Politics – TheTravelBugBite

Blood at Maidan – Kyiv, Ukraine 2014

There was no physical blood present when I stepped onto Maidan Square in Kyiv, Ukraine. Yet signs of it were everywhere. Bullet holes pierced the shields and helmets that memorialized the fallen. Flowers, the color of blood, sat inside the cavern of the helmet. The space, once occupied by a human mind, was now an…

Being an (Ex) Prague Freedom Foundation Scholar

Four years ago I had the honor of participating in a Journalism Program that Prague Freedom Foundation sponsored. The program brought students from Kent State University and Anglo American University together to study journalism. After winning the Excellence Award for my piece on Abortion Laws in Ohio I went on to receive a grant from PFF to report on the war in Ukraine…

Sole independent Turkish Cypriot newspaper attacked

Afrika, the only independent Turkish Cypriot newspaper, was attacked on the morning of January 22nd. At 9am a group of people holding Turkish flags met in front of the newspaper’s office building in Nicosia. Violence escalated as they began throwing stones, eggs and allegedly trying to storm the office.

Patriots Punished in Northern Cyprus: A Modern Day Political Occupation

Koray Basdogrultmaci and Cinel Senem Husseyin, a Turkish-Speaking Cypriot couple, were charged for hanging the Cyprus Republic’s flag outside their home and shop in Famagusta in June 2013. They were arrested and put in jail on June 21st 2013 and their original trial was postponed until June 11th 2014. “Northern Cyprus is legally part of…

Afghan War Veterans – War in Ukraine

I spoke to Oleh Michnev, the head of the Afghan war veterans. He was very busy and was holding an important meeting, but Eduard who I wrote about in a previous article got me a few minutes with him. When I asked him what role the Afghan war veterans played at Maidan he said, “Roles…

November 17th 2014 – Romanians and Czechs Choose Democracy

In London, Madalina stood yesterday in the queue outside the Romanian Embassy for eleven hours and was among the last group of ten voters to be allowed into the Embassy to vote – with thousands left outside who were not able to vote…

‘This Place’ Exhibition in Prague in DOX

“I can’t call it Israel,” says photographer Gilles Peress while referring to flying to the location, “I call it Israelstein. It’s a combination of the two.” Peress’s photos are very clear; they show the different perspectives of one community. He remarked that in Israel and Palestine everything happens meter by meter, room to room. “You see stores disappearing one by one, I return to the same place again and again,” Peress explains his process of watching the changes. His pieces in this exhibition try to explore the reason why people don’t see the similarities between each other – “Desperate lives,” he sighs, “looking for differences.”

Czechs Celebrate Independence Day by Protesting Rusia’s War on Ukraine

The greatest surprise came when we got to the castle. When we got to our destination there was a man wearing a large paper-mâché mask reassembling Russian president’s Vladimir Putin’s face. He was holding a puppet with Zeman’s face on it. The group stopped by the puppet while the group leader, wearing a Putler shirt, explained through a microphone that the group was pro-democratic and against Putin’s influence in the Czech Republic. The speaker was Czech like most of the organizers and attendees.

100th Anniversary of WWI – DOX Front Line Exhibition

Today many nations are suffering and thousands of people are being killed. The major current conflicts with headlines all over the media include Gaza, Syria, Iraq and Ukraine. While some conflicts remain mostly regional, others like Israel-Palestine and Ukraine-Russia are becoming a threat to global peace. Obsessing over protecting the economy and continuing harmful trade cycles keeps preventing the success of peace talks and finding concrete solutions. Now more than ever we can see that history repeats itself. This is why we need to refer to the past when building a better future. That is the reason that DOX organized this exhibition…

The Politics Behind the Chinese Exhibition in Prague 2014

Looking at the two mighty soldier statues evoked respect and admiration for Chinese culture and history. It is clear why Zeman hopes to gain economic insight and profit from cooperating with China. But adopting some great ideas can lead to also adopting less desirable ones — and if Czech respect for human rights ends up traded for money, then more people will begin looking at both statue and flesh-and-blood soldiers in fear instead of awe…

Ukraine 2014 – Life During Crisis

It was volunteers who did the most at the protest, but politicians were necessary too, especially to help get people out of jail. The politicians also offered the protesters organization and helped them raise their demands. But although some politicians tried, “politicians couldn’t lead the revolution.”

