DiEM25

DiEM25

Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 official podcast. Subversive ideas you won't hear anywhere else.

  1. 15 APR

    Tortured for Saying No: One Ukrainian's Determination to Resist Nonviolently

    As Europe rearms and conscription returns across the continent, what happens to those who refuse to fight? In the first episode of a new Frontline series on conscientious objection, host Mehran Khalili speaks to Yurii Sheliazhenko — a Ukrainian legal scholar, pacifist, and winner of the Seán MacBride Peace Prize. He's been a declared conscientious objector since 1998. Two weeks before this interview, Yurii was grabbed off the street in Kyiv, beaten, pepper-sprayed, and held for two days without a lawyer. He now faces trial for "justifying Russian aggression" — based on a document he wrote that condemns Russia's invasion.  His trial is on 13 May. With wars escalating and military spending exploding, Yurii's story is no longer just about Ukraine. It's about what happens to all of us when our governments tell us to fight.  FOLLOW THE SPEAKERS Yurii Sheliazhenko (his organisation): https://pacifism.org.ua/en/about  Mehran Khalili (newsletter on effective activist tactics): https://mehrankhalili.com/subscribe SHOW NOTES Support Yurii: - Sign the petition to drop charges against him: https://worldbeyondwar.org/yurii-sheliazhenko-abducted/ Get involved in the conscientious objection movement: - War Resisters' International: https://wri-irg.org - European Bureau for Conscientious Objection: https://ebco-beoc.org  - Connection e.V. (CO support across Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Europe): https://en.connection-ev.org Read more: - Responsible Statecraft on Ukraine's forced conscription crisis: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/ukraine-recruitment-army/ - The Progressive on Ukraine's pacifists (interview with Yurii, February 2026): https://progressive.org/latest/ukraines-pacifists-in-a-country-at-war-toesland-20260225/ - Books recommended by Yurii: - Erica Chenoweth & Maria J. Stephan, Why Civil Resistance Works  - WRI's Handbook for Nonviolent Campaigns (free): https://wri-irg.org/en/story/handbook-nonviolent-campaigns SUPPORT DiEM25 Join → https://diem25.org/join Donate → https://diem25.org/donate

    37 min

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Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 official podcast. Subversive ideas you won't hear anywhere else.

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