Connecting Continents
The Public Interest Journalism Lab invites journalists from Latin America, Africa, and Asia to introduce Ukraine to their readers.
Desi Anwar is a well-known host, television journalist, writer, and photographer. She currently hosts the regular one-hour prime-time talk show "Insight with Desi Anwar" on CNN Indonesia, where she interviews national and international newsmakers. Previously, Desi hosted the program "Face 2 Face with Desi Anwar" on Metro TV, where she interviewed prominent personalities from around the world. Her guests included the Dalai Lama, Richard Branson, Richard Gere, George Soros, as well as many heads of state and other influential figures. Desi Anwar also hosted the weekly talk show "Tea Time with Desi Anwar" on Metro TV, featuring well-known personalities from Indonesia. She is the author of books in English and Indonesian, including "Being Indonesian," "Faces and Places," "Offline: Finding Yourself in the Age of Distractions," and more. She has received numerous awards and is an honorary fellow of SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London) for her contribution to media development in Southeast Asia. Desi Anwar was named the number one journalist by the Indonesian Journalists Association in 2010 and is one of the most influential media personalities in the region.
Military Vitaliy Kuzmenko, who was a history student 10 years ago and was beaten by Berkut on Maidan, tells journalists from Asia about how Ukrainians have changed Ukraine after the Revolution of Dignity. On the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor, he explains that this tragedy holds significance for every Ukrainian family.
As part of the #ConnectingContinents project, we are hosting journalists from Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Mongolia, Thailand, and Cambodia starting from November 27.
"What were they praying for?" Hiro-san asked Father Andriy from Bucha (instead of the inappropriate "What did they feel?"). "Do you think God will forgive the Russians for what they did in Bucha?"
"If they ask for forgiveness," Father Andriy responded.
Photos by Oleksandr Popenko
We have shown Asian journalists Kyiv, Odesa, Bucha, Irpin, Yahidne, Slavutych, Mykolaiv region, and Kherson region. Organized meetings with the President, the First Lady, the head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration Vitaliy Kim, who has Korean origins, volunteers, representatives of Asian communities in Ukraine, agribusiness representatives, human rights activists, and public figures. Also recorded several podcasts.
Photo: Oleksandr Popenko, Serhiy Khandusenko, Georgiy Voronov, Yevhen Zhulai, Volodymyr Shepel.
Latin American journalists
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Photo by Oleksandr Popenko
As part of the "Connecting Continents" project, we, the Ukrainian media organization Public Interest Journalism Lab, are organizing three visits for prominent journalists, publishers, and opinion leaders from three continents - Latin America, Africa, and Asia - from May to December 2023. The first visit of renowned and influential journalists and intellectuals from Latin America took place from May 28th to June 3rd.
During the course of seven days, they held several meetings dedicated to the most important topics that can help the global audience of the Global South better understand the nature of Russian aggression against Ukraine. These included discussions on Russia's responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity in international courts, Ukrainian armed resistance to Russian aggression, the need for sanctions against Russia, how Russia caused a food crisis and its impact on Ukraine, and the anti-colonial nature of Ukrainian resistance. Participants visited cities in the Kyiv region on May 29th and the Kharkiv region on May 31st and June 1st. They witnessed the scale of destruction, spoke with those affected by Russian aggression, including families of those still in captivity, and engaged with military personnel, civilians, farmers, and government officials to gain a deep understanding of the Russian war and the situation in Ukraine. Their goal was to disseminate this knowledge and understanding to their audiences in their respective countries.
PARTICIPANTS:
Denise Eugenia Dresser Guerra (Mexico) is the most famous Mexican political analyst, commentator, and activist. She collaborates with various Mexican, American, and Spanish publications. The influential Mexican publication Reforma will create a special project about her stay in Ukraine. The popular publication Latinus will cover her visit through social media, where she has 1 million Twitter followers. Dresser is a speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos and serves on numerous councils and committees, including the Human Rights Commission of Mexico. She has 4.6 million Twitter followers.
Among the protagonists the journalists met was Olena Naumova, a teacher at Kherson's kindergarten No. 41. During the Russian occupation of the city, she shared on social media the horrors unfolding around her and even streamed live from the streets. The occupiers abducted her and held her captive for 14 days.
They also spoke with Yevhen Shybalov, a pacifist who stayed in Donetsk after its occupation in 2014. He recounted life in the city and how he eventually had to leave. Yevhen joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine and was captured by Russian forces while defending Donetsk region. His story is one of transformation, from a civic activist to an infantry veteran. A similar transformation was described by Lieutenant Colonel Pavlo Khazan, who was a prominent eco-activist in the 1990s before becoming a military officer.
