VILNIUS: “Dear passengers of train no. 29, Moscow-Kaliningrad. Today, Putin is killing civilians in Ukraine. Do you support this?” an announcer repeats in Russian at Vilnius station while the service stops there.
Two dozen large pictures from the war in Ukraine, each with the same message, were put up on Friday morning on either side of the platform reserved for the Russian transit trains.
The trains, up to six per day, pause for around 10 minutes in Vilnius, capital of EU-member Lithuania, as they pass to and from Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave — sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland — and cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg, via Belarus.
Under a two decade old agreement between Lithuania, Russia and the European Union, passengers are issued Lithuanian visas for the transit-only services, which are powered by a Lithuanian locomotive for the portion of the journey inside the country.
“As far as we know, Russians are shielded from what is happening in Ukraine. Here in Vilnius railway station, we have a possibility to show at least a small piece of what is happening,” Mantas Dubauskas, a spokesperson for the state-owned Lithuanian railways, said.
“It’s the least that we can do,” he added. “Maybe we can change the minds of a very small number of passengers.”
The pictures, provided by Ukrainian photographers, show the dead and injured, people grieving, destroyed buildings and bridges, and refugees with small children escaping the country.
Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine a “special military operation” to disarm its neighbor. The Kremlin says Russian forces have not targeted civilians.
Russia’s parliament this month passed a law imposing a jail term of up to 15 years for spreading intentionally “fake” news about the military.
Russian officials have said that false information has been spread by Russia’s enemies such as the United States and its Western European allies in an attempt to sow discord among the Russian people.
There were no people seen at the windows of the train on Friday morning. No one disembarked from or joined the service as no tickets have been sold to and from the station for the Russian trains since the COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020. It was not known how many passengers were on the train.
Russian aircraft between Kaliningrad and Russia fly over the international waters of the Baltic Sea, prolonging the journey, after Lithuania and other EU countries banned them from their airspace in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Vilnius station confronts Moscow-Kaliningrad train with images from war
https://arab.news/ch2np
Vilnius station confronts Moscow-Kaliningrad train with images from war
- Two dozen large pictures from the war in Ukraine were put up on Friday morning on either side of the platform reserved for the Russian transit trains
- "Here in Vilnius railway station, we have a possibility to show at least a small piece of what is happening," a spokesperson for the state-owned Lithuanian railways, said
Arts festival’s decision to exclude Palestinian author spurs boycott
- A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival
SYDENY: A top Australian arts festival has seen the withdrawal of dozens of writers in a backlash against its decision to bar an Australian Palestinian author after the Bondi Beach mass shooting, as moves to curb antisemitism spur free speech concerns.
The shooting which killed 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Dec. 14 sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism. Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by Daesh.
The Adelaide Festival board said last Thursday it would disinvite Randa Abdel-Fattah from February’s Writers Week in the state of South Australia because “it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi.”
FASTFACTS
• Abdel-Fattah responded, saying it was ‘a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.’
• Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival.
Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
Among the boycotting authors, Kathy Lette wrote on social media the decision to bar Abdel-Fattah “sends a divisive and plainly discriminatory message that platforming Australian Palestinians is ‘culturally insensitive.'”
The Adelaide Festival said in a statement on Monday that three board members and the chairperson had resigned. The festival’s executive director, Julian Hobba, said the arts body was “navigating a complex moment.”
a complex and unprecedented moment” after the “significant community response” to the board decision.
In the days after the Bondi Beach attack, Jewish community groups and the Israeli government criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for failing to act on a rise in antisemitic attacks and criticized protest marches against Israel’s war in Gaza held since 2023.
Albanese said last week a Royal Commission will consider the events of the shooting as well as antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia. Albanese said on Monday he would recall parliament next week to pass tougher hate speech laws.
On Monday, New South Wales state premier Chris Minns announced new rules that would allow local councils to cut off power and water to illegally operating prayer halls.
Minns said the new rules were prompted by the difficulty in closing a prayer hall in Sydney linked to a cleric found by a court to have made statements intimidating Jewish Australians.
The mayor of the western Sydney suburb of Fairfield said the rules were ill-considered and councils should not be responsible for determining hate speech.
“Freedom of speech is something that should always be allowed, as long as it is done in a peaceful way,” Mayor Frank Carbone told Reuters.
