The Back Story: Supporting Ukraine, and Standing Against War
Amid the horrors perpetrated by the Russian military upon the Ukrainian people, we should focus on concrete actions that help Ukrainian communities devastated by this brutal war. Through our Sister City leadership, our San José community has expressed our moral outrage directly–via letter–with Lena Novomenskaya and other community leaders in the Russian city of Ekaterinberg. Our Council and I have similarly communicated these sentiments to our Congressional delegation, and our support for greater Ukrainian aid. In the days ahead, we will send hundreds of breathing apparatus from our San José Fire Department to assist first responders working fervently to save Ukrainian lives in cities under assault. I have communicated with the U.S. State Department to explore other means to offer assistance, such as by identifying a Ukrainian city that we can assist in its recovery in the immediate aftermath of the war. (If you’d like to contribute, the U.S. State Department has an excellent on-line resource with links to trusted relief agencies. ) We unambiguously stand in solidarity with Ukraine.
A councilmember has repeatedly proposed to terminate our sister city relationship with Ekaterinberg, Russia. Based on my understanding of the relative inactivity of the Ekaterinberg-San José relationship, I am confident that nothing about this relationship lends any support to the Russian economy or its government, and we have seen no Russian propaganda suggesting otherwise. The City of San José has not sent a delegation to that city in more than a decade, and we have no direct business ties to the city, nor to the national government.
Disputes over purely symbolic actions such as these can distract from more useful efforts. Yet for those who seek symbolic battles, some principles merit consideration, such as the importance of diplomacy and communication amid intense conflict.
That is, “Sister City” relationships do not exist to connect government officials, but global citizens. President Eisenhower launched the concept of “sister cities” amid the Cold War in 1956, as a means to enable citizen diplomacy in a moment of sustained conflict between national governments. Its pioneers believed sister cities could provide a path for international bridge-building among citizens despite whatever evil that might be perpetrated by specific regimes. If we terminate a “sister city” relationship because of the evil actions of a national regime, then the entire program has little purpose.
One of the few ways ordinary Americans can contribute to the diplomatic process lies in speaking honestly with those Russian citizens with whom they have any contact. For that reason, Councilmember Sergio Jimenez–who leads the Council’s work on Sister Cities–and I have begun to explore with Sister Cities International (SCI) CEO Leroy Allala and local Chair Stephen “Tim” Quigley how SCI could convene citizen-to-citizen forums to enable Americans to share their perceptions of the war with Russians, and to enable Russians to hear a different view.
In contrast, if we shut down such communication, there can be no hope of persuading Russian citizens of the brutality of their government, or of the suffering of the Ukrainian people. That ultimately plays into the strategy of the Russian regime: to deny Russian citizens the truth.
I have consulted officials at the White House and the U.S. Department of State, and a State Department official assured me that the City of San José is not doing anything contrary to U.S. foreign policy, nor to our common imperative to stand against ruthless dictators like Vladimir Putin. The State Department and the City have a shared understanding of the role of sister cities programs in promoting citizen-to-citizen communication in moments when we may express fervent opposition to the actions of national governments, as now.
In March, I voted with the unanimous leadership of the United States Conference of Mayors to issue a resolution condemning the Russian atrocities in Ukraine, but urging the support of sister city relationships that can encourage dissent in Russia:
“WHEREAS, America’s cities have long-established sister city relationships with cities in Russia that should be maintained and strengthened to empower Russia’s citizens to speak out in the cause of democracy and peace….
In the final calculus, we cannot convince people with whom we refuse to communicate, and we cannot hope for peace in a world where we allow no bridge to stand.
Peace will likely come only with regime change in Russia. That requires building every bridge — including through citizen diplomacy — to encourage Russians to stand against the brutal aggression of the Putin regime.