Guest column: Foreign Support in Ukraine

Since the peaceful protests that began on Nov. 21, 2013 turned violent three months later, the whole world has been watching Ukraine. There have been talks between European Union member states, NATO, the United States and Russia on how to help stabilize the situation, but there is still unrest in Ukraine. People from all over…

Photos from Maidan: Ukraine’s 2014 Revolution

Here are some pictures from the very center of Kiev. They show the power and determination of Ukrainian people but they also show the terrible conditions that people lived in, and some still do. They show flowers and candles brought by all those who mourn the dead. They show what happens when people are pushed to the edge and have to fight back. If the conflict in Crimea escalates, there will be barricades, fires, flowers and candles there too.

Beagles for Peace – War in Ukraine

Today was a long and emotional day for me at Maidan, so my first post about it will be a happy one. One of the first things I saw when I arrived in the square was a group of beagles with yellow-and-blue ribbons on their collars. Their owners were holding signs that read “Beagles for…

One Field Hospital – War in Ukraine

I spent several hours in one of the field hospitals in the very center of Maidan. I spoke to several nurses there, but mainly Iryna Zakharchenko and Olga Azzuz. They pointed out the nurse who was treating the first victim of the protests, the Armenian boy who died on January 22nd 2014. The hospital had…

Olga Azzuz – War in Ukraine

At the field hospital I spoke a lot to a woman called Olga Azzuz, who works there as a dentist. After her shift she took me around Maidan and told me how the protests started and how the situation escalated. She gave me insight on what the situation was like before the protests and how…

Kora Smirinova a Russian Ukrainian

Kora Smirinova posted a photo of herself on Facebook on March 12th, and it wasn’t just an ordinary photo. Many girls take selfies and post duck-face pictures showing off their cleavage, but Smirnova did something a little different. She’s a modern woman and definitely no damsel in distress…

February 18th Photos – War in Ukraine

These pictures are from February 18th, when a large number of people lost their lives. Tetiana Kagui was one of the many people who gathered to go up to Verkhovna Rada, Ukrainian parliament, to demand them to return to the 2004 Constitution. She was the one who took all these pictures. Going there everyone anticipated…

Parliamentary frustration in Ukraine – War in Ukraine

The deputies were all dressed professionally but not everyone acted the way they looked. Voices were raised, speeches were booed and disrespected and people talked over each other. This can be excused because we are all human and our emotions take over sometimes. But what really surprised me was the lack of initiative that spread…

Brotherhood – War in Ukraine

Brotherhood was a word that I heard a lot yesterday at Maidan. Everyone there came on their own free will explains Olga Azzyz, a volunteer at a hospital, “we meet and we are like family.” During my first 10 minutes in the square, I heard a woman speaking in Ukrainian on stage and she ended…

The Story of a Hero: Eduard Kryhov – War in Ukraine

Eduard Kryhov helped out a lot at one of the medical points, and one night, they were told that Berkut was about to storm them. He was had a knee problem at the time and knew he wasn’t able to help carry injured men out to safety. Instead he grabbed a hand-grenade and walked up to where the Berkut could see him. The 64-year-old man showed them what he was holding and said, “Look at me; I have seen all there is to see, I don’t care anymore, if you come in here, we will all die together.” The Berkut did not attack the medical point; Kryhov had saved several lives with his bravery. R.I.P.

Flag Parade Review – War in Ukraine

Today I was part of the Flag Parade, and it was a really amazing experience. We met and prepared our flags in Shevchenko park where I met a lot of interesting international people, some who even spoke Russian or Ukrainian. Everyone was mingling, having a great time and most importantly supporting Ukraine. Everyone in the world speaks about the “American Dream”, yet there were Americans who live in Kiev praising Ukraine and its people; saying that they were inspired by Ukrainians. There were short speeches in Ukrainian, Russian, English, German and French. Every speech ended in loud applause. The speaker who welcomed us on stage said, “we might not understand all the words, but support speaks for itself.”

Women at Maidan – War in Ukraine

Women have always played important roles in Ukrainian history. Whenever there was a conflict, women took up arms or found other ways to help their country. One of the active groups at Maidan were the Cossacks. They were mostly men but had a female Cossack group as well. Women who wanted to help but couldn’t…

Afghan War Veterans – War in Ukraine

Oleh Michney told me that protests started with students who were living below normal standards. When they were beaten for protesting, their parents and grandparents were angered and joined the protests. “We don’t support any political party,” Michnev said, “we stand between protesters and aggressors to avoid the spilling of blood, and we of all people understand the value of blood.”

