Tristram Hooley reflects on the invasion of Ukraine and calls for contributions to this site to help people to understand what is happening and what they can do.

Last night I attended a vigil in my town organised by the Ukrainian Club. A few hundred people gathered in the pouring rain to protest Putin’s aggression in the Ukraine. We have all been appalled at the scenes that we have seen. War is the ultimate attack on social justice, robbing people of the chance to live, to feel safe and to exercise any kind of self-determination.

At the heart of the vigil was a group of people from Leicester’s Ukrainian population. Young and old they joined together, singing Ukrainian folk songs and chanting in both Ukrainian and English to try and stop the war. Around them were people from a variety of other Eastern European countries, I saw flags from Estonia and Georgia and heard people speaking Polish (I think). ‘Hands off our neighbour’ they said in solidarity, but many also expressed concern about where Putin might go next. They were joined by other Leicester people some of whom I recognised as political in some way, others of whom were spurred into making some kind of stand for the first time. We all knew that what is happening in the Ukraine is wrong and that it cannot be allowed to happen unchallenged and unremarked.

It is difficult to know what more can be said about what is happening in Ukraine at the moment. It is wrong, it cannot be allowed, something has to happen, the Ukraine must endure. Of course there is lots analysis needed about how we got here and who is responsible. It is important that blame is laid at the feet of Vladimir Putin and the tyrannical Russian elite, but also that we recognise the culpability of others in allowing this to happen. The way in which my country has embraced Russian money and served as a laundry for all kinds of questionable individuals and dirty deeds is just the start of this. Similarly the decision to allow so much of the developed world to become dependent on Russian energy has helped Putin to believe that he is invincible. But, for now we need to deal with the situation at hand and find out a way to restore a democratic Ukraine.

Similarly there is lots that can be said about war and career. War serves as a critical disruption to people’s careers, forcing people into new circumstances and new occupations, fostering different kinds of labour policy, sparking mass migration and radically changing people’s thinking, hopes, aspirations and fears. There is much more to say about this and about how the war will change the careers of Ukrainians, Russians and those in neighbouring countries as well as throughout Europe and the world. There is also of course an important question about what happens to career guidance and to education during wartime and in periods of reconstruction. Hopefully this site can be a place that we consider all of these issues.

I hope that people will be willing to contribute to this site and provide their thoughts on the current situation. We would love to hear from people in the Ukraine or in surrounding countries. We would also love to hear from people who have thoughts and ideas about the place of career, career development and career guidance during periods of war and crisis. If you want to make a contribution please contact me or someone else from the Editorial board.

In the meantime, we continue to anxiously watch the news and to send our solidarity to the people of the Ukraine.