On 24 February 2022 Russia turned its military actions against Ukraine which were going on in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine since 2014 into a full-blown, total war. The language of the international media to describe the conflict is unstable: first, a Russian invasion; then, “Russian-Ukrainian war”, then “Russia’s war in Ukraine”, “Russia’s war against Ukraine”, “Ukraine’s war against Russia-backed forces” or a “fratricidal war”. In Russia itself, calling the war anything other than a mere “special operation” carries with it the risk of punishment with 10 years of prison colony. If there is a war, Russian officials say, it is with NATO and the US.
How is Ukrainian identity represented on the streets of Europe, and what are the political functions of this representation? How do Ukrainians think about their past in the light of the present? In what sense have European states, especially Germany, reassessed their past alignments in Europe? And how have historians approached the subject of Ukrainian identity?
In this episode we have two conversations on Russia’s war against Ukraine. First we speak to the photographer and writer Evgeniya Belorusets. She is the co-founder of “Prostory”, a journal for literature, art and politics. Her works move at the intersection of art, literature, journalism and social activism, between document and fiction. In the current war, she has become, in her own words, the “hostage of her own war diary” as she remained in Kyiv throughout the Russian attack. Now she is just back from the Venice Biennale where she has worked with the Ukrainian pavilion.
Our second conversation is with Stefan Troebst, a historian and a Slavicist until recently Professor of East European Cultural History at Leipzig University. He has published widely on the modern cultural, political and legal history of Eastern Europe - editor of a book series Visual Historical Cultures. He also worked as a German member for missions of long duration for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the former Yugoslavia and former USSR.
We are grateful to Lviv-based band Okean Elzy for allowing us to use their single Obiymi (2003), remixed by Dima Zago from Kramatorsk.
Hosts: Dina Gusejnova, Georgios Giannakopoulos
Editorial and production assistants:
Thomas Walsh, Clara Castello, Louis Wong, Zaid Salam
All content for International History Now is the property of International History Now and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
On 24 February 2022 Russia turned its military actions against Ukraine which were going on in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine since 2014 into a full-blown, total war. The language of the international media to describe the conflict is unstable: first, a Russian invasion; then, “Russian-Ukrainian war”, then “Russia’s war in Ukraine”, “Russia’s war against Ukraine”, “Ukraine’s war against Russia-backed forces” or a “fratricidal war”. In Russia itself, calling the war anything other than a mere “special operation” carries with it the risk of punishment with 10 years of prison colony. If there is a war, Russian officials say, it is with NATO and the US.
How is Ukrainian identity represented on the streets of Europe, and what are the political functions of this representation? How do Ukrainians think about their past in the light of the present? In what sense have European states, especially Germany, reassessed their past alignments in Europe? And how have historians approached the subject of Ukrainian identity?
In this episode we have two conversations on Russia’s war against Ukraine. First we speak to the photographer and writer Evgeniya Belorusets. She is the co-founder of “Prostory”, a journal for literature, art and politics. Her works move at the intersection of art, literature, journalism and social activism, between document and fiction. In the current war, she has become, in her own words, the “hostage of her own war diary” as she remained in Kyiv throughout the Russian attack. Now she is just back from the Venice Biennale where she has worked with the Ukrainian pavilion.
Our second conversation is with Stefan Troebst, a historian and a Slavicist until recently Professor of East European Cultural History at Leipzig University. He has published widely on the modern cultural, political and legal history of Eastern Europe - editor of a book series Visual Historical Cultures. He also worked as a German member for missions of long duration for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the former Yugoslavia and former USSR.
We are grateful to Lviv-based band Okean Elzy for allowing us to use their single Obiymi (2003), remixed by Dima Zago from Kramatorsk.
