Almut Rochowanski
@almutrochowanski.bsky.social
Feminist activist. Working on women's rights, peace, justice, civil society in post-Soviet Eurasia while harboring grave doubts about how this work is done. Non-resident fellow @quincyinst.bsky.social.
The #USAID story is opening the flood gates. Mikhail Benyash, once a leading Russian human rights lawyer, now a plumber in Lithuania, gives voice to the revulsion, dysfunction and toxicity plaguing foreign-funded NGOs in this epic, caustic interview with @meduzaproject.bsky.social. ⬇️
February 9, 2025 at 1:23 AM
The #USAID story is opening the flood gates. Mikhail Benyash, once a leading Russian human rights lawyer, now a plumber in Lithuania, gives voice to the revulsion, dysfunction and toxicity plaguing foreign-funded NGOs in this epic, caustic interview with @meduzaproject.bsky.social. ⬇️
Finally, let's stop using "independent civil society" for reasons of cognitive hygiene. By definition, if any country's civil society can't exist without any one bilateral donor, it's not "independent" in any meaningful sense of the word. Even if a DC-based source says so. 6/7
January 30, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Finally, let's stop using "independent civil society" for reasons of cognitive hygiene. By definition, if any country's civil society can't exist without any one bilateral donor, it's not "independent" in any meaningful sense of the word. Even if a DC-based source says so. 6/7
Seems insane that NGOs would take grants w/o knowing where the money actually comes from, but trust me, this is a widespread phenomenon in the sector. For years, I ran an exercise for NGOs: ask your donors where they get their money. Many NGOs hyperventilated and refused. 5/7
January 30, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Seems insane that NGOs would take grants w/o knowing where the money actually comes from, but trust me, this is a widespread phenomenon in the sector. For years, I ran an exercise for NGOs: ask your donors where they get their money. Many NGOs hyperventilated and refused. 5/7
The solipsism of these "DC-based sources" is really something. I was grant-writing and -lobbying for Russian civil society in 2015 and none of the NGOs I worked with had ever even heard of that tiny number of foundations or ever stood a chance of being funded by them. 3/7
January 30, 2025 at 10:57 PM
The solipsism of these "DC-based sources" is really something. I was grant-writing and -lobbying for Russian civil society in 2015 and none of the NGOs I worked with had ever even heard of that tiny number of foundations or ever stood a chance of being funded by them. 3/7
@macktubs.bsky.social has written what looks like, on the surface, a straight reported piece on the impact of Trump's foreign aid freeze on Russian and Ukrainian civil society and media, but he's a sly one and has packed it with poignant and revealing observations. Like this (1/7)
January 30, 2025 at 10:57 PM
@macktubs.bsky.social has written what looks like, on the surface, a straight reported piece on the impact of Trump's foreign aid freeze on Russian and Ukrainian civil society and media, but he's a sly one and has packed it with poignant and revealing observations. Like this (1/7)
Cri de cœur from @vanjackson.bsky.social, echoing in my own heart
www.un-diplomatic.com/p/how-pentag...
www.un-diplomatic.com/p/how-pentag...
November 27, 2024 at 7:08 PM
Cri de cœur from @vanjackson.bsky.social, echoing in my own heart
www.un-diplomatic.com/p/how-pentag...
www.un-diplomatic.com/p/how-pentag...
I wasn't sure which "international principles" he meant, but then I remembered the Berlin Conference
November 23, 2024 at 2:55 PM
I wasn't sure which "international principles" he meant, but then I remembered the Berlin Conference
This particular horseshoe is really twisted
November 21, 2024 at 7:59 PM
This particular horseshoe is really twisted
Texting my job-seeking husband this morning
November 21, 2024 at 2:34 PM
Texting my job-seeking husband this morning
German left-progressive daily TAZ has a good laugh at the news of ATACMs being fired into Russia with "Last-minute flights to Russia".
How very 1942 of them.
How very 1942 of them.
November 19, 2024 at 8:37 PM
German left-progressive daily TAZ has a good laugh at the news of ATACMs being fired into Russia with "Last-minute flights to Russia".
How very 1942 of them.
How very 1942 of them.
When this org was founded and a friend joined its board, I expressed my concern. They seemed too C-suite, too comfortable around power, plus they'd bent to certain governments' pet agendas (engaging men for feminist peace etc). But my friend stayed on and others joined, too. 2/3
November 18, 2024 at 3:56 AM
When this org was founded and a friend joined its board, I expressed my concern. They seemed too C-suite, too comfortable around power, plus they'd bent to certain governments' pet agendas (engaging men for feminist peace etc). But my friend stayed on and others joined, too. 2/3
I met Ruslan #Khasbulatov at a talk at Columbia, must have been around 2006/07. He handed out signed copies of his books. I got an extra copy of this one (looks like a textbook?), if anyone wants to give it a good home.
November 17, 2024 at 5:32 PM
I met Ruslan #Khasbulatov at a talk at Columbia, must have been around 2006/07. He handed out signed copies of his books. I got an extra copy of this one (looks like a textbook?), if anyone wants to give it a good home.
I wish everyone who is in any position to bring an end this war would have to read James Meek's story about life at war in Kharkiv and Kupiansk. Ukrainians should not have to face even one more day of this. No one should.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
November 16, 2024 at 5:25 AM
I wish everyone who is in any position to bring an end this war would have to read James Meek's story about life at war in Kharkiv and Kupiansk. Ukrainians should not have to face even one more day of this. No one should.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
This why we can't have nice things
October 20, 2023 at 3:42 PM
This why we can't have nice things
The very heart of Germany's political mainstream, the center-left, espouses mass expulsion rhetoric. Hard to overstate what a dramatic breaking of taboos this represents. Also, a desperate attempt to capture the space to the right of the far-right, which has never yet worked.
October 20, 2023 at 2:52 PM
The very heart of Germany's political mainstream, the center-left, espouses mass expulsion rhetoric. Hard to overstate what a dramatic breaking of taboos this represents. Also, a desperate attempt to capture the space to the right of the far-right, which has never yet worked.
If all war is unmitigated evil, there's also no limit to how much worse it can get:
In less than 1 week, more children - 700 - have been killed in the war in Gaza (not counting Israeli children killed by Hamas!) than in Ukraine in more than 1.5 years - 525. [Links to UNICEF/UNOHCHR numbers below]
In less than 1 week, more children - 700 - have been killed in the war in Gaza (not counting Israeli children killed by Hamas!) than in Ukraine in more than 1.5 years - 525. [Links to UNICEF/UNOHCHR numbers below]
October 15, 2023 at 2:22 AM
If all war is unmitigated evil, there's also no limit to how much worse it can get:
In less than 1 week, more children - 700 - have been killed in the war in Gaza (not counting Israeli children killed by Hamas!) than in Ukraine in more than 1.5 years - 525. [Links to UNICEF/UNOHCHR numbers below]
In less than 1 week, more children - 700 - have been killed in the war in Gaza (not counting Israeli children killed by Hamas!) than in Ukraine in more than 1.5 years - 525. [Links to UNICEF/UNOHCHR numbers below]
This, by an ultimate security state insider just days after 10/7, is astonishing. Sure, there have always been voices like this in Israeli politics and discourse, but this feels different. The ideas of the peace/human rights movements have penetrated far.
www.economist.com/by-invitatio...
www.economist.com/by-invitatio...
October 12, 2023 at 1:00 PM
This, by an ultimate security state insider just days after 10/7, is astonishing. Sure, there have always been voices like this in Israeli politics and discourse, but this feels different. The ideas of the peace/human rights movements have penetrated far.
www.economist.com/by-invitatio...
www.economist.com/by-invitatio...
How could Hamas pull off something no one thought them capable of? One of my favorite quotes, from one of the classic books about imprisonment (La Chartreuse de Parme).
*I don't think they will "succeed", not in their stated aims. It just explains how motivation spurs creativity.
*I don't think they will "succeed", not in their stated aims. It just explains how motivation spurs creativity.
October 8, 2023 at 3:03 PM
How could Hamas pull off something no one thought them capable of? One of my favorite quotes, from one of the classic books about imprisonment (La Chartreuse de Parme).
*I don't think they will "succeed", not in their stated aims. It just explains how motivation spurs creativity.
*I don't think they will "succeed", not in their stated aims. It just explains how motivation spurs creativity.
There is a clown handing his card out in our town. The town is Bangor, Maine.
October 7, 2023 at 1:21 PM
There is a clown handing his card out in our town. The town is Bangor, Maine.