UNITED4UA FUNDRAISER
PLEASE SEND YOUR DONATIONS DIRECTLY TO THE
POC & LGBTQIA+ UKRAINE ORGANISATIONS
THAT WE CARE FOR ♥
Foundation For Social Diversity (FSD)
/ Foundation For Social Diversity (FSD)
We are a coalition of five organizations, based in Poland and created by people of African descent, Black and Brown and queer people, and their allies. Strategic decisions about how to use the funds that are kindly donated are made collectively by the Black is Polish Collective, the Association of Multiethnic Families, and CIS, all of which are founded by and run by women of color, with support from the FSD, the Antiracism Lab and new visions. The fundraiser is being administered by the Foundation for Social Diversity (FSD), an organization founded in 2007 which has extensive experience with managing large projects funded by the EU and other international organizations. More about our organizations below.
Since 24 February 2022, over a million people have fled to Poland after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Among them are also Africans, people of African descent, Black and Brown people, who were living in Ukraine. Many were many of them well established in their lives with families, many as students enrolled in Ukrainian universities.
In the dramatic evacuation from the escalating military conflict, Black and Brown people have faced the additional traumatizing experiences of discrimination and racism. There are well-documented cases of Black and Brown people who were refused transportation to evacuate, separated from other evacuees at the border and made to wait in long lines without shelter, in rain or freezing temperatures and snow. When they do finally cross the border to Poland, tired, cold and hungry, they are not entitled to many of the special forms of support that have been made available to Ukrainians: free train transport to larger cities, free public transport in the cities, free access to healthcare. They often have a limited right of stay in Poland, so that rather than rest and recoup after their evacuation, they must work quickly to ensure they do not become undocumented.
The openness and mobilization to help that Poles have demonstrated towards Ukrainians is necessary and heartwarming, but the same attitudes do not always extend to Black and Brown people. We have heard that African women with children do not receive offers of support with accommodation even though they too need safe shelter. African men have been verbally insulted or physically assaulted while their Ukrainian peers receive help with transport and finding work.
This crisis has exposed how access to aid and support, even in the most dramatic of circumstances, can be conditional on skin color and place of origin. Black and Brown people have had to confront discrimination and racism at every stage of the journey while fleeing from the war: getting to and crossing the border to Poland, finding transport from the border to larger cities, securing a safe place to stay, accessing key services such as legal advice, health care, psychological support.
Yet Black and Brown people lost their belongings, homes, and communities just like everyone else escaping the war. They are fleeing from the same tanks and bombs, and experiencing the same psychological consequences of war. Racism and discrimination further contribute to the fear, uncertainty and insecurity caused by war, and compounding the trauma.
The interpersonal, institutional and systemic forms of discrimination have come to be so tightly interwoven that they appear “normal" in the case of Black and Brown people fleeing the war.
We are a group of organizations, based in Poland and created by Poles of African descent and their allies, who are committed to confronting the discrimination and racism that Black and Brown people face in this situation. We are working to ensure that Black and Brown people have dignified living conditions in Poland so that they can begin the healing process as soon as they cross the border and start rebuilding their lives in both the short and the longer term.
We are developing a complex support system for Black and Brown people who are fleeing the war in Ukraine.
We help organize:
Your donation will enable us to offer a range of support: from immediate help with evacuation and securing safe shelter in Poland, to the long-term process of rebuilding life in Poland and advocating against discrimination and for equality.