Reality VS Excuses

 For a little over a year now I have been following a young lady on a few different social media platforms and a Telegram, phone app, channel. She lives in Kyiv, the capitol city of Ukraine. In these places she documents her experiences of living in a country that is being invaded. Living in a city that is under constant missile and drone attack.

She shoots photos and videos of being under missile attack with her cat. Photos and videos of the aftermath of these attacks on her city and country. And her and her cat.

She is tired a lot.

She also shoots photos and videos of her daily life. And I am struck by how normal they can appear. She goes to get coffee. Goes to work. Goes to places where she can hike in nature and try to be detached from the reality that is living in a war time city and country. Of just living her life to the best of her ability during a very difficult time.

A few days ago the President of her country fired the Minister of War for reasons that I have no clue about. And, from what I understand, this minister was popular in Ukraine. There is controversy around this which, again, I have no idea about why.

In the last few days I have been seeing pictures and videos of large protests in her city and from around Ukraine. Some of them she is shooting and some of them she is taking from others and news sites.

Do you know what I find most striking about these protests? The total absence of any Police presence. There is none that I can see. There is a total absence of any confrontation between the protesters and any authorities. It is like the powers that be are honoring their Citizens Right to Assembly and Protest.

I see the people protesting chanting things, which I understand not at all as it is in Ukrainian, singing their national anthem, and otherwise projecting what they think of this situation in a large group setting. And I do not see any police, no arrests, nor any violence. It is peaceful protests about something that they feel strongly about.

And the current administration in Ukraine is probably not happy to hear these views expressed openly.

And yet the President, Vlodimir Zelensky, has stated that the people have the right to assemble and to protest. He supports their right to tell him that they are not happy with this decision.

Bloody Amazing.

And now let us take a look at the country that is supposed to be the world leader id Democracy and Freedom.

When we see protests in the U.S. that are protesting some government action, you see Police Presence. Especially if it is an Anti ICE protest. These police are set up in riot gear and very confrontational. At the No Kings protests that I have gone to the presence has not been as visible. And they constantly drive by and let us know they are watching. In other places the presence is much sharper.

You know where and when the police are not geared up and ready to be violent? When it is a White Male Racist, Anti Immigrant, or other protest which spreads hatred and division. Because, and we are not supposed to say this out loud, most of the police agree with those protesters.

And it is funny the excuses that we get for why those of us that are protesting for Inclusion, Civil Rights for All, true Democratic ideals, have to be suppressed and those that are protesting for Exclusion, Civil Rights only for those that look like them, true Nazi ideals, have to be allowed. Funny as in the smell of a 6 day old fish sitting on the shores of the sea in Denmark. Not funny as in Ha Ha Ha.

So there we have it. A nation at war with a much bigger neighbor who is having peaceful protests where people are expressing their unhappiness at a political thing. And the USA, the "Defender of Freedom" itself, where the risk of getting hurt or killed by the police is a real thing.

American Exceptionalism at it's finest.

We can Do Better. We must Do Better.

Namaste 🙏