February 22, 2022

Independent American and Russian Women Call for Peace

Every voice has meaning.

By Nadezhda Azhgikhina for the Nation

EDITOR’S NOTE: This letter was written by American and Russian women participating in a dialogue and peacebuilding initiative founded in 2021 by Women Transforming Our Nuclear Legacy and the American Committee for US-Russia Accord.

Talk of a possible war is terrifying. It is even scarier when they talk about it for a long time. For the last few weeks I have felt that I’m watching a horror film in which Russia and America accuse each other and discuss the possible consequences of conflict. Even though it is clear that there will be nothing left after a nuclear war, and there will be no winners. No one. This is a real nightmare. The film doesn’t stop. This is the situation we are all in.

I never thought that this would happen. In my country, which lost more than 27 million lives in the Great Patriotic War as we call it, that is, World War II, we always said: Just so there is no war. There are few people left who lived through it and remembered it. People have lost the memory of war. They do not remember how Americans and Russians were allies and fought fascism together. For many today, war is not a terrible reality but something like a computer game.

I don’t remember the Cuban missile crisis, but a Russian friend told me how her kindergarten was evacuated to the steppe from the military town where they built missiles and they were told that they would be killed by the Americans that night. It was the most important event of her life. An American friend told me about living through a false nuclear alarm. That event changed her life.
It’s Time for Young People to Demand a Solution to the Student Debt Crisis

No one in Russia honestly believes that there will actually be a war. Many think the war rhetoric is merely part of a geopolitical argument. Yet words spoken on air and broadcast by the media have enormous power; they take on an independent life from the original intent and are no longer under control. No one has canceled the role of chance, especially in the charged aggressive rhetoric.

The Russians naturally do not want war. Just like the Ukrainians and Americans. But not everyone is prepared to say so. Many people think nothing depends on my opinion, no one in the decision-making realm will take me into account. Others, however, write petitions and call for peace. There may not be very many of them yet, but their voice—every voice—has meaning, and it brings us closer to peace. By letting wise and talented diplomats, and there are many both in Russia and America, use their experience for a constructive dialogue. By removing the rhetoric of war and its threat of unpredictable consequences from our daily life.

I am infinitely pleased and grateful that the American and Russian women who a year ago initiated a conversation on the need for nuclear disarmament have now written an open letter addressed to everyone—politicians, journalists, the women and men of our countries—calling for the preservation of peace and our common future. I believe that our voice will have meaning in our mutual goal of overcoming the crisis and building a better, safer world.

Translated by Antonina W. Bouis