The Department of Political & International Studies invites you to its Annual Teach-In Seminar Series focusing on the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

ABSTRACT 

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Reasons for the invasion, according to Moscow, was to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine. The former was because of NATO’s increasing eastward expansion, which was forbidden given the 1990 accords, while the latter was because of the marginalisation and mistreatment of Russian-speaking Ukrainians. In sum, Russia is alleged to be acting on a security threat. This is one explanation. However, analysts throughout major western media houses have categorically condemned the invasion. Governments of the same media houses, including corporate entities that exited Russia, have equally condemned the invasion, and had gone on to impose sanctions against Russia. This is duplicitous given the misadventures of the US in Iraq, Afghanistan and a host of many other countries in the developing world. On the other hand, unlike fleeing citizens from North Africa or the Middle East trying to enter EU member states, Ukrainian citizens fleeing into neighbouring countries such as Poland, a member of the European Union (EU), have been well received. They have been granted the right to live, work, access healthcare, housing, and education immediately for up to one year, without the requirement to go through lengthy asylum procedures. What does this entail about immigration into the EU for different people? In this seminar, we explore Southern perspectives concerning the Russia-Ukraine crisis.  

Objectives

• To historicise and contextualise the Ukraine-Russia crisis
• To have a general understanding of how Russia perceives its security in the context of Western Europe
• To understand how immigration impacts different people in the EU
• To contextualize South Africa’s (and BRICS) response to the crisis and:
• To bring together academics, political analysts, students and the general public to discuss the above mentioned issues.