Ukraine: What I Found

What I Learned There

in 2024, I was invited to teach a permaculture workshop in Ukraine. I went for two reasons. The first is that all four of my grandparents emigrated from western Ukraine in the early 1900s. My family lived there, as far as I know, for at least a couple of hundred years, and I was curious to see the place. I felt a connection to the land and its people.

The second reason was that, after Russia invaded, I found myself at odds with some of the people on the Left that I had always considered my compas and allies. They followed what to me seemed convoluted reasoning, to blame the invasion on NATO expansion and U.S. imperialism. “Putin had no choice,” some of them said. ???

I've always stood against imperial expansion and U.S. militarism, but in this case it seemed pretty obvious to me that Putin was the warmonger. But I wanted to see for myself, and find out what Ukrainians thought.

Because of the war, you can't fly it to Ukraine. So I took an eighteen-hour train ride from Moldova. I was met in Kyev by members of the ecovillage that invited me and given a short tour of the city. In my mind, I’d pictured Kyev as something like London during the blitz: gray skies, bombed buildings, evidence of ruin everywhere and major shortages. In fact, Kyev was a bustling modern city, full of people going about their business on the streets, with shops and restaurants open and only here and there evidence of Russian bombs. But in Maidan Square in the center of town was a moving memorial, filled with hundreds of flags, each one representing a life lost to the war. The sea of blue brought home the tremendous toll the war has taken.

The eco-village was out in the countryside in a setting that felt very safe and peaceful. I met many members of the Ukrainian permaculture community, and many idealistic young people eager to regenerate land, build community, and live a life immersed in nature. War seemed far away, but it was always there as an undercurrent. Many of my students had evacuated from eastern Ukraine. Many were worried about friends and family still in the Soviet occupied zone. Trauma and fear lurked just under the surface.

But asked many people what they thought of the war, of its causes and their hopes for the future. I can't claim to have done some exhaustive survey, most of our conversations centered around the work at hand. But not a single person I spoke to in Ukraine thought that blaming the war on NATO or the West was anything but Russian propaganda. It was clear to them all that this was Putin's expansionist agenda.

They were universally sick of the war. The men were not eager to be conscripted and go off to fight. But none of them wished to live under Putin's domination.

Today, as Trump betrays our commitments and spews his usual, victim-blaming lies, I don't know what to say to them. I'm ashamed to be an American at this moment. I want to send them an apology: I'm sorry. I did everything I could personally to stop this fascist from being elected. It wasn't enough. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

There are times when we need to poke around in the shadows, looking for hidden causes and secrets, but there are other times when we need to see the truth that's right smack there staring us in the face. Now is one of those times. We need to be smart and courageous, to open our eyes, see what's in front of us, and stand up for justice.

I stand with Ukraine.