Across Russia, in at least 48 cities, thousands of Russians have taken to the streets to protest Putin’s invasion and war on Ukraine. They have faced bitterly cold winter temperatures and brutal arrests by police, but they keep pouring out into the streets nevertheless. And they put many of us to shame. How many of us in the West would risk the same in opposing our government’s militarism, wars and war profiteering?

My fullest solidarity with these Russian antiwar protestors. Stand in solidarity against all war, state violence and militarism, whether it comes from Russia, the US, NATO, China or anywhere else. Stand for universal human rights and the preservation of what is left of our fragile biosphere. Oppose the war profiteers like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, Northrup Grumman, General Dynamics and BAE Systems. Demand the global war industry be dismantled. And don’t equivocate on any of it.

Kenn Orphan, February 2022

*Photographers are Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images in Moscow, Denis Kaminev/AP in Moscow, Dmitri Lovetsky/AP in St Petersburg.