Saturday November 30, 2024, Movie night: Голод-33 * Famine-33 * 1991 * Directed by Oles Yanchuk * 115 minutes * In Ukrainian with English subtitles * doors opens at 18:30 film starts at 19:00.
This film looks at the artificial famine of 1932-33 in Ukraine through the eyes of a single family. The famine, which killed millions of people, was the result of a Soviet policy intended to punish Ukrainians for opposing the collectivization of their farms.
Pick up the Small Soviet Encyclopedia, 1940 edition, open it and under the letter “U” read what is written in the article “Ukrainian SSR”.
It is a document and there you will see in black and white, although in fine print, that Soviet Ukraine according to the census of 1927 had a population of 32 million and in 1939 (twelve years later) — 28 million.
Only 28 million? What happened to 4 million people after 1927? Where is the natural increase which in 12 years should have been at least 6-7 million? That means more than 10 million! What happened to those 10 million of the Ukrainian population? What happened to them in the “land of flourishing socialism?”
Made in 1991, deals with one of the greatest crimes of the 20th century, namely the forcible collectivization in the Soviet Union in the early 30s and the following hunger that affected above all Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. It should be remembered that this topic was (and in some way still is) the greatest Communist taboo. The mere mentioning of this topic guaranteed brutal repressions for the one who dared raise it. The official propaganda made some works about it (the most important one was Virgin Soul Upturned (Podnyataya Zelina in Russian) by Mikhail Sholokhov and any other views of the subject were forbidden. It should also be mentioned that some Western leftists supported it and helped spreading Stalin’s lies about it all over the world.
I know that it is almost impossible to explain to a Westerner what life under Communism is, but this fact makes context all the more necessary.
The most important thing is that all these horrors and sadistic acts were man-made and not natural. They are the inevitable results of the non-human Communist ideology.
Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net
Coming just in time for the end of Sinterklaas, Radical Sunday School invites you to join us as we learn a bit about invented traditions, and the way they shape how we look at ourselves and our communities. We’ll be sitting down to chat with a scholar of nationalism about not only the silly aspects of ridiculous holidays and made-up cuisine, but also the darker connections between these nationalist projects and the recent rise of the far right in Western politics. Join us this Sunday as we learn about the stories we tell ourselves, the myth of “tradition”, and the joys of cultural diversity!
