Jamala’s struggle

29 ^min

Sweden

Right to peacefully assemble Minority rights The citizen and the state

eng: for_whom

Students Pupils Employees of penitentiary system Institutions of the state penitentiary system of Ukraine Journalists Activists / NGOs

Jamala’s struggle

It is an intimate and powerful portrait of an incredibly talented woman, and a song and performance that shed light on both historic events as well as current political situations. Journalist Elin Jönsson has filmed Jamala and her family in the Ukraine and Crimea, sharing her family’s tragic personal story and current troublesome situation for the Crimean Tatars today.

Susanna Jamaladinova was born in Osh, Kirghiz SSR, to a Crimean Tatar father and an Armenian mother. After having been resettled from Crimea to the central Asian republic during World War II her family returned to Crimea in 1989. The family on her mother’s side were well-to-do Armenian peasants until her great-grandfather's land was seized and he was exiled to Osh. In order for her family to purchase property in Crimea her mother divorced her father for four years to do so under her maiden name. At this time Soviet authorities did not allow ethnic Crimean Tatars to buy property in Crimea.

Elin Jönsson

Elin Jönsson is an award winning Swedish journalist who mainly reports from Russia. She focuses on human rights issues and has previously co-directed the documentary Long Distance Love about a Kyrgystani guest worker in Moscow. Furthermore she has reported closely on the wars in Chechnya.

“Freedom is not what has been given to us. It’s what cannot be taken from us.” This expression by Voltaire opened our event. During the discussion, we raised the questions of the importance of solidarity, of not supporting discriminatory actions, using the possibilities of non-violent communication and interaction, friendship and respect. We discussed the importance of our own actions, our own choice, our own responsibility, because we have the freedom to choose our thoughts, actions, deeds.

Natalia Zhebryk,

moderator of the Docudays UA film club Potential

Jamala’s struggle

eng: scenario_fragment