Building Working Class Solidarity with Ukraine: Material Aid for Nurses, Hospitals, & Harm Reduction

The Trump Administration and Vladimir Putin’s regime want to impose an imperialist peace on Ukraine, a partition of its sovereign territory that rewards Russian colonial aggression. Against all odds, Ukraine’s working class has sustained the popular and military struggle for self-determination, sacrificing life and limb and putting extreme strain on its healthcare system, alleviated to an extent by the heroic work of harm reduction activists in limiting the spread of infectious diseases. Nurses and healthcare workers have had to face excruciating working conditions and long hours. To address this emergency, the Ukraine Solidarity Network has launched a campaign to raise funds for the independent Ukrainian nurses’ union, Be Like We Are, to pay for essential life-saving equipment for hospitals. Now is the time for solidarity and material support for Ukraine. Fund Drive for Be Like We Are: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-krylas-lifechanging-mission Speakers: Denys Bondar is a native of Ukraine and an associate professor of physics at Tulane University as well as a member of the Ukraine Solidarity Network and Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction. Oksana Slobodyna has been working for 28 years a nurse in a children’s hospital. Since 2022, she have led the Medical Movement “Be Like Us,” as well as the Lviv Regional Trade Union of Healthcare Workers. The mother of two adopted sons and two daughters. Ukraine is the most important thing, and its people are the most precious we have. Pavlo (Pasha) Smyrnov is the Deputy Executive Director of the Ukrainian Alliance for Public Health and has led innovative nationwide HIV and public health programs as well as mobile clinics to provide health services in frontline and hard-to-reach areas during the war. Tricia Ryshkus, RN, is a pediatric union nurse in Minneapolis, MN and a leader in her in union, the Minnesota Nurses Association. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This event is sponsored by Haymarket Books and Ukraine Solidarity Network. While all of our events are freely available, we ask that those who are able make a solidarity donation in support of our important publishing and programming work.