CAMPUS NEWS: SIPA students and alumni react to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine
Photo by Max Kukurudziak
By The Morningside Post
On February 24, millions across the world awoke to breaking reports that Russia launched a full-scale invasion and barrage of attacks across Ukraine. As the invasion unfolded, The Morningside Post asked the SIPA community what was going through everyone’s minds.
A Ukrainian student, not named here for security reasons: It’s very important for us to remember that Russia has occupied part of Ukraine since 2014. Russia has occupied part of Georgia for many, many years. Russia has occupied part of Moldova for many, many years. However, I want to thank these brave Russians who protested the war against Ukraine and were detained. Those brave Russian souls have nothing to do with Mr. Putin. I ask you to support them as well.
I want to tell a brief story about this flag. It was with me in Maidan in 2014. When you see the Ukrainian flag now, you should always think that this is the symbol of freedom of the 21st century. This is a small country that resists a much bigger aggressor, basically fighting for the freedom of Ukraine and all Eastern Europe.
Marjorie (MPA-DP ’21): I spent almost a decade studying the Russian language and a year teaching American government and civics at Yugra State University in Khanty-Mansiiysk, Siberia and translating for European climate scientists in the region. During my time living in a small northern town marked by near-eternal winter, I experienced firsthand the important distinction between the Russian government and its people, irrespective of individual political opinions.
Such immense, unwarranted military aggression is dually heartbreaking from the perspective of Ukrainian sovereignty and unique national identity, culture, and language and from the standpoint of those in Russia, who stand against the actions of their government and feel quite powerless in affecting change. Many things are going through my mind simultaneously.
As a feminist, why don't more women have power over decisions related to security and acts of war, including but not limited to in Central Asia and Eastern Europe?
As a Jew, how can Putin use "denazification" as a justification for military invasion when Jews in Russia have "Jew" written in their passports?
As someone with a lot of respect for Eastern European cultures and languages, I wish nothing more than for this region to be freed from the grips of fascism and of patriarchy, so that the beauty of its people can thrive in peace and stability.
Muhammad Najjar (MIA ’23), a student from Syria: It's disturbing, and it brings about lots of memories and trauma when Russian forces (aided by [the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of Iran’s military] and Hezbollah) besieged my city, Aleppo, in 2016 and leveled hundreds of buildings, killing thousands, and testing different types of weapons on civilian neighborhoods.
Kat Oh (MIA ’23), a Korean American student from New York City: I have Ukrainian colleagues who are grieving right now.
Yet it really shocked and humbled me to realize how I, an international policy student, look at the news with jadedness and disappointment, and I go back to stressing over my macroeconomics midterm. I would love for us SIPA students to address our privilege to remove ourselves from conflicts, watch from afar, and discuss these topics as simple academic debates, because we need to recall that ultimately our future policies are what directly affect the lives of citizens like Ukrainians right now. I want us to step back and look at the big picture, where we stand in this society and what our roles are as foreign bystanders and supporters.
Ricardo Mondolfi (MIA ’23), a student from Caracas, Venezuela: Honestly, we as the West are not doing nearly enough to seriously inflict pain on the criminals who have hijacked the Russian Federation.
This article from Anne Applebaum has been on my mind all week. No way we can let these thugs have apartments on 57th Street and Knightsbridge, send their kids to Columbia and [the London School of Economics and Political Science], all the while they hack our companies and murder civilians inside and outside their country. Ordinary Russians deserve better than the government that has been imposed on them.
James Paisley (MIA ’21), an alumnus who studied international security policy: The absence of immediate and substantial action — the hesitance of nations to employ the tools at their disposal and to articulate a full-throated defense of the post-World War II territorial integrity norms and Ukraine's right to self-determination — is a moral failing of not only the international order, but the West in particular.
Where were automatic sanctions, where is an articulated plan for military support through lend-lease? The obscenity of Russia holding the UN Security Council presidency while invading on the whims of a madman in pursuit of imperial glory.
Juan Camilo Farfán (MIA ’23), a Colombian student studying energy and the environment: In a world with the climate crisis, the pandemic, and vast inequalities, when we need cooperation the most, it is criminal that Russia attacks another country. The world must stand together to defend democracy and liberal ideas everywhere.
Farid Al Azim (MPA-DP ’22), a student from Malaysia: Waiting to see more concrete responses from ASEAN leaders on this issue.
Christopher Dolan (MIA ’23), a current international security policy student: Horror. Grief. We watched a war unfold for years and a build-up for months and did nothing meaningful. Everything needs to change.