Idel.Realii (a project of the Tatar-Bashkir edition of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) presented the book No to War. It consists of forty stories from the inhabitants of the Volga regions who protested against the war with Ukraine from the very beginning. The collection was prepared on the basis of interviews that were published on the Idel.Realii website from March to the end of August 2022.
Heroes are representatives of different nationalities, religions, professions and views. Among them there are those who “were not interested in politics” before February 24, and people who have long been politicized. Some of the heroes are suitable for others as grandchildren, some have relatives in Ukraine, and others have nothing to do with the neighboring country, but they protest – someone, standing up in a single picket,
“These people are far from the stage of acceptance. Rather, making a conscious choice and protesting, they are in the stage of active rejection. They are fighting to calm their own conscience, unable to come to terms with what the current government has led their country to, and in order to those who are against it saw that they are not alone, but those who are for or undecided, thought. The main thing is that they are fighting to overcome fear and impotence. And in this they succeed, “says in the preface to the book.Political scientist Ekaterina Shulman , in her review of the book, noted that “the cumulative impression that arises upon reading can perhaps be described as both hopeless and encouraging (a combination that seemed impossible in the former reality, but now it is quite understandable)”.
On the one hand, in every story one hears the voice of a confused person who understands that nothing can be done, but any action is meaningless: some harmless micro-actions cause an inadequate reaction, a clanking police car turns around with all its weight, seeing a girl with a green bow or a heart drawn on paper, and around the icy desert, inhabited by people who understand everything, are not guilty of anything and are forever dumb.On the other hand, the very language form in which these people talk about their experience is the speech of a free person who doubts , reflective, aware of his weakness and invulnerable in the constant presence of his conscience,” Shulman wrote.
The book is presented in two languages: Russian and English. You can also listen to stories in Russian by scanning the QR code. Journalists Timur Olevsky , Sergey Khazov-Kassia , Vitaly Portnikov , Elena Fanailova also presented their reviews .
