Stop war against Ukraine

  Click on the images to enlarge them What? In this post you can find a collection of 12 anti-war caricatures, cartoons and designs drafted as a reaction to the illegal war of aggression that Russia is leading against Ukraine, and the war crimes that Russia is committing repeatedly against the people of Ukraine.  Why? To call for the ending of the mass-scale brutal violations of human rights and murdering of Ukrainian civilians that Russia has been perpetrating since the beginning of its special military operation on 24th of February, 2022. The people of Ukraine deserve freedom from these brutal aggressors and deserve justice. Bullies like Russia cannot be tolerated, they must be stopped or they will continue to do damage. Click on the image to enlarge   When? The caricatures and cartoons shown here have been developed between February 24th,  2022, when Russia  initiated its special military operation on Ukrainian territory, and July 2023. Almost one and a half years have passed and th

Background A couple of months ago I wanted to write to Mr. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and current owner of Twitter. Of course Twitter does not enable direct messages to Elon Musk, so here is what I want to say, in the form of an open letter. Of course, if I was writing to him directly I would identify myself properly, which I am not doing here, still I am writing my own opinions. The letter Dear Mr. Musk, Greetings. Let me begin by thanking you for your contributions to the development of electric vehicles, battery technology and solar home systems, as these are crucial technologies for the planet's sustainable future. About me. I am a middle age woman from Europe. I was studying in the US in 9/11/2001 during the Twin Towers terrorist attack. Like many others, I watched in shock through live TV as the drama unfolded. In my view, violent and deadly attacks against civilians were intolerable then, and are intolerable now.     Reason to write this letter. The reason why I am writing to

  Russian "Firehose of Falsehood" The Russian Propaganda has been actively spreading lies for many years, as described in this article by Christopher Paul and Miriam Matthews  published in 2016. If you have read my previous posts, you know how propaganda and hate speech have been used to justify atrocity crimes throughout history, including during the holocaust and the years that preceeded it. Adolph Hitler's Nazi regime was the architect of the holocaust. Although humankind has said "never again" can such atrocities repeat, "never forget!", history seems to repeat itself as authoritarian rulers keep using the same recipe to get rid of groups of people that they want to remove of their way. This is what has inspired the caricature above of Putin reading Hitler's book "Mein Kampf", with the title "so it began, again!". A bit of truth To fight disinformation with information, here is another caricature, now inspired by Putin's

Background What is disinformation? Disinformation is the intentional spreading of false information. If you have read my previous post on Disinformation in Russia , you know that I am quite concerned about the hate-speech and disinformation that the Russian State and media have been spreading against Ukraine, trying to justify their illegal and morally wrong war, "infecting" the minds of the Russian population with hate that can lead to atrocities such as the mass killings in Bucha or the complete destruction of an entire city, such as Mariopol.  Russia will have presidential elections in 2024. After the public criticism that the chief of the mercenary Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has made to Putin's "military operation" and the possibility of a revolutions in Russia - and he continues to be alive, Putin's rule seems to be set to expire.  However, if we accept that a significant share of the Russian population has been convinced that the war against Ukr

Russian Youth "buys-into" the State's genocidal language In Russia, disinformation has won. The Kremlin's propaganda machine is working around the clock to convince the Russian people, including the Youth, that war in Ukraine is morally right. Russian youth is buying into the hate-speech "genocidal language" of the State, as flagged in this article by Chris Brown, CBC News , CBC News posted in May, 2023. Via other sources, I had already heard that Putin's propaganda machine was specifically targeting Youth, including through the action of the  Nashi youth movement , strongly pro-Putin and similar the the Nazi youth movement from Hitler, but I do not know much about it, fortunately.  Some common practices in Russia suggest children start being "groomed" for war from a very young age. It is common practice for kindergarten children to take-up in a mock-up military parade, where their educators are also wearing military uniforms, every year on the

  Since Russia tried to invade Ukraine on February 2022, Russia has doing battle with Ukraine in many fronts, including in foreign public relations across countries in Europe, to counteract the spontaneous solidarity movements in support of the people of Ukraine. Here are a couple of examples. Peaceful demonstration of solidarity with the people of Ukraine On the 24th of February 2023 there was a peaceful demonstration of solidarity with the people of Ukraine held in front of Bonn's City Hall, Germany, co-organized with the participation of multiple legal political parties in Germany and several civil society and humanitarian organizations.   These included: BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN Bonn, CDU Bonn, SPD Bonn, FDP Bonn, GRÜNE Jugend Bonn, Junge Liberale Bonn, Ukraine Hilfe Bonn, Freies Bündnis Bonner Aktivist*innen / Ukraine Bonn Informiert, WePlay4Ukraine, DGB Kreisverband Bonn/Rhein-Sieg, UniBonn.UA, Dr. Margret Traub, Synagogengemeinde Bonn, Evangelischer Kirchenkreis Bonn, Diakonisc

