The World of Josef K.
We went to the checkpoint closest to the front. The people were on edge but when they were told I was writing about them they wanted the world to know who they are. I asked for passports once, this time they all came out at once. I asked who was Russian, I need at least one for the article to work. They said you have to tell people we are not Russian soldiers. We are Donbass people.
They were horrified another journalist was going to say they were Russian military.
I pressed a little and asked -- then where are the Russians? I said that there has to be a stray Russian somewhere. I looked in their eyes to gauge their responses because this one thing in the press makes them look like "the terrorists." It makes them target-able. It makes them kill-able. It gets them killed.
No, no, no- no Russians, we are Ukrainian: we are Donbass!- almost in unison.
I pressed the point even further harder than I care to write here for a reason- its the response that matters- the impression I need to convey to anyone that cares to know. I did this everywhere.
It was the look of horror in their eyes that another journalist would misrepresent them to the world. Imagine living in the world of Franz Kafka's Josef K.- The Trial- never really knowing what you are being accused of- never really knowing who is accusing you- never given a chance to answer an accusation- knowing that no one is defending you- that is Donbass today.
They are tried in the court of propaganda. Have any of the propaganda sources even checked any of the information that is being pushed (like Russian invasions). My God, its so easy to check out this information. Entire countries are condemning the people of Southeastern Ukraine without even hearing them. What is it they are being accused of?
They are coal miners, farmers, business people, academics, and tradesmen. There was one nurse there. All the passports were Ukrainian. I was embarrassed for myself at this point, ashamed actually. This wasn't a game; for them it is life and death. If they are Russian separatists/ terrorists/ Russian military; then they and their families will die and no one will care. No one will blink. No one will know. If you can't put yourself in their shoes let me do it for you. Here I am. I live here.
Instead of demanding to see the documentation news outlets are taking the "common knowledge" approach. Russia is attacking; everybody knows that. The world is flat; everyone says that. The moon is made of cheese; that's common knowledge.
Everybody knows a lot of things until somebody actually looks. Why hasn't anyone bothered to look?
My Own Conclusions
If Sergei77 hadn't ordered his people to comply with the demands I made for disclosure, the story would be worthless. He gave me free rein to visually check anything I wanted too. I drove his people crazy with stop the car here, getting out before they could move and demanding to see documents and/or weapons.
Before this, we had never met. It was a large risk on his part because I write in the west and most western media paints a distorted picture of the Novorussia (Donbass) army.
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