Introduction by New Cold War.org, Feb. 4, 2015
A rally against military conscription took place two days ago, on Feb. 2, 2015, in the village of Dneprovka, Zaporizhye region of Ukraine. That’s located in south-central Ukraine, south of the city of Dnipropetrovsk. Enclosed is the text of the speech to the rally by a young woman resident of the village, a student of journalism. The translation from YouTube is by New Cold War.org. You can watch her speech at this weblink or by clicking on the screen below.
This rally is typical of the antiwar rallies that are sweeping across Ukraine today. An article describing this antiwar wave will appear on this website in the coming days.
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Good morning! I’m a daughter of a conscript. Like you, I don’t want my father go to war, either. Just tell me: for whom or for what? For those rich fat cats? Sorry, no.
0.19 I still live in a quiet, calm town. And now they want my father to go and shoot at his brothers.
We live near the graves of our grandfathers who fought for peace and a future during WW2. Now what do we face? Now, our fathers, uncles, brothers go to fight for those fat cats.
0.44 I’m sorry, but this war was started not by these ordinary men who stand behind me [points behind her] but by those rich people, who have great sums of money. Those who are getting much richer now and who profit on this war. They make great sums of money on it and enrich their banking accounts.
1.02 So, for what should my father go now to fight? For whom?
It’s a pity, because my grandfather and grandmother have seen and lived through war. And now? For what? What do they show us in TV? I’m a student of a journalism faculty. I’m a second-year student. Our teachers tell us: children, please, don’t watch TV now.
1.28 Civil war is underway. But this is not a civil war between peoples, but between governments. Every media outlet, every TV channel, shows propaganda. Ukrainian media shows one sort, Russian media shows the other.
1.43 Our TV–channel 5–is the media of [President] Poroshenko and they will never tell you that Poroshenko is just a piece of shit, ready to do anything provided it is paid well [the crowd cheers]. They will not show it on TV for sure, because that’s Poroshenko’s media. And the same goes on all other media.
2.00 I would also like to say that it was not us who started all this. But the burden will be left on ordinary men. If the war touches our region then my father will go and fight. Then he will fight, for all of us, including me, my sister and mother and others. Then, all of us will come to fight. Here we see men and women, all ready to fight–but only for our families, but not for those rich money-bags.
