York Students Raising Awareness of Famine

The Ukrainian Students’ Club at York University (USC) together with the York Federation of Students (YFS) and Stop the Hate Coalition (SHC) are holding an event called Not To Be Forgotten: Genocide Remembrance and Education on November 28 at 6:30 p.m. in the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections Room.

The event intends to promote on-campus tolerance, acceptance and awareness of the Ukrainian Famine Genocide, the Holodomor, as a crime against humanity.

“Ukrainophobia is still a source of intolerance, ignorance and insensitivity that has resulted in what we would call today crimes against humanity, and the Holodomor is the most dire example of these crimes.  Ukrainophobia remains a major challenge to undoing the injustice brought upon Ukrainians,” said Volodymyr Paslavskyi, an USC executive member. 

During the upcoming event, USC will be donating a copy of the limited edition of the photo-album Not To Be Forgotten  to the Clara Thomas Archives. The album chronicles and depicts the Holodomor and Ukrainophobia among the various forms of discrimination and crimes against humanity perpetrated in Ukraine.  In addition, guest speakers will be talking about the Holodomor’s significance and impact on Western culture and their experiences in dealing with it.

YFS and SHC are encouraging students, professors and staff at York University to oppose all forms of discrimination, hate and crimes against humanity. SHC firmly believes that it is important to remember the Holodomor because it helps “to reduce Ukrainophobia, brings justice and a voice to people who are no longer here to speak for themselves, and thereby reminds us that something terrible like that should never happen again.”