In a three-part series of events organised by the university, experts will shed light on the "background, consequences and repercussions" of the war in Ukraine. The event is being organised by the Office for University and Trade Union Co-operation with partners.
To kick off the series on Thursday, 7 April, the Oldenburg Slavicist Prof. Dr Gerd Hentschel, the Eastern Europe expert Yana Lysenko from the University of Bremen and the Berlin journalist Andreas Zumach will discuss "Ukraine and Russia - from crisis to war". The two-hour online event starts at 6.00 pm.
How did the conflict escalate after the annexation of Crimea and the secession attempts in eastern Ukraine? How can the war be explained against the backdrop of recent developments following the collapse of the Soviet Union? How should the tension between growing Ukrainian national consciousness and a profound socio-cultural and linguistic connection to Russia be assessed? Zumach, who works for the "taz" newspaper and the Netzwerk Friedenskooperative, among others, and Lysenko from the Bremen Research Centre for Eastern Europe will examine these and other questions on the current and historical background. Hentschel is a professor of Slavic linguistics at the University of Oldenburg and a long-time expert on the linguistic and cultural links between Russia and Ukraine.
"Facts, disinformation and propaganda" will be the focus on Thursday, 14 April, when the topic of war and the media will be discussed at the Oldenburg cultural centre PFL (Peterstraße 3). Berlin journalist and filmmaker Melina Borčak will be talking about the role of the media in legitimising viewpoints and acts of war from 18:00: How is it reported in Russia, in Ukraine, but also in this country? What information is actually available from the war zone, and what role does social media play in the information war? Borčak himself works for ARD, the US news channel CNN, "Spiegel Online" and Radio Sarajevo, among others.
The question of whether the planned rearmament of the Bundeswehr can contribute to creating or securing peace will again be discussed online on Thursday, 21 April, from 18:00. Marius Pletsch from the Information Centre for Militarisation and Paul Schäfer, former defence and disarmament policy spokesman for the Left Party parliamentary group in the Bundestag - both editors of the journal "Wissenschaft und Frieden" - will talk about the new German security policy: How should the military threat situation in Europe actually be assessed and what options are there for a European security architecture in view of the war in Ukraine? The two experts will also discuss what armament could mean for other social challenges such as combating climate change or social inequality.
The Office for University and Trade Union Co-operation at the university is organising the series together with the Oldenburg branch of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) and the educational association "Arbeit und Leben" Niedersachsen Nord. Participation is free of charge, but interested parties are asked to register.