The journalists visited Kharkiv, Izium, Bucha, and Yahidne, and spoke with former Defense Minister Andriy Zahorodniuk, Ukrainian philosopher and essayist Volodymyr Yermolenko, former Mariupol patrol police chief and POW Mykhailo Vershynin, poet and soldier Yaryna Chornohuz, head of Ukraine's largest charitable foundation "Come Back Alive" Taras Chmut, historian Yaroslav Hrytsak, and many others. They shared their impressions of Ukraine during a press conference.
They also met with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi and First Lady Olena Zelenska:
Фото: Oleksandr Popenko
African journalists
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On July 12, as part of the "Connecting Continents" project, journalists from South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, and Uganda arrived in Ukraine. Throughout the week, they will get to know Ukraine better, engage with public figures, scientists, philosophers, military personnel, volunteers, and politicians. They will visit locations of the most horrific Russian crimes in Ukraine, as well as agricultural farms that grow wheat, including for African countries, which were under Russian occupation.
Participants:
Mondli Makhanya is the editor-in-chief of City Press, a South African newspaper. He previously served as the editor of Mail & Guardian and Sunday Times, as well as the editor-in-chief of Times Media Group. With over 33 years of experience in the media industry, Makhanya is an influential columnist and one of the most respected editors in South Africa. His voice has been instrumental in covering the processes of democratization in South Africa following apartheid. He is a former chairperson of the South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) and his views on political and social events in South Africa carry significant weight. Makhanya is a frequent public speaker and has given interviews to both local and international media outlets, including BBC, Al Jazeera, and CNN. He is also a board member of various charitable and non-governmental organizations, including the World Justice Project based in Washington, D.C., USA.
Human rights activist and Nobel laureate Olexandra Matviychuk showed them Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) and shared the key events of the Revolution of Dignity and its causes. They also had conversations with journalist and literary critic Tetiana Oharkova and philosopher and President of the Ukrainian PEN Club Volodymyr Yermolenko.
After the meetings, The Reckoning Project team showed their colleagues a documentary film about the Russian missile attack on a shopping center in Kremenchuk.
Photos by Oleksandr Popenko
African journalists visited Bucha, Irpin, the sites of horrific Russian war crimes, and the most devastated districts where the occupiers killed civilians and destroyed residential neighborhoods with artillery. They spoke with Father Andriy, who revealed that in the courtyard of his church, the victims of the Russians were buried in a mass grave. Father Andriy shared the story of exhuming the bodies of the victims of the Russian army and showed photographs that are now exhibited in his church.
They then met with athlete and MP Jean Beleniuk. Jean has African heritage through his Rwandan father and Ukrainian mother. His father was killed during the Tutsi Genocide in 1994 when Jean was just three years old.
They also had discussions with journalists Sevgil Musayeva, Petro Ruzavin, russian propaganda expert Lyubov Tsybulskaya, and military personnel Dmitry Kobzin.
Photos by Oleksandr Popenko
Religious scholar Kyrylo Hovorun, who studied the Namibian famine arranged by Germans in the early 20th century, shared with African journalists about the Holodomor and things which Stalin learned from the Germans and used against Ukrainians.
They also met with Ukrainian peacekeeper Roman Lobunets, who served in Congo and West Africa, where he witnessed war for the first time. He shares that he could never imagine that war would reach Ukraine.
Actor and military personnel Akhtem Seitablaiev introduced journalists to Crimean Tatar culture, and Mstyslav Banik, one of the key developers of the "Diia" application, explained how this groundbreaking Ukrainian app overcomes bureaucracy, as well as its prospects in Africa.
Photos by Oleksandr Popenko
Interview with President Volodymyr Zelensky
African journalists met with Volodymyr Zelenskyi as part of the "Connecting Continents" project. They talked about the Grain Agreement, relations between Ukraine and Africa, direct dialogue, without "Russian mediation" and Russian propaganda.
Live Summary: Discussion with african journalists
An African delegation visited ports, grain terminals, and agricultural enterprises in the southern part of Ukraine, which produce and supply grain worlwide, including to Africa. They met with the owner of the company "Nibulon," Andriy Vadaturskyi. His father, Oleksiy, the founder of the agro-holding "Nibulon," and his mother, Raisa, were killed in Mykolaiv during a Russian missile attack. They also visited enterprises in Kherson and Mykolaiv regions that were either occupied or destroyed by Russians but have now resumed theirs work.
Photos by Oleksandr Popenko
A meeting with First Lady Olena Zelenska was organized for African journalists. They spoke about forcibly displaced Ukrainian children, divided Ukrainian families, Ukrainian women at war and much more.
Photos by Oleksandr Popenko