ukraine) is gone... He wasn't in my unit and I didn't know him really but I remember I briefly met him in Kyiv in the early days of the war. Seemed to be a nice guy. RIP.

According to Wikipedia (here, scroll down to "Foreign fighters and volunteers") at least 313 foreigners have been killed in Ukraine, but I know for a fact it must be much more, because about a third of the people of whom I personally know were killed in combat, because they were in my company in my battalion, don't show up on any lists and or in any media. The ones who are made public are the ones whose parents/family take initiative and bring their kid's or brother's death to the public's attention, like recently in case of my friend Jeff who died in Bakhmut:

Task & Purpose

‘He was willing to sacrifice himself:’ Army veteran killed in Ukraine

Army veteran Jeffrey Judd Jones returned to Ukraine this year even though he was seriously injured last year by a Russian artillery strike.

[I'm just seeing this for the first time... "Even though Jeffrey Jones suffered a concussion in 2022 while working as a medic in Ukraine...", haha that's funny. Hey, Jeff was a great guy, and please don't tell his family, if they would ever ask me I'd swear he got injured "working as a medic", but just between the two of us, he suffered this concussion during training from a kind of play-fight with our unit leader at the time, who threw him over his shoulder on the ground and Jeff's head hit the concrete so hard he was passed out for literally 30 minutes. I was the first medic to help him, because I was watching while it happened, and was worried his skull cracked, but luckily he recovered. Only to come back to Ukraine a few months later and get killed in Bakhmut...Fuck, I wish he had stayed home]

The media doesn't mention that for some reason, but fyi, he was with 204th Bn TDF. That's not very well known but yes, there are also foreigners in the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Force. He died in a trench in Bakhmut area from shrapnel wounds, together with another foreigner, a Brazilian named Antonio whom I didn't know.

This is Jeff:

And then there are the many foreigners who died here who never make it public because they have no family to care about these things. Like my friend Sebastian from Poland, whom I served with last year at the Izyum Front. Shot in the head in Bakhmut, died a week later in a hospital in Poland. If you google him you find nothing, if you google him via image search the only thing that comes up is this Reddit thread:

(Sebastian is the left one)

Sebastian was genuinely one of the best soldiers and just generally greatest people I've met in Ukraine. And I'm not saying that because he's dead but it's true. I was devastated when I heard about his death, because he was really one of the best of us in every possible way. Here's Sebastian sitting in front of the house that we both lived in last year in summer:

And then there are the many (more than killed) whom you'll never hear anything about, because they go home with serious, permanent injuries. But they're not dead, so no media is interested in their stories. Like my friend F, a former Marine who was in my unit almost since the very first day of training, who got shrapnelled in the head over half a year ago on one of the exact positions I'm still working at today. I visited him in the hospital in February after his brain surgery:

He's back home in the states for a couple months now, but his life will never be the same. And there are many more like him.

Don't forget about us. Not all heroes in Ukraine are Ukrainians.

Russians don't give love to their children, but they steal and re-educate Ukrainian children with such perverse fanaticism

That's horrifying to watch… I almost threw up when I was downloading that video.

Fox News

Russia kidnapped me and thousands more. We need US to help Ukraine free other stolen children

My little brother and I were kidnapped by Russia along with 19,000 other children when Putin invaded Ukraine. We need American help to save

The most painful quotes:

-When the Russians took me, I was sent to a technical school where I was subjected to daily false stories about Ukrainians and sometimes even insults. One day, I was called to the principal’s office and when I got there, she had citizenship documents ready for me to sign. I was stunned and disgusted. I had never been more afraid, but I refused to become a Russian citizen.

The principal glowered at me with hatred in her eyes. She berated me for being "stupid." Moments later, I was expelled and sent packing, in a country that I did not know, and that hated who I was.

-After Save Ukraine helped me return home, I needed to get my brother out too. I found him in a new foster family, but he was not the boy I knew. He had been subjected to months of Russian propaganda and manipulation. He was like a puppet, saying things that I knew he did not believe – that Ukraine was run by Nazis, that nobody in Ukraine cared about him and that he had no future unless he became a Russian citizen.

-When I begged him to return home with me, he refused. Hour after hour ticked by as we argued. As I was about to lose hope, he came to his senses and agreed to come home with me. We were lucky. But there are 19,000 kidnapped Ukrainian children still in Russia. The Russian government bombards them with propaganda and abuse to weaken their Ukrainian identity. Many are punished for speaking Ukrainian.

I'm in tears: "... I feel very sad and have no desire to live". Russians' obsession is to break Ukrainians mentally, including children.

Ukraine has handed over to Qatar a list with the names of 561 Ukrainian children who were taken to Russia. This was reported by Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets. ▪️Wait for the return of a group of Ukrainian children home. We are not disclosing details at this time. ▪️ Talking about the return of orphans and children deprived of parental care. Qatar agreed to work on the issue of their return to Ukraine. Preliminarily, there may be more than 3,600 such children. ▪️Qatar agreed to participate in negotiations with Russia on the return of civilians illegally detained by Russia. Lubinets also once again refuted Russian propaganda: there were no direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. All negotiations are mediated by Qatar.

Only on 27 April 2023, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recognized that the forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia meets the criteria of genocide.

Ось що буває коли ввалюєшся в особисті до колежанки з питанням чи є якісь незавершені роботи та, чи можна з ними погратися :"D

Y’all I genuinely urge you to stay up to date with world politics.

In my country, Venezuela, elections have just been held and the blatant disrespect that the so called government have for their people is astonishing.

How can they claim that Nicolas Maduro, one of the most hated dictators of our time, won 51%/5+ million votes?

How is it possible that he won when the voting panels have been updating every hour how Edmundo Gonzalez (the opposing candidate) has been winning by TRIPLE the vote?

How is it possible that most of the 7.3 million Venezuelan immigrants can’t vote and have no say in what goes on the country that gave them life?

How is it possible that Venezuelans have to fear for their life in voting stations because the military are set there to prevent them from voting?

How is it possible that the pig that’s called president is currently celebrating his “well-earned” victory?

Countries like Chile and Peru are already making statements that they will not recognize the results given by the CNE (the Venezuelan electoral system)

FREAKING ELON MUSK IS MAKING TWEETS REGARDING THE SITUATION

I think it’s sickening how all people can do is talk about it and not do a single thing about it, especially because as a society we try to condemn any harm to human rights just like how we did Russia, who by the way, is one of the dictatorships biggest supporters.

VENEZUELA HAS BEEN FACING AN HUMANITARIAN CRISIS!!!!

People have been facing literal hell since the late 90s and people in power DO. NOT. CARE.

Educate yourself, educate others, and most importantly TALK ABOUT IT, because I’m certain we’re not the first or the last country to go through this.

This is as much as I’ll say.

I hope they all rot in hell.

🇻🇪