Two wars: where we can, the people want their say

Last night we joined a well-organized crew of Google workers and friends from Jewish Voice for Peace and the Arab Resource & Organizing Center in downtown San Francisco protesting the tech giant's work with the Israeli military. Google's Nimbus Project enables collection and analysis of sophisticated data intelligence and is reported to have been used for targeting in Israel's Gaza bombing campaign. (Hard to know how much targeting is going on when whole neighborhoods are leveled ...)

Protester Rami Abelkarim said Thursday evening that Google is well known as a search engine but “nobody thinks of Google as a war profiteer.”

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On arriving home, I read independent reporter Tim Mak's account of a little demonstration in embattled Kyiv where Russian rocket attacks break up the nights.

Despite these obvious barriers to organization, demonstrators gathered in front of Kyiv city hall this morning to demand changes in the local government. If there’s a feeling that captures freedom, this is it: the energy of a demonstrating crowd protesting for a just future.

“As a civil society, we need to remind our authorities to serve our interests instead of their own,” said Volodymyr, whose father has been serving in the Ukrainian Army since the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014.

As stinging rain poured down, Kyiv residents shouted slogans: “More weapons, faster victory!” “Money for the armed forces!” Inside the building, the local government deliberated the annual budget.

... “All young democracies have to fight for themselves,” said Marianna, a political asylum seeker from Belarus, supporting Belarusian volunteer fighters in Ukraine. “I'm here because I don't want Ukraine to turn into what my home country is like now.”

Following the results of the session, Kyiv city mayor Vitalii Klychko announced the allocation of around $16 million for the Armed Forces on his official social media pages.

The demonstrators continue to protest despite this news: they were there, they said, to demand more.

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In this less-than-happy holiday season, I remain grateful for the human spirit that demands peace, justice, and freedom, however little it feels we can achieve.