On the set of my last music video that was released just a few weeks ago I met two people on the production team who before coming to work on my video that day had successfully evacuated close to 2,000 people safely from the ongoing war in Ukraine. The group that they worked with was called @helpingtoleave @livyj_bereh Since the very beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, have been providing humanitarian aid as a small group of volunteers based on the left bank (livyj bereh) of the Dnipro River in Kyiv. After the de-occupation of the city's suburbs, they extended their reach to various other regions of Ukraine hard hit by the war. Distributing medicine, food and rebuilding homes. In 2020 I worked with a Palestinian Queer collective and a small group of individuals to organise a tour of concerts specifically in Palestine - to make a very clear statement on my position of that occupation, to counteract the stereotype that Queer people are not safe in Arab spaces and to counteract a concert I had made in Tel Aviv many years before much earlier in my career. The Covid-19 pandemic with global lockdowns happening days before the tour unfortunately cancelled those events - but I mention this to highlight that I am aware that all over the world occupations, war and global conflicts occur and there is a consistent need for solidarity in liberation movements collectively. I have been hesitant in how I publicly address the ongoing war in Ukraine, not because I did not care but because there is a colonial white supremacist paradigm that justifies war and conflict in black and brown countries. Yemen, Somalia, the Global South continues to be in conflict without news coverage or attention of any kind from the media. Life has taught me never to pretend to be the smartest or most informed person in the room and it’s been difficult for me to articulate this kind of post until now. As news and media coverage of the ongoing war in Ukraine fades, I wanted to show support for my friends who through a small network of volunteers are doing what they can to help people in Ukraine rebuild their homes and their lives @livyj_bereh ❤️