Every nation has a right to choose its future, Ukraine not an exception

After the Russian attack, the war in Ukraine has been raging for the third week now. It is reaching a stage where the bombardment of the Ukrainian cities – Khiev, Kharkiv, Mariupol, Odessa and many others – intensifies hitting many civilian targets including schools, hospitals and people’s houses. The number of civilian victims goes already into many thousands.

The result is also the biggest refugee and humanitarian crisis in Europe since the end of World War II as millions of Ukrainians flee from the war-ravaged areas in the only safe direction left to them – to the West. Poland alone has already received over 1.5 million Ukrainians, mostly women, children and the elderly.

The crisis brought an unprecedented mobilisation on the part of my fellow countrymen as most of them have already got involved in helping the Ukrainian refugees by providing free transport, food, healthcare, and above all in the winter conditions – shelter.

It is indeed a phenomenon of solidarity that there is still not a single refugee camp in Poland as the bulk of the Ukrainians - hundreds of thousands - have been welcome to hotels, lodges and most of all – ordinary people’s homes. It is happening nationwide as the personal experience of my own family and friends confirm.

We are also witnessing significant and growing humanitarian assistance from other countries of the European Union (EU) that from day one of the Russian invasion stood side by side with Ukraine that is the clear victim in this war.

However, as the military struggle intensifies and hostilities spread to other parts of Ukraine the country structure will be crippled, the civilian casualties will go even higher and the number of refugees will grow into many millions. It will bring a crisis that will directly affect Europe but its aftershocks will touch nearly everyone globally.

Yet, there is still a number of countries that openly or quietly declare neutrality to this war choosing a “not to take sides” approach and showing a cautious attitude to the appeal of the big part of global community urging for the immediate cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of the Russian troops from Ukraine. In some cases, a similar position is taken by the media that point out Russian concerns and anxiety regarding the possible future accession of Ukraine to the structures of Western community, notably the defence pact of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the EU. The historic context of the Cold War era and the allegedly agreed division of the spheres of influence by the two global superpowers, US and Russia, is recalled as one of the reasons for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

What is missing from this picture, I believe, are the actual aspirations of the Ukrainians themselves in particular and many other Central-Eastern European nations in general. What is not expressed explicitly enough is that they can have their own vision of where they would like to belong and how they would imagine their political and civilizational future.

I was 14 years old in 1989 when the Soviet Russian-induced communist rule in Poland collapsed and I remember very well the joy and excitement we the Poles felt during the first free and fair elections to our parliament.

Subsequently, we took an arduous path of political and economic reforms. We had a single purpose in mind – to join the community of the Western democratic nations where we felt we belonged while the cruel twists of history had put us elsewhere.

I remember the feeling of great relief among my compatriots when our long-standing application for NATO membership was finally accepted in 1999. And then, in 2004, the rejoicing and the festivities after accession to the European Union as we had finally been anchored safely in the democratic Europe.

Today with our security assured by being a member of NATO and the unprecedented economic and development success thanks to being in the EU we can say with full certainty we have made the best possible choice.

I believe the same feeling is widespread among most of our neighbours in Central-Eastern Europe who historically shared the same fate and took a similar path after the fall of Communism.

That is why when we the Poles are looking at our Ukrainian friends - both 1.5 million economic migrants who have come to Poland in recent years and the refugees who arrived in recent weeks - we see ourselves from over 30 years ago.

People enthusiastic about the new path, knowing its direction though maybe not fully aware yet of all the hurdles that have to be overcome. People who yearn to be part of the Western democratic world. The nation that strives to make its own, and free, political and civilisational choices.

And the Ukrainians strive hard – the refugees coming to Poland and other European Union countries are mostly the families of the men coming back to Ukraine to fight and defend their homes, villages and cities. To defend their hopes for the future.

To say otherwise, to see that war in the categories of a chessboard played by the global superpowers is not only unjust and unacceptable, it is also archaic in the third decade of XXI century.

I believe we share this understanding with Tanzania and our other African friends as we share a similar history in many regards.

The history of being deprived of sovereign decisions at one stage and then forced into fixed positions in the bipolar Cold War reality at another.

This shared experience is the reason why we so much value freedom to make our own choices - in line with one of the famous quotes of the father of Tanzanian independence Julius Nyerere:

“No nation has the right to make decisions for another nation; no people for another people”.