Vote on your favourite caricature Do any of these look like Putin to you? what is your favorite caricature?  did I have any success in capturing Putin's likeness? P lease leave a comment to let me know. Caricature as a weapon for peace Putin deserves to be captured and trialed for his crimes, as do the ones that follow his orders on the ground, in the Ukrainian territory, illegally occupied by Russia. I do believe that war criminals, tyrants, and any other type of genocidal power-abusing invaders deserve to be mocked, ridiculed and otherwise publicly humiliated until they fall, not necessarily by violence, but by the loudness and undeniable-evidence and weight of their own wrong-doing.  So for the past fifteen months since Russia invaded Ukraine I have been trying to caricature Vladimir Putin. As I am just a hobbyist aspiring artist,  and can only work on this in my spare time, it has taken me this much time. Honestly, I thought this absurd war would be over before I would ever nee

About the designs: The first image, was inspired by a few online articles I read at the end of February /beginning of March 2022 as to whether Putin has gone mad or is simply bad. My current take is that he is both mad and bad. Version 2 is just an update of the caricature. Do you recognize him? Vote now, your opinion matters! And from these two versions, which do you like best? Participate in other design polls: Black heart

About these designs: The Stop War design was created back in March 2022 to express great sadness for the invasion and war against the people of Ukraine, the killing of civilians, destruction of homes and hospitals, stealing children and many other violations of basic human rights. The second version with the tag #StandWithUkraine was created in 2023, to ensure the message is clear. In Germany there was a long debate on weather tanks should be given to Ukraine to defend its territory. I am for peace but Ukraine is under attack and has the right to self-defense, it is Russia that must stop war now! These designs can be used in t-shirts, mugs, notebooks, stickers, pillows, laundry bags and more.  Vote now, your opinion matters! Participate in other design polls: Mad or bad?

All right, let us get it out in the open... if you are reading this blog you are probably thinking "she is doing this to make money selling t-shirts for peace in Ukraine, not because she cares about the war". Not true! I have no intention of making money out of this. Let me show you why.  1. Designing t-shirts is very time consuming Art is just a hobby for me, I have no professional training in graphic design. Producing visually attractive designs with meaningful messages for peace and justice takes me a very long time to do. Just to try to make an acceptable caricature of the aggressor Head-of-State who is leading the war of aggression against Ukraine took me about 11 months, with many failed attempts in between - see image below.  Trying to capture the likeness of the invading Head-of-State Can you guess who is the aggressor Head-of-State that I am trying to caricature?  What do you think, does any of these caricatures capture his likeness? Feel free to leave your opinion i

  The United Nations were not able to stop Russia's attacks on Ukraine.  Can ordinary citizens make a difference?  Yes.  The situation is terrible, hell on earth Mass killing of civilians, destruction of hospitals, schools, water and energy supply infrastructure, committing atrocities… Russia has been breaking every moral standard and the fundamental international laws, including the United Nations Charter, humanitarian aid law, an International Court of Justice decision, as most Countries stated in the United Nations General Assembly on March 23rd and 24th, 2022.  Unfortunately Russia has a lot of power over other countries, because many depend on imports of oil, coal and natural gas from Russia. This gives Russia leverage over the other countries but it is also a major source of funding for Russia. –  according to the International Energy Agency, in January 2022, 45% of Russia’s federal budget came from oil and gas-related taxes and export tariffs alone. So Russia depends on the

  I am an ordinary person, less outspoken than most. I work too much and I am married, I do not have much time for activism. So why write a blog against war in Ukraine, a foreign land with which I have no connection? Russia invaded Ukraine On the night of 23 to 24 February 2022, Russia illegally invaded Ukraine, and everything changed. Ukrainian people are being attacked in their homes, cities and communities. Theirs lives, their livelihoods, their physical integrity, their access to food, water and energy are threatened. Murdered, imprisoned, raped, trafficked.  For key information on the war in Ukraine, visit the webpage:  United Nations Regional Information Centre for Westerns Europe .  Imagine if this happened to you, to your family, to your neighbors, to your friends. This is unacceptable, it cannot be allowed! We must act against such monstrosity, in any way we can. All of us. The art of CitizenPower4Peace The way I thought I could help was to use my amateur skills as a hobbyist