I live in the historically Ukrainian neighbourhood of Bloor West Village in Toronto, so on the Saturday of the annual Ukrainian Festival I thought I’d get my morning coffee and head over to the main stage to listen to some music and watch some dancing. I arrived in time for the opening speeches, which featured politicians from every political party pledging their support for Ukraine’s military and declaring “Slava Ukraini!” Repeatedly, festival organizers and politicians emphasized that Ukraine was fighting not just for itself, but for democracy itself.
A few days later I went to see a film at TIFF, the apparently controversial documentary Russians at War. Outside the theatre were scores of blue-and-yellow draped protesters yelling “shame.” One of the TIFF programmers opened the screening by explaining they had been harassed and threatened with violence, but decided to show the documentary anyways, despite the threats being “terrifying.” It turned out to be a very simple anti-war film. Its most controversial stand was its portrayal of Russian soldiers as ordinary guys rather than monsters. It ended with the filmmaker’s profound confusion as to why the war was being fought at all.
I was struck by the hypocrisy of the Ukrainian-Canadian warhawks who lobby for more weapons to defend “democracy” (a democracy of oligarchs and gangsters), while fighting tooth-and-nail against the freedom of speech of a Russian-Canadian filmmaker who only wanted to shine a light on the human side of war.