Beagles for Peace: Puppy Protest

Today was a long and emotional day for me at Maidan so my first post about it will be a happy one. One of the first things I saw when I arrived in the square was a group of beagles with yellow-and-blue ribbons on their collars. Their owners were holding signs that read “Beagles for Peace” standing on the steps by the ‘Christmas tree’. Other beagle owners were coming from every direction and the cuteness was attracting a lot of attention from those passing by…

Flag Parade for Ukraine – War in Ukraine

“We support a united Ukraine, a complete Ukraine, including Crimea.” Tomorrow I will participate in a Flag Parade. This will be the 5th parade created by the international community living in Kiev and the goal of it is to “show support for ‘new’ Ukraine”. They wish to “draw media attention to disprove any lies regarding the…

Maidan Graffiti – War in Ukraine

Right now there are two places in Kiev where you can see what remains of Maidan. It is mostly left for tourists to get a feel of what happened and as a memorial to those who died. Yesterday I saw the smaller one. It was painful looking at how many flowers and candles people had…

Yanukovich’s House – War in Ukraine

Today I attempted to enter Yanukovych’s house even though it is indefinitely closed by the government. They want to investigate what was found there and make preparations to turn it into more of a museum for those interested. It took an hour to drive there and I spent twenty minutes trying to get let in. Other people also came and argued with the guards – even when we tried together, the answer was still ‘no’… Under the old government, you could do and get almost anywhere even if it was against the law. The most common ways were name-dropping, bribing and threatening.

The Right Sector – War in Ukraine

Today I spoke on the phone with Artem Skoropadsky, the spokesperson for the Right Sector in Ukraine. The party has been accused of igniting violence at the protests and its members have been called neo-Nazis. I was not present at the protests so I am in no position to agree or disagree with these accusations….

Parliamentary Frustration – War in Ukraine

Hanna Herman – War in Ukraine

“It is clear that the deputies here today don’t want Ukraine to split apart, for half of Ukraine to fall away.” As I listened to the deputies in Verkhovna Rada, Hanna Mykolayivna Herman really stood out to me. She is a member of the Party of Regions and Vice Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee…

Waiting to Board – War in Ukraine

Several minutes before boarding and there are more people than I expected to see flying to Ukraine today. The English language TV briefly showed updates regarding the situation in Ukraine but very few people were paying attention. The people waiting around me are mostly Russian-speaking holders of the blue Ukrainian passport but there are also several Czechs….

February 18th, 2014 Witness – War in Ukraine

This evening I met with Galika Olena Ivanivna. This 62-year-old woman with the energy and spirit of a college student was standing in Mariinsky park on February 18th. That day she saw like-minded people of all ages being shot at and murdered right in front of her. She was helpless and couldn’t stop it. It’s been almost a month since and she had trouble keeping her voice steady as she spoke about what she saw. She hasn’t been back to the park or Maidan since.

Maisie Crow – ‘The Last Clinic’

I thought I was done collecting sources for my final project when Lance gave me a flier for a presentation in Franklin Hall by someone called Maisie Crow. He said that she was doing something involving abortion. When I Googled her later that day, I found out that she made a movie about the last…

How to Make Freedom Idiot-Proof

Every foreigner knows the U.S. for being the “land of the free and home of the brave”. Although the U.S. government avoids ratifying many specific human rights treaties they are still one of the top countries when it comes to upholding their citizen’s human rights. Freedom is a huge theme in America and everyone always talks about…

Guest Column: Remember May 4th, Support Ukraine

“Shame and tragedy in America; the photographs accuse; the crime in Kent remains unpunished…” Originally published by Izvestia, a Soviet newspaper, I saw this quote at the May 4th memorial at Kent State. Being at the memorial and watching the video had a significant effect on me because my parents are currently in the middle…

Remembering the Kent State Massacre – What is Freedom?

On Monday, May 4th in 1970 some students went out to gather by the bell despite the threat of tanks on their campus and being surrounded by the National Guard. They were asked to leave for their own safety, but they didn’t move until they were attacked with tear gas. They threw tear gas canisters as well as rocks back at the armed men that were advancing towards them. Once there, several of them got down and aimed their guns at those protesters who were the bravest and most vocal. The National Guard ended up the gathering and leaving and the students believed that they had won. They didn’t get a chance to celebrate for long, because out of nowhere a group of the guard looked back at the students, turned themselves around without provocation, and began to fire.