Hosts: Dina Gusejnova, Georgios Giannakopoulos
Editorial and production assistants:
Thomas Walsh, Clara Castello, Louis Wong, Zaid Salam
Episode 9: Dissenters and Dissent in Politics: From the Quakers to Amnesty International
International History Now
51 minutes 46 seconds
3 years ago
Episode 9: Dissenters and Dissent in Politics: From the Quakers to Amnesty International
In this episode we want to find out what the early creators of the term ”prisoners of conscience” had meant by it, and what motivated them to institutionalise this status legally. In 2021, Amnesty International celebrated its 60th anniversary. Since then, the organisation has played a key role in mobilising international support for political dissenters and dissidents. This protection often revolves around the act of assigning the status of a “prisoner of conscience” to a protected individual.
We also want to go all the way back to the early modern history of political Dissent, associated with such figures as the Quaker William Penn, who had been imprisoned several times in the Tower of London for his religious views but later in life founded a colony in America which was to become one of the United States - Pennsylvania. The term “Dissenter” describes the experience of religious oppression under different ‘old regimes’ in Europe. In more recent times, ‘dissent’ has been associated with the activism of political dissidents under different oppressive regimes, from the Soviet Union or modern Russia to Myanmar and China.
What is the relationship between the faith of dissenters and their political dissidence? At which point does the collision of dissenters with the cultural and legal system of their societies render them from powerless victims to powerful speakers and politicians?
With us to discuss the long history of Dissent in politics are
Tom Buchanan, Professor in British and European History at the Dept for Continuing Education at the University of Oxford and the author of Amnesty International and Human Rights Activism in Postwar Britain, 1945–1977 which came out in 2020 with Cambridge UP.
Andrew Murphy, Professor for Political Science at VIrginia Commonwealth University and just published, in 2021, the political writings of William Penn for the Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought. He is also the author of a biography of William Penn. A Life. (Oxford UP, 2018).
The episode also features exclusive recordings by Cy Grant, with the kind permission from his family and the London Metropolitan Archives
Tracks featured:
Psalm 137, By the Rivers of Babylon
Untitled Calypso (recorded ca. 1976)
Fayo (a Haitian lullaby)
International History Now
On 24 February 2022 Russia turned its military actions against Ukraine which were going on in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine since 2014 into a full-blown, total war. The language of the international media to describe the conflict is unstable: first, a Russian invasion; then, “Russian-Ukrainian war”, then “Russia’s war in Ukraine”, “Russia’s war against Ukraine”, “Ukraine’s war against Russia-backed forces” or a “fratricidal war”. In Russia itself, calling the war anything other than a mere “special operation” carries with it the risk of punishment with 10 years of prison colony. If there is a war, Russian officials say, it is with NATO and the US.
How is Ukrainian identity represented on the streets of Europe, and what are the political functions of this representation? How do Ukrainians think about their past in the light of the present? In what sense have European states, especially Germany, reassessed their past alignments in Europe? And how have historians approached the subject of Ukrainian identity?
In this episode we have two conversations on Russia’s war against Ukraine. First we speak to the photographer and writer Evgeniya Belorusets. She is the co-founder of “Prostory”, a journal for literature, art and politics. Her works move at the intersection of art, literature, journalism and social activism, between document and fiction. In the current war, she has become, in her own words, the “hostage of her own war diary” as she remained in Kyiv throughout the Russian attack. Now she is just back from the Venice Biennale where she has worked with the Ukrainian pavilion.
Our second conversation is with Stefan Troebst, a historian and a Slavicist until recently Professor of East European Cultural History at Leipzig University. He has published widely on the modern cultural, political and legal history of Eastern Europe - editor of a book series Visual Historical Cultures. He also worked as a German member for missions of long duration for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the former Yugoslavia and former USSR.
We are grateful to Lviv-based band Okean Elzy for allowing us to use their single Obiymi (2003), remixed by Dima Zago from Kramatorsk.
Hosts: Dina Gusejnova, Georgios Giannakopoulos
Editorial and production assistants:
Thomas Walsh, Clara Castello, Louis Wong, Zaid Salam
