Irish Left With Ukraine – Neither Moscow nor Washington

“We took a huge risk but it was one hundred percent worth it!” Interview with Anna Zakharchenko.

Anna is a 19 year old who fled Ukraine and has since become active in left politics at the National University of Ireland (NUI) Maynooth.

Garrett Mullan (Irish Left With Ukraine) interviewed Anna Zakharchenko, who makes many interesting observations about her stay in Ireland.

Garrett Mullan (GM) :

1) You are from Kyiv- what prompted you to leave? Was it a difficult situation? Why come to Ireland? What did you know about Ireland before you left? How has the reception been for you from arrival through to your settling in? You settled into a hotel with your mother and now you are studying? How is that progressing?

Anna Zakharchenko (AZ) :

My further education was my mother and I’s primary reason for leaving. At the time we were making that decision, the Ukrainian education system was operating online which was complicated due to regular electricity breakouts. We chose Ireland because it was an English-speaking country that did not require a Visa, had good university programs, and was known for being very supportive of Ukrainians. The decision was, without a doubt, very difficult to make. I was not even sure if Irish universities would accept me as I was only seventeen at that time (we finish high school one year earlier in Ukraine). We took a huge risk but it was one hundred percent worth it.

In terms of reception, it has, for the most part, been welcoming. The first thing we did upon arrival is being sorted to the refugee facility in the CityWest hotel in Dublin. It was also the place where we had undergone all necessary procedures to receive documents such as the Temporary Protection, the PPS number, the medical card, and the mobile card which was all done very quickly. We spent two days in the common bedrooms for all the refugees there but then got relocated to a separate room in the actual “hotel” part of City West. I remember this being done because of the hygiene concerns as you could not shower while living in the common space. We spent five days in that hotel room before being moved to SpringHill Hotel in Kilkenny. During all of those seven days, we also received free food three times a day. In SpringHill, the food has also been free up until last spring.

Difficulties : Welfare Payment Cuts, Finding a Job, Uncertain Residency Rights

Currently, studying and living in SpringHill simultaneously can be quite stressful. I was lucky enough to get on-campus accommodation (meaning that I do not have to live at the hotel all the time) but I can see the psychological impacts of having this little agency over your place of living for that long on all of the Ukrainians there. Other factors such as the recent cutting of welfare payments, difficulty with finding a job, and the uncertain and constantly changing deadline of our right to reside there (the last one being this April which got extended till December) certainly do not help either. When the latter ends, my mom will most probably have to go back to Ukraine because the help with replacement accommodation will likely only be provided to families with little kids and elderly people. While she does take English classes and searches for employment, finding a place to live in Ireland is difficult even for Irish people who already have both of these settled.

My experience, nevertheless, should not be taken as representative. I know Ukrainians who had to flee much more imminent danger and even faced direct occupation. Some others are still in that general “refugee sorting point”. Some have a lot less parental support than I do. Others have to endure additional levels of marginalization in the refugee support system due to having disabilities, being non-white Ukrainians, and so on. It is always important to not let “individual success” stories be a distraction from structural problems.

GM :

2) Do you think you will return to Ukraine?

I am most definitely going to return to Ukraine either right after finishing my Bachelor’s degree or after taking a Master’s degree. As a Psychology and Sociology double major, I originally wanted to use my knowledge for work in a Ukrainian NGO of my choosing. Since then, I have been exposed to various critiques of NGOs as an effective method of tackling social problems that made it less of a fixed idea (although I do not discard it completely). I am excited to see how I can make myself most useful closer to when I come back.

GM :

3) How did you become interested in socialist politics? What are your views?

AZ :

I was brought to socialist circles through a combination of different factors. The first one is studying sociology at my university which made me gain appreciation for left-wing ideas on a theoretical level. I would say that it was especially interesting in terms of discovering how the left is much more heterogeneous than my previous conception of it as informed by my country’s Soviet past. The second is being a part of as well as being friends with various marginalized communities. Theory aside, love for the people around you is what truly makes you understand the importance of leftist demands on a level that is existential. Finally, I guess sometimes you become passionate about something through criticizing it. In my case, this refers to discovering what a significant portion of leftists says about the war in my country. Ironically to my previous point, they seem to experience some issues with having enough love for my community to understand its demands on the existential level.

In regard to my views, I support all of the anti-imperialist struggles (be it in Ukraine, Palestine, Syria, Armenia, or anywhere else), anti-capitalism, anti-fascism, eviction bans, immigration, feminism, environmental protection, queer liberation, and so on. For now, I try to not subscribe to more specific ideological labels within the left. Part of it is because I am only at the start of my political journey and there is still a lot for me to learn. Another part is that I want to stay flexible when different situations might require different ideological analyses.

GM :

4) How have your discussions been with Irish left wing activists? How have these discussions been in regards Ukraine and support for Ukraine?

AZ :

Maynooth’s Socialist Party Society has been an extremely informative and insightful place for having discussions. The events I have attended so far include talks on countering far-right activity in Ireland, the socialist feminist roots of International Women’s Day, and Palestinian liberation. The latter has definitely been a priority in the society after October. A separate Maynooth Student Solidarity with Palestine Action Group has even been formed (by a lot of the same people) and I am also a part of it. Our actions have included on-campus protests and a walk-out regarding our university’s ties with Israel, a petition demanding a counter-statement to the pro-neutrality one officially released by the university, and pushing for an awareness campaign on a Student Union level during Social Justice Week.

Myth-Debunking

A lot of my suggestions concerning Ukraine were met with support by the society as well. They did advertise the 24th February pro-Ukraine protest when I asked them to and were quite open to collaborating with the Ukrainian Society for a “myth-debunking” discussion closer to the second half of April (planning to engage the People Before Profit Society in this as well).

I do have my concerns about how this will go for two reasons. The first one is that “myth-debunking” would ideally include a call for sanctions and support for military training by the Irish government. Although I respect a big part of the Socialist Party and People Before Profit’s work, both of them have released questionable articles on these topics.

I still remember being baffled by the Socialist Party’s article opposing sanctions, “closing the sky”, and our official army because a more viable solution to the war is: “Ukrainian people confronting Russian troops on the streets, appealing to them as ordinary people and effectively stopping the troops from moving forward”. This is, of course, not to mention the never-ending reduction of our genocide to an “inter-imperialist scramble over Ukraine” or allusions to the “Russo-American proxy war” made by such organisations (I can not imagine them referring to the genocide of Palestinians as an “Israeli-Iranian proxy war”). The second concern is the potential biases that some people in the Ukrainian community might have about socialism in general due to the aforementioned Soviet associations. There is still a lot of work to do to fully get our movement under the leftist protection but everything starts with something so I am staying hopeful.