The people of Ukraine need our solidarity. But not just because they’re ‘like us’ | Kenan Malik
In 1857, the English poet and Chartist leader Ernest Jones wrote a series of articles in the People's Paper about the Indian Mutiny" of that year. It was, he observed, no mutiny" but a national insurrection" that Britons should support as much as they had supported similar struggles in Europe. Britons were on the side of Poland" when it struggled for its freedom against Russia". If Poland was right", Jones insisted, then so is Hindostan".
I was reminded of his argument as I read and listened to some of the commentary about Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion. The invasion is brutal and unacceptable, an assault on democracy and sovereignty. We should oppose it just as we should oppose the Saudi assault on Yemen. We should support the people of Ukraine just as we should the people of Syria.
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