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Remember Holodomor, Because Ukranians Do [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-12-21

We do and we should have an inexhaustible supply of empathy and support for Jewish people worldwide because of the Holocaust. We should unquestionably be devoted to making sure that never happens again. That of course doesn’t mean we should support conservative Israelis in the ways that Hannah Arendt warned about though. The problem created by nationalism and the creation of a religious state was in her view a fatal flaw and she’s very likely right about that. A diverse country is the best way any society has to protect against the worst impulses of mankind. In America, we see conservatives rabidly defend Israel not because they love Jews, but because they hate Muslims. Let’s be honest about it. But even if we took them at their word, we should never forget their hypocrisy in their abandonment of Ukraine.

After all, Ukraine had its own genocide in the early 20th Century as well. While death tolls vary and are almost impossible to calculate accurately, it was very possibly on the scale of the Holocaust in terms of the number who died as a direct result of Stalin’s persecution, though we don’t ever learn much about it here in the US. And yes, there was cannibalism, if that paints you a picture. Holodomor was a man-made famine that if one is generous can be said to have been the result in the shift in agricultural practices under Stalin, but once the famine began it was certainly weaponized against Ukraine and resulted in millions of unnecessary deaths in a wheat-rich land. To keep it short, the famine occurred throughout the Soviet Union, but Stalin essentially stole Ukraine’s wheat to feed Russian Soviets and to eliminate a burgeoning independence movement in the region.

Fully 30% of today’s Ukranian people say they lost family members in the genocide. Many others respond that they simply don’t know. So imagine yourself a Ukranian today, with Russia again seeking to eliminate your culture… your families. Imagine Russia kidnapping your children, much the way that Nazis did with Polish or other Eastern European children during WWII. Recognize the history of Ukraine. Recognize why they continue to fight so doggedly and why we must support them in this fight.

If you’re an American who believes you’re supporting Israel because of pictures like the one above, then recognize that it should be the same reason you should be supporting Ukraine. And if you’re not, then shame on you and everyone like you.

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