There were a lot of different events happening in Chicago on Friday and Saturday, marking a year of the Russian war against Ukraine. I have an acute feeling that I haven’t done enough, haven’t said enough, and that people, in general, are more indifferent than they should be.
Still, I want to report some positive news.
The Ukrainian rally on Friday was massive, with lots of city and county officials in attendance. I was hoping to be there at least for a part of it, but I had an unreconcilable conflict with the girls arriving at the same time. Igor was there and took a lot of pictures.
The Daley Plaza rally on Saturday that Igor helped to organize was not as massive as I hoped, but still sizeable, especially taking into account the weather that felt much colder than the reported temperatures. Again, mostly Igor’s pictures, since I was busy holding a poster.
!["[Putin], Leave us alone"](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52711523986_6ec5c205c6_b.jpg)
Anna gave a very good interview for CBS, and I regret that I didn’t record the whole thing – I was close enough. They only left two sentences in the news story.
Below is the Instagram feed of one of the rally participants, a freelance photographer.
Most news stations reported about the rallies which happened across the city on Friday and Saturday. Here are some links:
In addition to Anna, Nadia, and Kira, one of our Ohio relatives came to visit and participate in a rally, which was great. There was one more event later on Saturday – the march from Water Tower Place to Millennium Park. It was worth attending, but not with the girls, who had already braved the cold for over an hour by then.
I still feel that we didn’t do enough, that we didn’t attract enough people. I still think that the continuation of the financial and military aid to Ukraine might be debated in Congress and that the message on why we should keep supporting Ukraine was not loud enough. But we will keep doing our best.
Hettie's Reflections 