Ukraine on the Mind as Dozens Rally Downtown

The war in Ukraine was on most everyone’s mind as dozens of people gathered at Speaker’s Corner in downtown Santa Barbara dressed in blue and yellow, wearing sunflowers, and carrying flags of many nations. A bake sale offered sandwiches, breads, and drinks, part of the fundraising ongoing by the group Ukrainian Women of Santa Barbara. But as the rally got underway on Saturday morning, the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the speakers were persistently interrupted by a man yelling for a cease-fire.

Blue-and-yellow flags and red-white-and-blue flags hung in the sunshine, brought by Russ Lazarenko, who called himself “100 percent Ukrainian.” They have flown at the corner of State and Las Positas since the beginning of the war, both Ukrainian and all the supporting countries. “The poor people of Ukraine, being bombed all the time,” Lazarenko said. “I hope it’s not too late. Tanks, planes, armor, we sent all that, but they’re out of ammunition now and giving up the ground they gained.”

Calling Ukraine just the first battleground, Tatyana Taruta, whose hometown is Mariupol, reminded the crowd that a Russian victory would be a victory for dictators everywhere. “Reach out to your representatives,” she asked, “to President Biden, to Salud [Carbajal] for aid, military aid to Ukraine immediately. Every day of delay amounts to real deaths in Ukraine.”

The suffering of the country at war includes hundreds of children killed and thousands kidnapped, Taruta said. For Ukraine, the war was an existential fight: “If Russia stops fighting, the war ends. If Ukraine stops fighting, then there’s no more Ukraine.” A Russian victory wouldn’t end in Ukraine, Taruta added, but would go on to Poland and the Baltic states, as Russian president Vladimir Putin looks to restore Greater Russia.

“Finland used to be part of that empire,” said County Supervisor Das Williams, “which is why we see Scandinavian countries asking to be part of NATO now.” Oil was still bankrolling Russia’s war, Williams said. Despite sanctions by the West, Russian crude is finding its way to refineries and being sold on the world market.

As the heckler started up again, District Attorney John Savrnoch clicked off the microphone and stepped down from the Speaker’s Corner bench. “I can talk really loud, too,” he announced, motioning to all to move in closer. “People who shout the loudest have the least to say,” Savrnoch observed in a voice that could reach the back benches. He then launched into the heartbreak of the past two years. “For two years, the world has witnessed battlefield death; civilians bombed, murdered, tortured, and raped; children killed, maimed, and orphaned; and entire cities wiped off the face of the Earth just to satisfy the ego-maniacal whims of the psychopathic dictator of an oppressor state.”

Savrnoch argued that the rally was not a celebration of war, but that it was an action the citizens of Santa Barbara County could take: “Doing and saying nothing is not an option.”

As Savrnoch spoke, several people silently moved to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their backs walling off the heckler; a few speakers later, a tall young woman crowned in sunflowers and wearing a long blue dress peacefully faced him down. The distraction moved to the street and turned out to be Omar Figueredo, who has helped organize pro-Palestinian “cease-fire” rallies. Perhaps in answer to his shouts, speakers were clear on how they viewed Ukraine’s struggle.

Oksana Yakushko said that fighting Russia was not a choice for her country: “It’s our homes.” Protesting the war was a way to hold together, said Yakushko, who is a psychologist. Ukrainians were suffering the “unspeakable trauma of war,” she said, and the fundraising in Santa Barbara was supplying people with necessities like food and blankets, as well as giving help to disabled people.

“Bake sales cannot stop a war,” Juanita Johnson told the crowd, “but they inspire little revelations of dignity, conviction, and generosity.” Ukrainian Women of Santa Barbara’s bake sales, aided by World Dance for Humanity fundraisers, have given more than a half-million dollars toward refugees, children, and civilians facing the war.

“People have risked their lives bringing supplies to bomb shelters in Ukraine,” said Jayne Johann, of World Dance. She said they held a dance class every Sunday in Ukraine via Zoom, and that at times, they heard stories of survival and of loss. “Dancing, playing music, they just want to do something normal, and to feel that people haven’t forgotten them,” Johann said of the class participants on the other side of the world.