Mediaboss Marketing

The Engels project was funded by the Manchester City Council and was featured recently as the closing event of the biennial Manchester International Festival of the arts. The statue was ceremonially welcomed in front of an art theater called HOME, as a high-spirited crowd gathered in the parking lot to watch the film. The singer Gruff Rhys performed Communisms Coming Home.

Engels changed the course of history, said Noel Callaghan, 45, a local resident.

The ceremony also marked the centennial of the 1917 Russian Revolution, which was inspired by the ideas of Marx and Engels in their Communist Manifesto of 1848. And much of their analysis was based on Engelss own masterwork, The Condition of the Working Class in England, published three years before.

In Manchester, Engels is still revered. Alexandra Prodan, a 27-year-old medical secretary from Romania who has been living in Manchester for eight years, said the problem with communism was not with Marxist theory per se. In practice, Ms. Prodan said, communist regimes became totalitarian and oppressive.

Mr. Callaghan agreed. Corrupt people, he said, they corrupt things, dont they?

Ms. Prodan added: Even in the countries where people were oppressed, people were looking out for each other in a way. There was still a feeling of togetherness against the regime. This is basically what Engels wrote about. You know, its about the people coming together.

Manchester is still mourning after a terrorist attack in May. Were still conscious of it, Mr. Callaghan said. But in some respects residents seem more united than ever. You saw people mobilizing and coming together, Ms. Prodan said.

The newly erected statue is not the only tribute to Engels in the city. At the University of Salford, not far from where Engels worked at his family-owned mill, an innovative sculpture of Engelss iconic beard, meant to be climbed, is intended, the university claims, to inspire the next generation of artists, musicians and performers.

The statue is now installed in the city center to grant Engels official recognition, Mr. Collins said. Of course, things have changed a bit since his day. The statue now stands among such temples of Western capitalism as a McDonalds and a Hilton.

The festivals artistic director, John McGrath, said he expected the statues new location to invite people to think and ignite debate. In Mr. Collinss words: Whats interesting about socialism is that it announces itself.

Why Engels? To Mr. Collins, its all about contradictions, the contradictions we all live in.

Engels ran his familys factory, and yet he was dedicated to the emancipation of the working class, Mr. Collins said.

He was a capitalist by day and a communist by night, he added.

Like Engels, Mr. Collins suggested: Nobodys outside of a system. Were all kind of bound to it. He deemed Manchester to be home to important movements connected with social justice and with resistance.

Manchester retains a strong air of socialism. Not only did it elect a Labour member of Parliament in the recent general election, but 94 of the 96 city councilors are members of the Labour Party.

Weve got lots of statues for other 19th-century figures, said the leader of the Manchester City Council, Richard Leese. Why not give one to a German Manchester socialist?

It was hard to find a dissenting voice at the dedication of the statue. When asked about possibly glorifying a figure whose lifes work came to be associated with political regimes that ended up immiserating countless millions of people, Mr. Callaghan said that was not the point.

I dont think were necessarily celebrating it, he said. With time, youve got to acknowledge what happened in the past, dont you?

Barbara Woods, 70, who had accompanied her husband to the event, was practically alone in mildly criticizing the idea. We are for the working class, she said. But Im not 100 percent sure about a statue.

Personally, I dont see any need for it, she continued. I think we should let things lie and rather have a statue of somebody representing the region, not somebody whos come from somewhere else.

She suggested another influential part-time Mancunian, who worked at The Manchester Evening News for three years: Why not George Orwell?

Follow this link:
A Communist Icon Toppled in Ukraine Is Restored. In England. - The ... - New York Times

Svetlana Voilova in front of her destroyed apartment in Krasnagorovka. (photo credit:SETH J. FRANTZMAN)

KRASNOGOROVKA - Svetlana Voilova stands by the gate to what was once her apartment in a long brick house in Eastern Ukraine. In late July 2017, it was hit by incendiary artillery shells and destroyed. Now all that remains of what were once nine apartments are the chimneys and shell of the home. One man wounded in the shelling died in a hospital and another is still recovering.

