Homemade crosses near playgrounds, bodies lying on the streets, people drinking from puddles, all of this is now the daily routine in Mariupol. Russia continues to deny responsibility, with propagandists sharing the news reports that Ukraine has been destroying Mariupol by its own army.
It is a lie and an insult to the memory of the dead.
The authorities of the Russian Federation are doing everything to destroy empathy and compassion in Russian citizens. The authorities do not show photographs of the dead and the wounded. The citizens do not get to see the photographs of grave crosses near playgrounds.
Let’s show them the scale of the war.
On Sat April 2 and Sun 3 April, we propose to go out into the courtyard of any house and install a homemade cross with a sign in memory of those who died in Mariupol. We want to try to install 5,000 crosses all over Russia: help us in doing this.
The cross can be made from any two crossbars (planks, sticks, chipboard), fastened at the intersection with a rope. You can paint it to make it more visible, you can leave it as it is.
You can write text on a fixed plate.
For example, like this:
“People in Mariupol are now buried in the courtyards of their houses. 5,000 civilians were killed. Russian troops have destroyed residential buildings.”
Or
“Russian troops killed 5,000 civilians in Mariupol. Now the dead are buried in the courtyards of their houses. This is a war, not a special operation.”
We have prepared some templates that you can download and print yourself. You can find these templates in the channel.
You can put flowers and toys on the cross, as on a memorial. Other people might come up to you, you can tell them about your memorial, or you can just put up a cross and leave right away. Currently even expressing your grief in public spaces is recognized as a protest, so be prepared for a possible detention. Always have an OVD-info handout on you.
We ask you to take a photo of your cross and plate, and send it to the bot with the hashtag #Мариуполь5000 #Mariupol5000. If you share your documentation, please use the same hashtag, so that we can find you.
We’ve discussed this action and shown this text beforehand to an artist from Mariupol, Daria Berg. We asked her if she would like to write an appeal on regard of this action. So she did. This is a very important text, reminding the Russian citizens that activism and any anti-war actions must be done — but not in order to present these actions to the Ukrainians and not for their forgiveness. Diana, thank you very much. Diana’s text: https://www.facebook.com/feministantiwarmovement/posts/112118211448658
Feminist Anti-War Movement
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