ну моїїїї😭😭

*cries in extremely ambitious yet easily confused n therefore always disoriented in their life choices adhd gal*

you don't always need to be working towards big goals or trying to radically change your life.

you're allowed to just take time to exist, learn about yourself, what makes you happy, and enjoy being here.

taking time to rest and recover does not make you any less then people that doing different things.

indeed😭😭

this has been said before but ohhh my god. oh my goodness. making that one specific person laugh, like REALLY throw their head back and laugh, is quite possibly the best feeling in the ENTIRE universe

the “ah yes, mysterious russian soul. no wonder they don’t protest“ is a laugh riot, that’s helluva true ㅠㅠ

Hey, I read your post about the difference between Ukrainian and russian literature, with a couple of quotes that looked really promising. Could you tell me what books or poems was quoted? And if you have the will, could you list Ukrainian literature references? I know Russian invested a lot to get their literature translated and I think it is time we make Ukrainian literature more known.

Hi! Thank you for the ask. I suppose you’re talking about this post, so here are the quotes mentioned in it, as well some links to Ukrainian literature.

“Ти знаєш, що ти людина” means “Do you know that you are human”. It’s from a poem by a Ukrainian poet Vasyl Symonenko (full English translation here). In the USSR, a human was just a screw in the system, easily replaceable. The Soviets didn’t care about individual people, only about the whole. You were supposed to die for the sake of the system if need be. And Symonenko’s poem is the opposite. It reminds us that each of us unique, that every human deserves happiness and freedom. The poet died after he was beaten up by the local militsya.

“Тварь ли я дрожащая или право я имею» is something like “Am I a trembling beast or do I have the right” is a quote from Raskolnikov, the protagonist of “Crime and Punishment” by russian writer Dostoyevsky. Raskolnikov says this as he thinks he has more rights than others and is superior to them. He divides humanity in two categories: those who have the right (who don’t need to care about laws and rules) and “trembling beasts” (who must be slaves).

“Борітеся й поборете” means “Keep fighting — you are sure to win!” It is from a poem “Caucasus” by Taras Shevchenko, the most famous Ukrainian poet. Full english translation. At the time of the writing, the russian empire was at war in the Caucasus region. Russia said that this war is actually needed to give the locals “the civilisation”, “russian laws” etc. Shevchenko gives a satirical characterisation of the empire and calls out against the war. He also encourages the locals to fight with the quote above, because “the right is on their side”.

Another writer who described the russian war in Caucasus is a famous and largely celebrated russian poet Mikhail Lermontov and his poem “Izmail Bey”. “Пускай я раб, но раб царя вселенной” - “Maybe I’m a slave, but I’m the slave of the ruler of the world”. Ah yes, the mysterious russian soul. No wonder they don’t protest.

Lermontov also wrote a poem glorifying a gang rape by the military. Here’s a video with English subtitles about Lermontov and what the hell was that poem (TW for the poem. 18+)

Ukrainian literature was always about fight for freedom, because that’s what our people always wanted more than anything. Meanwhile russian literature justifies imperialism all the time.

Links to translations of Ukrainian literature (for free!)

I am (romance) by Mykola Khvyliovyi, a psychological novel about Bolshevik revolution

Forest song (english, polish) by Lesia Ukrainka, a drama about mythological creatures in a Ukrainian forest

The city(part 1, part 2)by Valerian Pidmohylnyi, an urban novel. Recreates the atmosphere of Kyiv

Eneida by Ivan Kotliarevskyi is a parody of the classic poem where the Greek heroes are Ukrainian cossacks, describing Ukrainian customs and traditions

Zakhar Berkut by Ivan Franko is a historical novel about the struggle of ancient Carpathian communities against the Mongol invasion

Enchanted Desna by Oleksandr Dovzhenko is a cinematic novel that consists of short stories about the daily life of the author as a child in a Ukrainian village.

Tiger Trappers by Ivan Bahrianyi - a story of a political prisoner who escaped Gulag and lives in taiga with local hunters. One of my personal favourites.

Poems and stories by Ivan Franko

Contemporary Ukrainian literature in English (not for free)

What we live for, what we die for by Serhiy Zhadan - selected poems by a Ukrainian musician and poet

Apricots of Donbas by Lyuba Yakimchuk - about the East of Ukraine

The voices of Babyn Yar by Marianna Kiyanovska about the history of Babyn Yar in Kyiv

Life went on anyway by Oleg Sentsov, who was kidnapped from his home in the occupied Crimea and forced to go through a russian military trial

Fieldwork in Ukrainian sex by Oksana Zabuzhko

Also here you can buy a book “Torture camp on paradise street” by Stanislav Aseyev, who survived a russian concentration camp and described what it was like.

Salon

How Russian colonialism took the Western anti-imperialist Left for a ride

Blindness to Russian colonialism distorts Westerners’ view of the Ukraine war

Blindness to Russian colonialism distorts Westerners’ view of the Ukraine war

Yet, Westerners safe from bombardment like long-shot third-party presidential candidate Cornel West continue to accommodate Russia. In a July 13 interview with CNN's Kaitlan Collins, West called Russia's invasion "criminal" but insisted it was "provoked by the expansion of NATO" and is a "proxy war between the American Empire and the Russian Federation," adding Neville Chamberlain-esque icing on the appeasement cake by proposing Ukrainian territorial concessions to Russia.

The tell in West's remarks was calling the U.S. an empire but referring to Russia by its de jure name, implicitly erasing its imperial, colonial character. It's a common tendency among the segment of the left to which West belongs, one that Kazakhstan-born Pitzer College sociology professor Azamat Junisbai attributes to ignorance and a myopic, know-nothing focus on American imperialism to the exclusion of imperialism by other nations.

"They're kind of imperial about their anti-imperialism," Junisbai said. "There's something very provincial and strange about it where you literally do not know anything about what's happening beyond this one issue you care about."

🇬🇪 Georgia (Sakartvelo) protesting against foreign agents bill.

man the bravest shit you can do in this world is love indefinitely

russians are an exceptional case of minor in their mentality citizens of great in it’s size empire. given their attitude, it’s absolutely embarrassing to even call em people. in Ukrainian worldview, to be called person is to be conscious of your own actions, aware of basic principles of your own freedom, respect each and everyone’s personal boundaries (and country borders, if such is the case, tho :] ). this set of values it the bare minimum for self-respecting and self-worthy human being. russians will barely tick one of the boxes. and barely’s already exaggerated word for whatevs their outlook is

ukraine may be fighting the biggest modern empire in the world that wants to take its colony back to oppress and subjugate its people and culture as it has been for CENTURIES but that still not anti-imperialistic enough for some people

fortunately the sky is beautiful everywhere

Imho the idea of ‘cruelty free’ products or food shouldn’t mean that nothing died to create it, but rather that anything and anyone involved in the creation process hasn’t been exploited or harmed.

Leather is good actually. Veganism isn’t the end all be all to morality and consumption. The issue isn’t that a chicken died for those nuggets, but that while the chicken was alive, it’s life fucking sucked. Vegan chocolate means little if the cocoa that made it was gathered by child slave labor.

Factory farms, abuses of the people who pick the fruit and vegetables we eat, the focus profit and productivity over all else - that’s the fucking issue here. It’s capitalism folks.

russia is making advances in the Kharkiv region which was already liberated from russian occupation back in 2022. Situation in the east of Ukraine is also dire. People are losing their lives and homes every day.

Please consider donating to Hospitallers, they're a volunteer organization of paramedics that work on the frontlines. Even 1$ is a good donation.

http://hospitallers.life