Voilovas home is on the Ukrainian government-run side of the cease-fire line established in February 2015, in an agreement between Russia, Ukraine and two separatist areas known as the Donetsk Peoples Republic and Luhansk Peoples Republic.

The 13-point plan was supposed to include a cease-fire and removal of heavy weapons from the line of contact between Ukrainian and separatist forces. It is monitored by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, or OSCE.

The conflict here has implications not only for relations between Russia and its neighbors, but also for NATO, European Union states and the United States, all of which have played a role in the conflict. The US, for instance, is reportedly in discussions to supply Ukraine with anti-tank weapons.

Despite the cease-fire, Ukrainian military personnel and civilians say that artillery shells regularly hit civilian buildings. From the 3rd of May, we had one wing of a school damaged and also the hospital, and in May, six apartments [were hit by shelling], says a military spokesman for the Ukrainian 92nd Brigade stationed in Krasnogorovka. In all, he details 41 buildings hit in shelling in this one town in recent months.

There is not one house here without damage, says Lena Meslitskaya, whose home is down the street from Voilovas burned apartment. These small brick homes surrounded by little vegetable gardens were built in the 1950s, when Stalin was in power. Meslitskaya has had to brick up and reinforce the windows from being shattered in the shelling.

For her mother, Maria, the war brings back memories of the Second World War. Born in 1928, Maria says she helped pick up the bodies of fallen soldiers after the battle of Kursk, the largest tank battle in history, which was fought in 1943.

Driving through towns that border the cease-fire line, evidence of the ongoing war is everywhere. Roofs are caved in from shells and some apartments that face toward Donetsk a city in separatist hands are deserted and windows shattered.

During the day the fighting is quiet, but at night gunfire is common. Heavier weapons, such as 120 mm. mortars, are also used, say Ukrainian officials. The OSCE says that both sides have committed violations over the years. In a tweet from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine on August 4, OSCE deputy director Alexander Hug said, Its time for sides to listen to the people of Donbass and to cease fire.

Before the war, Alina Kosse was director of a district center for childrens art. She says her town of Marinka was well-known in the area for producing talented youth, including ensembles that performed throughout Eastern Europe. After the conflict began in 2014, many people left their homes and the arts center was closed for a time.

Every day is Russian roulette, she says, showing bullets that have landed on her home, 2 km. from the cease-fire line. Her windows are sandbagged. I receive shrapnel in my roof, and this is considered a safe area, she says.

With the presence of the army in the town for three years, Kosse has tried to integrate the community with the soldiers. This area of Ukraine is Russian-speaking and when the war broke out some of these communities were briefly controlled by separatists, which means locals are not always reconciled with the Ukrainian government.

Kosse, whose family came from Greece to this region in the 18th century, argues that people should not betray their country. Its about motivation, it is in peoples hearts. My ancestors settled here. They are buried here. Why would I betray my history and roots?

Convincing locals to support the army is a central mission along the cease-fire line. In Avdiivka, Lt.-Col. Aleksander Samarsky, deputy-commander of the 72nd Mechanized Brigade, says he works to combat Russian propaganda. That involves working closely with civilians. So if some schools and kindergartens are damaged, then our soldiers will go to them, and we try to examine the psychological state of children. They also work to remove land mines from local farms, he says.

All along the cease-fire line the burden on civilian life is difficult. People whose lives were centered on work across the line have shifted careers. Even though they can cross back and forth at several points along hundreds of kilometers of front line, the checkpoints and security checks take hours, locals say.

But many of the older people have lived through times of privation before under the Soviets. At a local lake a few kilometers from the conflict, hundreds of youth in skimpy bathing suits splash in the war.

Like in so many places in the world, life still goes on in the shadow of war.

Share on facebook

Here is the original post:
Ukraine in focus: 'There is not a house here not damaged by war' - The Jerusalem Post

Ukraine Needs $3B and a Culture Change Inside Higher Ed (blog) The Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Liliya Hrynevych, announced the need for 87 billion UAH (over US $3 billion) to reform the country's Soviet-modelled system of education. The Prime Minister, Volodymyr Groysman, conceded the accuracy of ...

