A group of Ukrainian runners is taking action to ban Russians and Belarusians from participating in the New York City Marathon on November 6. Anna Shpook, 39, a member of the Ukrainian Running Club NY, blames the Russian people for not stopping the war. In her mind, they should, “Go to the Russian consulate, stand there and ask for war to be stopped. We want them to wake up, go out on the streets and turn this regime over. The same thing with Belarus, their current regime is supporting, they opened the borders.”
It’s hard to understand the fantasy world that Ms. Shpook and her supporters live in. It seems to be a world where a war can be ended simply by asking. Perhaps Ms. Shpook doesn’t know that every war has sparked protests, especially by women. Mother’s Day was initially suggested by two mothers who were against wars; one of these was Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the “Battle Hymn of the Republic. Another Mother for Peace (AMP) is a grass-roots anti-war organization founded in 1967 in opposition to the war in Vietnam.
Sadly, I don’t know of even one war that was cut short simply because the people were asking for it to stop. If only this had been possible! The 58,220 casualties of the Vietnam war—to name just one–would not have happened and a lot of mothers would still have their sons, and wives their husbands, and children their fathers. Yet the unceasing and violent anti-war protests of the Vietnam era proved to be bloody but useless in curtailing the war. We, the people, don’t start the wars and have no power to determine their outcome other than to express our anger.
Shpook believes that since the Russian people are not protesting to end Putin’s war, “it just would be unfair to give someone access [to the NYC Marathon] while Ukrainians no longer have that.”
Of course, any right-thinking person is in solidarity with the Ukrainian people as they fight so valiantly to save their democracy and independence, all the while enduring the brutality of the madman, Vladimir Putin. We are horrified at the violence and destruction that is occurring at every moment in the country. We are angry that innocent women and children should be subjected to it. But can we blame the entire civilian Russian population for the horror of the war?
Is the Russian government synonymous and coterminous with its citizens? Are individuals, some of whom would like to run in the New York City Marathon to be held accountable for the atrocities that Ms. Shpook mentions? Certainly, if you’re Ukrainian you must think so, but we hear of many Russians who are fleeing, sometimes in the middle of the night, because they “don’t want to shoot anybody”. So many have fled that it has been called an exodus and neighboring countries have closed their borders.
This wouldn’t be the first time that Russian runners would be banned from participating in a marathon; it already happened in Boston last April when a man started a petition. “I think within a week or ten days it reached 1,600 and they reacted and they did prevent Russian and Belarusian runners from participating,” said Ms. Shpook, who emailed organizers from New York Road Runners, the sponsors of the marathon, asking for the ban. However, unlike the Boston group, this organization replied that it was only prepared to prevent runners from the two countries from officially taking part in an opening ceremony called the Parade of Nations with their flags. The NYRR added that they will not discriminate against any athletes based on their nationality or place of birth, but reiterated that Russian and Belarusian flags won’t be used in marathon events, thus making a clear distinction between the nation and the individual who happens to belong to it.
The sponsors further clarify that, “Russian and Belarusian elite athletes have not been invited nor accepted to participate in any NYRR races. Additionally, NYRR has not worked with any Russian or Belarusian companies or partners. NYRR ensures that no Russian or Belarusian individuals subject to U.S. sanctions are registered for NYRR race”.
That’s not enough for the Ukrainian runners. “If [the petition] doesn’t work we are ready to give up our spots and not run out of solidarity,” another said.
