cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/46362319

After months of massive Russian strikes on power plants and distribution networks, residents of Ukrainian cities are freezing in their homes. Many have had little to no electricity or heating since the start of the year, and in some places, there’s no running water either.

Meduza spoke to residents of Kyiv and the surrounding region.

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What’s hardest is the lack of electricity: it comes on for about three hours, then disappears for the next 10 to 12. There have been days when we had electricity for just one hour out of a full 24.

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Recently I was browsing and came across Cursed Days by [Ivan] Bunin. It’s very on point: we’re living through cursed days ourselves. I started reading it and discovered that Bunin, in a similar situation, was himself reading about other cursed days — the French Revolution. When I realized that, I suddenly felt part of the flow of history.

I was interested in how a person feels during a critical period like this. In both myself and Bunin, I noticed two similar things: a strong negativity toward those who came to power, and a kind of inner stance — I don’t quite want to call it resolve — that keeps you from falling apart, from slipping into hysteria or depression. In a critical situation, the easiest thing to hold on to is your work. Bunin was writing then — and I’m writing my own book now.

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In Ukraine, Russian attacks are classified as crimes against humanity, and we completely agree with that definition. Putin would probably like for everyone here to leave or simply freeze to death. I see no other reason to bomb not the front lines, but civilian cities, and in the middle of winter at that. This has nothing to do with Russia’s interests. It’s simply a desire to destroy us.

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Meanwhile, the so-called tankies are not only parroting Russian propaganda, but are literally cheering the violence against Ukraine as everyone can read in the .ml communities.

Last year, scholars even published a report that says:

… The presence of left-wing extremism on the Lemmygrad. ml instance of the decentralized social media platform Lemmy, from its launch in 2019 up to a month after the bans of the subreddits r/GenZedong and r/GenZhou … reveal a substantial increase in user activity and toxicity levels following the migration of these subreddits to Lemmygrad. ml. …

[Users] frequently share posts that support authoritarian regimes, as seen in their support for China, North Korea, and Russia. Moreover, their support can extend beyond backing these authoritarian regimes, even cheering on their violent actions, as evidenced by their posts on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Additionally, we observe anti-Zionist and antisemitic behaviors, which show similarities to right-wing extremism … Our analysis suggests a concerning endorsement of authoritarian actions and extremist rhetoric on Lemmygrad. ml, further indicating that left-wing extremist communities on decentralized platforms should receive more attention from the academic community.

It’s a deeply repugnant mindset.

It’s weird that many admins and mods across the lemmyverse are apparently supporting this community.

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