See the original post:
Ukraine Needs $3B and a Culture Change - Inside Higher Ed (blog)

There is an abundance of outrage in the United States about Russias alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Multiple investigations are taking place, and Moscows conduct was a major justification for the sanctions legislation that Congress just passed. Some furious political figures and members of the media insist that the Putin governments interference constitutes an act of war. One especially agitated House member even compared it explicitly to the Pearl Harbor and 9/11 attacks.

Such umbrage might be more credible if the United States refrained from engaging in similar conduct. But the historical record shows that Washington has meddled in the political affairs of dozens of countriesincluding many democracies. An egregious example occurred in Ukraine during the Euromaidan Revolution of 2014.

Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych was not an admirable character. After his election in 2010, he used patronage and other instruments of state power in a flagrant fashion to the advantage of his political party. That high-handed behavior and legendary corruption alienated large portions of Ukraines population. As the Ukrainian economy languished and fell farther and farther behind those of Poland and other East European neighbors that had implemented significant market-oriented reforms, public anger at Yanukovych mounted. When he rejected the European Unions terms for an association agreement in late 2013, in favor of a Russian offer, angry demonstrators filled Kievs Independence Square, known as the Maidan, as well as sites in other cities.

Despite his leadership defects and character flaws, Yanukovych had been duly elected in balloting that international observers considered reasonably free and fairabout the best standard one can hope for outside the mature Western democracies. A decent respect for democratic institutions and procedures meant that he ought to be able to serve out his lawful term as president, which would end in 2016.

Neither the domestic opposition nor Washington and its European Union allies behaved in that fashion. Instead, Western leaders made it clear that they supported the efforts of demonstrators to force Yanukovych to reverse course and approve the EU agreement or, if he would not do so, to remove the president before his term expired. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, went to Kiev to show solidarity with the Euromaidan activists. McCain dined with opposition leaders, including members of the ultra right-wing Svoboda Party, and later appeared on stage in Maidan Square during a mass rally. He stood shoulder to shoulder with Svoboda leader Oleg Tyagnibok.

But McCains actions were a model of diplomatic restraint compared to the conduct of Victoria Nuland, the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs. As Ukraines political crisis deepened, Nuland and her subordinates became more brazen in favoring the anti-Yanukovych demonstrators. Nuland noted in a speech to the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation on December 13, 2013, that she had traveled to Ukraine three times in the weeks following the start of the demonstrations. Visiting the Maidan on December 5, she handed out cookies to demonstrators and expressed support for their cause.

The extent of the Obama administrations meddling in Ukraines politics was breathtaking. Russian intelligence intercepted and leaked to the international media a Nuland telephone call in which she and U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Geoffey Pyatt discussed in detail their preferences for specific personnel in a post-Yanukovych government. The U.S-favored candidates included Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the man who became prime minister once Yanukovych was ousted from power. During the telephone call, Nuland stated enthusiastically that Yats is the guy who would do the best job.

Nuland and Pyatt were engaged in such planning at a time when Yanukovych was still Ukraines lawful president. It was startling to have diplomatic representatives of a foreign countryand a country that routinely touts the need to respect democratic processes and the sovereignty of other nationsto be scheming about removing an elected government and replacing it with officials meriting U.S. approval.

Follow this link:
America's Ukraine Hypocrisy - The National Interest Online (blog)

The U.S. Defense Department has recommended sending a package of lethal military aid to Ukraine worth about $50 million, the U.S. NBC television network has reported.

NBC published the report on August 4, citing three unnamed officials who said the recommendation has been forwarded to the White House for consideration.

A Pentagon spokesperson refused to confirm the report, but told NBC that "we haven't ruled anything out."

The reported weapons package purportedly would include Javelin shoulder-launched antitank missiles.

Russia annexed the Ukrainian region of Crimea in early 2014 and has provided extensive military, economic, and political to separatist militants in eastern Ukraine.

During a visit to Kyiv last month, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg asserted that Russia has "thousands" of troops on Ukrainian soil.

Although Russia denies military involvement in the conflict, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in November 2016 determined the conflict to be "an international armed conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation."

Read the original post:
Pentagon Reportedly Recommends Lethal Aid Package For Ukraine - RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty