Memorandum of the Coalitions “For Democratic Choice”

Memorandum
of the Coalitions “For Democratic Choice”

CONSIDERING THAT:

• Ukraine is the first post-Soviet country that has been able to resist the Russian Federation’s revanchist aggressive policy aimed at reintegrating post-imperial territories in a new Eurasian Union;
• The new type of war which Russia is waging against Ukraine has at least three dimensions: propagandist, economical, and military;
• The propagandist aggression of the Russian Federation is extremely powerful, systematic, and diverse;
• There are powerful financial, intellectual, and organizational factors at work in anti-Ukrainian propaganda, both in the Russian Federation and beyond its borders;
• The Russian Federation uses a wide range of channels to disseminate its propaganda, including the media, diplomatic channels, intelligence, cultural channels, religious channels, corruption-related channels, and so on;
• The informational war against Ukraine is global in nature and is being waged in many languages;
• Both old and new information technologies are being used in the war against Ukraine;
• If Ukraine does not find a solution to the problem of the Russian Federation's propaganda attack, then it cannot count on an adequate reaction of the global community, including the use of its economic and other capabilities to stop the war;
• Like in any war, Ukraine requires both material and intellectual resources, as well as allies;
• The use of the creative capabilities of Ukrainian civil society in informational resistance to the Russian propaganda attack allows for the use of much fewer material resources than our opponent has to in order to create a system of informational security;

WE PROPOSE TO:

• Start a systematic search for potential allies throughout the world, involving non-standard ethno-cultural, religious, and inter-governmental approaches;
• Discover material, organizational, and intellectual resources throughout the world and involve them in our system of informational security;
• Examine how other nations throughout history have used powerful informational campaigns to defend their national interests;
• Examine the possibility of creating many “Coalitions for Democratic Choice” in various countries and of various forces, following the example of the Jackson-Vanik Graduation Coalition that was formed in 2005 in the USA. Thanks to this coalition, Ukraine was able to graduate from the restrictions of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment;
• Consider using the creative capabilities of civil society (first and foremost — of its youth) in developing and implementing different aspects of the framework;
• Widen the framework through including the possibilities opened by holding rallies of Ukraine's supporters in many countries and later using these and similar news hooks to the utmost;

Aims and goals of the Coalitions:

• Unite various private and corporate factors of each country (citizens, NGOs, commercial entities, governmental bodies) to aid the peoples and countries that had selected the democratic way of development of their own free will and chose to join the Euro-American identity and civilization model;
• To attract allies - either have them join the coalitions or simply act together - who are interested in strengthening and broadening the democratic part of humanity;
• Create an informational balance with pro-Russian propaganda in their respective countries;
• Organize and hold events and then use them as news hooks;
• Put pressure on their own governments to do more to protect the interests of countries that chose a democratic path of development;
• Goals that these coalitions can attain through putting pressure on their own governments and coordinating efforts with other coalitions:
• Application of broad long-term sanctions to the Russian Federation in regard to its status as a country that is aggressively impeding other nations from choosing a democratic path of development (Moldova, Georgia, Ukraine);
• Force NATO to return to the principles it was founded upon - i.e. to the defense of people who chose the democratic path of development of their own free will;
• Have the countries put joint pressure on the Russian Federation to force Russia to stop provocations and aggression against countries that chose a democratic path of development.

Membership in the coalitions:

• World Congress of Ukrainians groups can become the core of the coalitions in different countries;
• They can declare the creation of a “Coalition for Democratic Choice” through the media of a particular countries and ask their allies to join the coalition;
• We can see the following groups as potential allies in the coalitions: governments, embassies and Diaspora groups of Turkic speaking states, Eastern European countries, post-Soviet countries that are trying to follow the democratic route; Jewish organizations; wide-profile human rights organizations;

Possible venues of activity:

• In information:
• Use the Internet, TV, radio and printed media to disseminate the truth about the intentions, achievements, and problems of different peoples who chose a democratic path of development as well as the provocations, propaganda and acts of aggression committed by countries that try to impede this development.
• Use already existing content and create original content in languages used in the countries and considering the peculiarities of how the citizens of that country perceive media content;
• Hold rallies, events, and marches, and using the coalitions to attract mass public attention and support for these events;
• Lobbying through parliamentary and governmental channels;

Additional possibilities:

• Coordinating the activity of the coalitions by creating an international organizational committee or initiative group;
• Create the initiative group from high-ranked representatives (vice presidents at the very least) of global organizations who wish to join the support of young democracies;
• Organize aid to local coalitions from the corresponding embassies of these countries;
• Organize coordinators from Foreign Affairs ministries on the level of deputy minister;
• Prepare a memorandum on behalf of several global organizations, first and foremost of the World Congress of Ukrainians and perhaps involving the World Jewish Congress, the World Congress of Turkish Peoples, particularly the Crimean Tatars. The memorandum should call for these ethnic groups in various countries to join in the creation of the aforementioned coalitions.