Mark Haim, front left, addresses the crowd after the First Wednesday for Peace demonstration on Wednesday, March 2, 2022 at Gateway Plaza in Columbia, Mo. Haim, the Director of Mid-Missouri Peace Works said he wanted to make a statement against
As fighting between Russia and Ukraine continues, a crowd of impassioned protesters assembled last week in downtown Columbia for another vigil. The protesters focused on opposing the ongoing conflict and showing support for the people of Ukraine.
signs and wave flags after the First Wednesday for Peace demonstration on Wednesday, March 2, 2022 at Gateway Plaza in Columbia, Mo. Although some attendees were Ukranian, many were just there to show their support for the Ukranian people.
The event, coordinated by Mark Haim, director of Mid-Missouri Peaceworks, started at 4:30 p.m. and lasted for about an hour. This was the second consecutive week Haim organized an event showing solidarity for Ukraine.
“We are for peace,” Haim said. “We have protested illegal and immoral wars of aggression for decades. What’s going on in Ukraine is abominable. It’s unjustifiable and it needs to stop. So we’re here to say, ‘Stop the war, stop the aggression.’”
Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 across several fronts as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plan to “demilitarize and denazify Ukraine.” As of March 8, the number of civilian casualties in Ukraine stood at 1,424 with 516 killed and 908 injured, according to a report by the United Nations.
Among the protesters were Tatiana Pronina and her husband, Vinicio Aizpurua, each holding the end of a sign that reads “ENOUGH” in bold capital letters. Pronina is an English arts teacher at Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Jefferson City and is originally from Russia. She said she is disheartened with the situation in Ukraine and with her native country’s actions.
“I wish my country was free and I wish my brothers and sisters, who are Ukrainians, would never have that [war],” she said. “This is really awful, and my friends are really suffering. Enough is enough.”
Pronina is not the only one with ties to Ukraine who came to show their support. Olha Kholod, a Ukrainian citizen and a doctoral student at MU who came to the United States in 2015 as a Fulbright scholar, participated in the protest holding a sign and the Ukrainian flag.
“I want to support my country and [the] brave people of Ukraine,” Kholod said. “The only thing I can do is show to Columbia [residents] and the people [of] the United States that we support Ukrainian troops from abroad.”
Kholod is the only member of her family currently residing in the U.S. and said the rest of her family is in Kyiv. As part of the Fulbright scholarship requirements, Kholod said she will have to go back to Ukraine once she’s completed her doctorate next year. She said she’s uncertain of what her future in Ukraine will look like.
On the other side of the intersection, Logan Muehlman, a former Peace Corps volunteer who served in Ukraine between 2012 and 2014, stood with his wife Viktoriia, who is from Ukraine, and their child.
“I’m here today to support Ukraine — to do whatever I can to get Russia out of Ukraine,” he said.
During his time in the Peace Corps, Muehlman said he worked in many different cities across Ukraine, including Kremenchuk, Kropyvnytskyi and Kyiv.
“I have family in Ukraine, I have a 5-year-old niece in Ukraine, I met my wife in Ukraine, Viktoriia and we married there in Chernihiv,” he said. “Where we got married is not looking the same as when we were there.”
Haim has organized peace protests and similar events since 1982, when his organization was first founded. Part of his mission statement, according to Mid-Missouri Peaceworks’ official website, is to hold a vision of a “sustainable world and a violence-free community.”
“It’s not a matter of nationalism, ‘us vs them,’” Haim added. “It’s a matter of humanity. It’s a universal impulse that brings us out here.”
The event concluded with Haim giving final remarks to the crowd of protesters.
“We want to see peace,” Haim said. “We want to see an end to this war. We need to do everything we can to get that message out.”
To learn more about Mid-Missouri Peaceworks go to blog.midmopeaceworks.org
Edited by Emmet Jamieson | ejamieson@themaneater.com