Solidarity: Russia’s War on Ukraine, Part IV

A video-recording of the fourth instalment in this series, chaired by Professor Natalia Chaban (University of Canterbury), and featuring HE Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Australia and New Zealand; HE Nina Obermaier, Ambassador of the European Union to New Zealand; Dr Olesya Khromeychuk (Ukrainian Institute London); Prof. Michèle Knodt (TU Darmstadt), and Prof. Zdisław Mach (Jagiellonian University, Kraków), speaking on the theme of ‘Solidarity’ (16 September 2022).

 

Abstracts

HE Nina Obermaier, ‘#standwithukraine: European Union Solidarity in Action’

In response to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine, the 27 Member States of the European Union acted with unprecedented speed, determination and unity in support of Ukraine. Solidarity with Ukraine and Ukrainians among European citizens remains strong despite the prospect of a winter mired in an energy and cost of living crisis.

Professor Michèle Knodt, ‘Solidarity and European Integration: Supranational, Intergovernmental and Transnational Solidarity. The Case of Russia’s War on Ukraine’

Solidarity has served as a fundamental norm or motive for peaceful integration since the beginning of European integration after the Second World War. The Lisbon Treaty strengthened the principle of solidarity and brought it to the attention of European citizens as well as social scientists. European solidarity can occur within or across government levels as well as between different actors. We can witness not only supranational solidarity but also intergovernmental and transnational solidarity. The contribution will give insights in the light of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Professor Zdzisław Mach, ‘Why do Poles show Solidarity with Fighting Ukraine?’

Poland often declares its commitment to the value of solidarity, which is rooted in the history of the Solidarity movement. However, in the EU Poland’s understanding of solidarity is ambiguous: Poland expects other members of the EU to show solidarity, while it is not willing to reciprocate. This was particularly seen during the migration crisis of 2015 when Poland refused to accept refugees. Given this, the genuine involvement of many thousands of Poles in various actions to help Ukraine may seem unexpected and difficult to understand. The answer may be a kind of post-colonial syndrome, a mixture of patronising and responsibility, and also the perception of Ukrainians as close to Poles in their way of life. There are a lot of disturbing memories in Polish-Ukrainian relations, but in Poland today there is a widespread feeling that finding solutions should be postponed while now Poles should support Ukraine. Another reason is perhaps the perception of the war in Ukraine as Russian aggression which revives Poland’s own memory and presents Ukrainians as freedom fighters against the common enemy.

Dr Olesya Khromeychuk, ‘Epistemic (dis)trust: Learning from “the other Europe”’

When Russia began its full-scale invasion, there were many in Europe who did not expect Ukraine to last longer than three days. The belief in Ukraine’s resilience and solidarity was strongest and fastest to form among the countries that had experienced Russian or Soviet rule historically and were thus in possession of first-hand knowledge of imperialist repression. Focussing on the case of Ukraine, the talk will consider whether Russia’s war has encouraged a new phase of epistemic trust in countries that are traditionally perceived as newcomers in the European family.

Presenter Bios

HE Nina Obermaier (@NinaObermaierEU) has been the Ambassador of the European Union to New Zealand since November 2019. Prior to her arrival in Wellington, she was part of the EU negotiating team for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU, in charge of issues related to Ireland/North Ireland. Earlier in her career as an EU official, she worked on relations with Switzerland, protection and crisis management, and the Middle East peace process. Before joining the European Union institutions, she worked in TV journalism. Nina attained an M.A. in European Studies as well as in Political Science and History. She speaks six languages at different levels of proficiency, and is able to work in four: English, German, French, and Dutch.

Dr Olesya Khromeychuk is a historian and writer. She has taught the history of East-Central Europe at the University of Cambridge, University College London, the University of East Anglia and King’s College London, and written for the New York Review of Books, Der Spiegel, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and openDemocracy. Khromeychuk is the author of The Death of a Soldier Told by His Sister (2022) and “Undetermined” Ukrainians. Post-War Narratives of the Waffen SS “Galicia” Division (2013). She is currently the Director of the Ukrainian Institute London.

Michèle Knodt is Professor of Political Science, Jean Monnet Chair (ad personam) and Director of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence ‘EU in Global Dialogue’ (CEDI), Director of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence ‘EU@School’, Chair of the COST Network ENTER (EU Foreign Policy Facing New Realities), Co-leader of the Loewe-Excellence Centre ‘emergenCITY’, and Co-leader of the DFG Research Training Group ‘Critical Infrastructures’, PI in the Kopernikus Project ‘Ariadne – Evidence-Based Assessment for the Design of the German Energy System Transformation’ and leader of smaller cooperative and interdisciplinary projects. She has published widely on the EU, is especially interested in energy and climate governance and has received research grants from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), the German Research Council (DFG), the Volkswagen Foundation and the European Commission.

Zdzisław Mach is Professor of Sociology, Social Anthropology and European Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. Founder of the Institute of European Studies at the Jagiellonian University, and one of the main authors of the European Studies curriculum in Poland. Former Dean of the Faculty of International and Political Studies, Jagiellonian University, where he also holds a UNESCO Chair in Education about the Holocaust, and the Chair of European Society and the Cultural Heritage of Europe. His research interests cover issues such as nationalism, minorities and ethnicity, the development of European citizenship, migration, cultural construction of identities, collective memory and cultural heritage as well as the development of the idea of Europe. Professor Mach has been leading teams of researchers in the Polish National Science Centre and EU supported projects, including 6th Frame Work and a Horizon 2020.

Recordings of previous sessions can be accessed online:

Part I: Resistance

Part II: History

Part III: Propaganda

Part V ‘Poetry’ — coming soon.

For enquiries, please email Felicity Hodgson at Felicity.hodgson@unimelb.edu.au

Banner image courtesy of Adam Warzel. Warsaw, Summer 2022.