Dear friends of Ukraine! Hello! My name is Olena Apchel

I am an artivist, Ukrainian, European, woman and rebel. Thank you very much for opening your heart to welcome my thoughts for a few moments.

My generation is the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those who survived World War II. When we think back, we keep saying, “Never again.” But my generation is also the one that witnessed wars in Afghanistan, Yemen, Burkina Faso, Libya, Iran, Ichkeria, Syria and Georgia.

We ourselves have been at war with Russia for 10 years. It is crucial to remember that the war has not been going on for two, but for ten years.

I am aware of the economic, political and social problems that every country and individual in the world has to face on a daily basis and I therefore understand why it has been difficult for the world to see and acknowledge that for eight years the Russians, with the silent complacency of other states, have been killing and torturing Ukrainians. During the first eight years and these last two years of large-scale invasion – to which the world has finally begun to pay attention – we have understood that the human rights that we tried to collectively guarantee after the Second World War are in fact not acquired once and for all.

I was born in a country that has never been an empire, but rather, throughout its history, has been divided, exploited and taken over by the various empires in its vicinity. And in order to express and preserve our identity, my people, composed of multiple nationalities, religions and cultures, have risen up and fought time and time again, because while we love peace, we value freedom more than life.

My great-grandmother passed on to me the transgenerational trauma of violence masked by the perverse notion of “tradition”; my grandmother passed on to me and my mother the transgenerational trauma of collectivization and the Holodomor, the three waves of famine organized by the Soviet empire in the early twentieth century. My mother’s generation was one of secrecy, avoidance, isolation, and silence.

Ten years ago, I was 27 when the values of the transfeminist revolution, as well as the values of communication and emancipation, the hope of justice and visibility began to penetrate the experience of my generation. And ten years ago, when I was 27, we were attacked by the Russians and the war began. It was a long time ago and I don't remember what I did or what I believed in before this war.

The reality of war is fundamentally different from that of peace. Over the past ten years, our language has changed: occupation, bombing, shelters, offensive, airstrikes, haemostatic, torture, mass grave, helmet, filtration camp, these are words that we use every day now. War also rewrites reality and brings things back to their original meaning. It is an X-ray machine that reveals the IAEA, the UN, the EU, the OSCE, the humanist values of Europe, and feminism. In this situation of extreme tension, values are being revised and often appear to be lacking.

Ukrainians have shown from experience that neither peaceful protests nor expressions of concern have any real impact.

I learned that I do not have the privilege of feminist pacifism. I no longer think about the end of the war, but only about the victory of Ukraine.

I no longer think about how to survive, but about the punishment that should befall the Russians for their crimes.

I see that this reality is irreversible, that we must prepare ourselves for the fact that after the victory we will be faced with ten, twenty, fifty years of reconstruction, that our society will have thousands of veterans, men and women, displaced persons and refugees, orphans, widows and widowers. The militant ardor of this feminism centered on rehabilitation and mutual aid must last our entire lives and be transmitted to the next generations.

And I would like to pass on to my daughters and sisters the legacy of non-silence, of post-traumatic growth, the voice of a rebel and the actions of a woman soldier. Because I am not a victim, I am the one who survived and rebelled.

I would like to convey the spirit and testimonies of my sisters from SEMA Ukraine, the association I am part of, describing their survival and rebellion. These are women and girls who survived sexual violence during the war and who learn from other survivors around the world to regain their dignity.

I strongly condemn all violations of international law committed against women and girls in armed conflicts in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Iraq, Yemen, Mali, Ichkeria, Kosovo, Sudan, Georgia and Syria.

I stand in solidarity with all women and girls around the world who have experienced violence in their flesh, I am proud of all survivors and support all those who want to testify and all those who have not yet decided to testify.

In my country, the Russian army has been using gender-based violence as a weapon of genocidal war for 10 years. It is a weapon that aims to control us and demonstrate their power. The Russian army uses this violence against women, men and children, but it is women who are most often. These are not isolated cases: there are tens of thousands of victims, even if only a few hundred people dared to file a complaint with the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

People do not dare to go to the police because they fear stigma and accusations; they do not trust and do not feel safe. That is why it is so important to unite, not to remain silent. It is also important to listen and demand that authorities and governments in all countries change their language when they talk about sexual violence and change their legislation. We must demand to be visible.

Our organization is small, made up exclusively of survivors, but we feel, thanks in part to your support, that our voice matters. SEMA Ukraine members support each other and other survivors, and we fight to ensure that sexual violence is considered a separate piece of evidence of genocidal intent. We also fight to ensure that all those who committed crimes are held accountable before national or international justice.

We embrace the idea of compassion and resilience.

The Russian people will be held responsible for this shameful chapter in their history and for this attempt to reconstitute their old empire by force.

Sexual violence is one of the war crimes that is the least often subject to criminal convictions. It is the one that is most surrounded by silence. Because of the taboos and stigma that accompany it, it is neither named, nor acknowledged, nor condemned. But I want to believe that, even in the midst of this primitive and patriarchal phenomenon that is war, profound changes are taking place.

A quarter of the Ukrainian army is made up of women and they are now visible. In the second year of the war, women could already be assigned to combat positions, and in the fourth year of the war, a law was passed guaranteeing women and men equal rights and career options during their military service.

Today women drive tanks, are snipers, command sections and companies, work as war medics, vehicle drivers, drone operators, artillery or sentries and participate in patrols. Women journalists cover the combat zones and most volunteers are women.

Gender inequality persists but is diminishing; discrimination exists but human rights organizations are growing and gaining visibility and notoriety; traditionalists are reluctantly learning to use feminist terminology. Our society, based on gender hierarchy, is worried, but she must recognize her limits and she is gradually changing.

These ten years of liberation war have simultaneously a feminine face and a masculine face. Or more precisely, multiple feminine, masculine and non-binary faces.

In this war we are fighting for freedom in all its forms. And yes, unfortunately we are paying a high price for it.

But we have no choice: if the Russians occupy Ukraine, at best people like me will be liquidated, and at worst most Ukrainians who speak Ukrainian or have been photographed with our national flag at least once will be tortured, raped, abused and imprisoned for years. We have no other country to go to. And no other life is offered that is painless. But we have the right today to rebel, to rise up, to form a solidarity group, to reject discrimination and to unite. Ordinary people can influence events more than they think. The voice of millions of people from different countries can change the course of history faster than the intervention of the United Nations.

War turns people into numbers, but we can give them back their names, give survivors dignity, visibility and a sense of not being alone.

No one can completely repair the damage and ease the pain, but together we can acknowledge that pain, respect those who are suffering, and rise together.

Thank you for being with us today, thank you for making space and respecting the suffering of others, thank you for wanting to act, for rebelling, for loving and choosing to be visible together.