New School Philosophy Forum
Resolution on Ukraine
March 2022
We, philosophy students at the New School for Social Research, New York, unequivocally condemn the Russian military aggression against Ukraine and the contempt for international law, principles of sovereignty and national self-determination and standards of human decency that it involves. We particularly condemn the Putin regime’s attacks on non-military sites such as schools and residential areas, and its attacks on nuclear power plants which threaten environmental catastrophe.
We stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine in their resistance to the invasion. We also stand with those in Russia who are protesting this war at risk of arrest and violent reprisals.
We are committed to supporting the people of Ukraine in whatever way we can. We call upon students to join us in contributing to Razom for Ukraine for assistance to people in Ukraine itself and have set up a Go Fund Me campaign, New School Students Supporting Ukraine for donations.
Students may also wish to give to the International Rescue Committee for its efforts on behalf of the estimated two million refugees already made homeless by this war.
We demand immediate withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine and ending of all pressures on that country, whether military, diplomatic or economic.
What Students Can Do
Continue to raise awareness of the impact, stakes and meaning of this war, not merely for the Ukrainian people but for the entire world, through classroom, seminar and informal discussions.
For a theoretical and historical understanding of the invasion and its impact, two chapters from Hannah Arendt offer a good place to start:
“The Decline of the Nation-State and the End of the Rights of Man,” and “Total Domination,” both from Part Three of The Origins of Totalitarianism.
The website Philosophers for Ukraine has a growing number of important statements and articles by philosophers from around the world.
Some important recent work by activists from Ukraine and Russia:
Volodymyr Artiukh, U.S.-splaining is Not Enough, Commons, March 1, 2022
Taras Bilous, “A Letter to the Western Left from Ukraine,” Open Democracy, February 25, 2022
Greg Yudin, “Putin is About to Start the Most Senseless War in History,” Open Democracy, February 22, 2022. (Yudin is an NSSR politics student arrested and beaten at an anti-war protest in Moscow.)
Support organizations such as Razom for Ukraine.
Participate in rallies and demonstrations in support of Ukraine and its people.
Explore Ukrainian culture – to refute the Putin regime’s claim that Ukraine has no independent culture of its own. For example:
The Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival takes place in New York from March 18 to 20.
Ukrainian Museum in NYC (in the East Village, walking distance from the New School)
Ukrainian Institute (near the Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Text: A History of Ukraine, by Orest Subtelny