Manifesto

Who we are?

We, the peace-minded people from the post-Soviet space (By saying post-Soviet space, we understand a space without clear geographic borders that was created following the collapse of the Soviet Union, which people feel culturally associated with.) and its neighborhood, indignant at the never-ending wars, imperialist rivalry, autocratic governance, closed borders, increasing nationalism, racism and dehumanization, patriarchal violence, annihilation of the environment, and other types of hegemonic violence, are uniting in a solidarity initiative to:

– fight against inequalities, injustice, and oppressive forms of violence,

– resist the rising threats of new imperialist, expansionist, and nationalist wars,

– campaign against militarism and the idea that peace can be achieved by offensive military means, 

– empower alternative concepts of peace appealing to the everyday lives of people, 

– offer solidarity to all anti-militarist, anti-war and peace-minded people across and beyond the post-Soviet space irrespective of their nationality, 

– amplify the voices of people affected by violence politically, economically, and socially,

– create conditions for peaceful co-existence of different identity groups,

– re-politicize peace-oriented activities.

Why now?

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, we have been experiencing endless nationalistic violence. We have been witnessing continuous wars and armed conflicts in Central Asia, South Caucasus, Ukraine, Russia, and Moldova.

The military escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in 2022, devastating the lives of millions of people and destroying critical economic and social infrastructure, agitates us to take concrete actions against wars and for peace in the post-Soviet region and the world. As we unequivocally condemn and resist the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian state, we clearly see it as a turning point in the world order that was established following the collapse of the Soviet Union. At this time, the anti-war sentiments among many people brought about by the manifest brutality of military violence in Ukraine need to be converted into a strong popular demand for a more peaceful, collaborative, and demilitarized world.

The world is now increasingly polarizing. The most militarized and powerful states are openly entering another period of rivalry over competing for power across the world. Militarist imperialism and nationalism have become a prevailing paradigm of global and regional politics. State expenses on education, science and social wellbeing are decreasing, while military spending is continuously rising in many countries. The contestation over economic resources is growing.

Nationalistically framed expansionist wars are used to distract the attention of increasingly dissatisfied populations and to oppress various social and identity groups. All these developments make global war with the usage of nuclear weapons a possible scenario that can eventually terminate life on our planet.

The liberal peacebuilding that treated the post-Soviet space as a new market for international organizations failed to address and prevent the eruption of ethno-nationalist violence and colonial expansion. Its approach served to bureaucratize, depoliticize, and contain peace activism. We, as the people from this space, also failed to stand united against the ‘civilizatory’ approach of liberal peacebuilding in the post-Soviet reality and to dispel delusions that the neoliberal politics would bring workable democracy in our societies. Moreover, the state-sponsored nationalistic narratives have fueled the false consciousness that distracts us from the real causes of oppression such as social and economic inequalities, patriarchy, and an exploitative attitude towards nature.

The nationalist politics of the post-Soviet states, whether recognized or unrecognized, have led to the domination of ethno-national identity within their respective political spaces, leading to continual oppression of ethnic, language, and religious minorities, and the marginalization and exclusion from political space of other identity groups defined by gender, socio-economic class, profession, and other identity properties.

Our beliefs and objectives

We believe that building peaceful life is within our reach, as we do not want more imperialist, expansionist, and nationalist wars. They do not serve, and clearly contradict, the everyday interests and needs of people.

Our main desire is to stop the ongoing injustice and oppressive violence, and to prevent future wars initiated by the political and economic elites, as well as radical nationalists, for their own benefits. We believe in the right of everyone to participate in global politics. 

It is also crucial to normalize the participation in the peace process of social groups other than those defined by ethnicity and nationality.

We believe that an alternative egalitarian world without coercion, competition, and violence is possible.

We believe in a world with just distribution of resources, with no exploitation of individuals, communities, and the environment, no poverty, no discrimination, and no oppression. We are firm in our desire to work toward such a world by actively opposing militarism, authoritarianism, injustice, hatred, racism, and xenophobia.

We acknowledge that the world needs the plurality of ideas and multiplicity of narratives for peaceful co-existence. However, we reject the antagonisms leading to discrimination and oppression such as those implied by nationalist, imperialist, neoliberal and authoritarian politics. We are convinced that imperialism, nationalism, and the neoliberal economic model are inclined towards the oppression of individuals, communities, and social groups.

Since education has the potential to develop critical thinking and to create alternatives to the dominant ideas of oppression, we acknowledge the importance of the availability of good quality education for all people regardless of their socio-economic status. 

It is time for peace work to be a political power on its own to make sure that the party of peace will prevail over the party of war.

We do not ally with any state governments and work only in the interests of people, regardless of their nationalities and citizenships, believing in the right of all people to co-exist peacefully everywhere.

What we sign up for 

We believe that to reach the world we imagine, the first step should be to organize solidarity networks with clear anti-militarist, anti-war and pro-peace agendas into a strong transnational popular peace movement without borders, conformities, and competition. 

We support open and constructive intercultural anti-war dialogue between

different groups of people in the post-Soviet space. 

We will use our professional competences to support war-affected people and those being in disadvantaged positions to address their social needs and defend their human rights. We will help people who flee their homes because of wars and violence as well as political and economic migrants who search for and are willing to construct more just societies. 

We will support peace-minded people by sharing our knowledge and experience and we want to learn from them likewise. We are open to collaboration and cooperation to dismantle power politics based on coercion in the post-Soviet region and the world.

We will invest our efforts and energy in informing people about and involving them in peace activism. We will support various forms of civil anti-war protests, welcoming them to be a part of the transnational peace movement.

We will help develop non-formal peace education programs and initiatives and link them with formal education curricula. 

Post-Soviet Peace Initiative will serve as a platform connecting youth with social and political initiatives aimed at bringing peace into practice.

The Initiative will serve as a platform for coordination and support for peace-minded people. We will search for possibilities of independent funding for our joint effort.

We will utilize and develop informational technologies to propagate the values of peace and support their implementation in practice as well as to confront the mainstream and far-right media that incite intergroup hatred.

We will work on developing mechanisms to resist the co-optation, marketization, and marginalization of peace activism. This work will aim to legitimize the voices of peace activists within the peace process.