Like everyone else in Ukraine, feminist activists had to adapt quickly to the Russian invasion that began a year ago this week. From the moment the country woke up to rocket strikes on its cities, grassroots feminist organisations switched to providing humanitarian aid and helping displaced people find shelter – all the while trying to keep women’s rights their focus.
“Feminist values like mutual aid, solidarity, support all matter [in wartime],” says Yulia Lutyi-Moroz, a 29-year-old member of FemSolution, a queer feminist organisation started by a group of Kyiv-based students in 2016. Paradoxically, she says, the war has revitalised her activism, which was on the verge of burnout.
At the same time, the war has also forced activists to reconsider some of the principles that underpin their work. In particular, they have had to figure out how to stay true to their critique of patriotism and nationalism, which they see as fundamentally patriarchal values, when the country they live in is under Russia’s attack.
