Scholars of Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia at CUNY
Susan Smith-Peter, Professor of History at the College of Staten Island, talked to Ralph Bunche Institute Director John Torpey about the intertwined histories of Russia and Ukraine on the current tensions between the two countries.
January 24, 2022
Subscribe to International Horizons on Soundcloud, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. A lightly edited selection of the transcript is on the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies website.
The punk band Pussy Riot has long known Putin’s worst intentions. Their impact, current status, and thoughts on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are the focus of this article in the UK’s Metro newspaper. CUNY’s Janet E. Johnson, Professor of political science, Brooklyn College, is interviewed:
“In the beginning, the way that they chose to protest was so radical compared not only to Russian society, but also in comparison to the existing feminist and women’s rights movements that existed in Russia,’ she says.
‘Those before them had tried to play the game, and be a proper non-governmental organization that worked with the government, but also sometimes challenged the government.
‘So, when they saw Pussy Riot weating balaclavas and making sexual innuendos about Putin, people thought they had gone too far.’ “
Russia’s most famous feminists: What Pussy Riot did next…
Graduate Center faculty Julie George, Manu Bhagavan, Thomas Weiss, John Torpey and Els de Graauw offer expertise from their knowledge of history, other regional conflicts, and migration to shed light on the current Russian invasion of Ukraine:
https://www.gc.cuny.edu/news/echoes-stalingrad-experts-weigh-war-ukraine
March 1, 2022
We, the scholars of Eastern Europe, Russia, and Eurasia at the City University of New York (CUNY) and members of the CUNY REEES Workshop, condemn the Russian Federation’s military invasion of Ukraine.
It hits close to home for us, as part of the public university for the city with the largest populations of Russian- and Ukrainian-Americans in the United States. As scholars, we are appalled and angered by President Putin’s use of historical distortions to justify Russia’s attack on Ukrainian sovereignty by calling it a war of de-Nazification against fascism. We see this attack on Ukraine as an attack on humanity, democracy, and the rule of law, and that it poses an extraordinary threat of wider war.
We call on the U.S. and other NATO countries to send more defensive weapons to Ukraine, to provide it with intelligence information, to provide reception centers and documents for refugees, and to prevent further annexations or the dissolution of the country. We stand with the people of Ukraine, whose lives and hopes for democratic self-governance have been upended by this vicious assault, and with the brave citizens of Russia and Belarus who oppose their authoritarian regimes and protest the illegal actions of their governments.
February 28, 2022
