In Ukraine, “people use humor as a form of resistance”, testifies Antonio Fischetti, Wednesday, May 25 on franceinfo. The journalist from Charlie Hebdowho has just returned from Ukraine, signs a report in which he highlights the way in which one can make the second degree on a war in the first degree, through in particular a series of caricatures resulting from the exhibition which takes place in this moment in Odessa, baptized Russian warship, fuck youin reference to the registration of the Snake Island Coast Guard. “There is the war, of course, the bombings, all these dramas, but life goes on despite everything and who says life, says resistance, says humor, necessarily”summarizes Antonio Fischetti.
franceinfo: Despite the war, humor remains a weapon of mass resistance?
Antonio Fischetti: Completely. I was even surprised. At the start, at Charlie, we thought we were going to dig into this question, but I wasn’t sure I would find humorous material. And finally, yes. There is the war, of course, the bombings, all these dramas, but life goes on despite everything and who says life, says resistance, says humor, necessarily. I met it in people’s homes, in the street, with their black humor jokes but also through the work of the Ukrainian cartoonists who organized this exhibition of caricatures in Odessa, the auction of which will go to financing the Ukrainian troops.
Are there Ukrainians who are still laughing?
Yes, there is an evolution of laughter. An academic specializing in irony and satire explained to me that before the war there was more benevolent irony and that now, since the Russian invasion, there is more black humor. The humor is fiercer. Humor against attackers.
“There are stories of resistance, like this anonymous heroine who told a Russian who was blocking her way to put sunflower seeds in her pockets so that it would be useful when the Ukrainians buried her.”
Antonio Fischetti, journalist at “Charlie Hebdo”at franceinfo
It’s a replica that has been filmed, that has become cult and we now see drawings in the streets of Russian soldiers with seeds in their pockets. We make fun of the aggressors, it’s absolutely necessary and at the same time we do it with a smile, with this biting irony.
We also saw at the beginning of the war the Ukrainian Minister of the Interior explaining to the inhabitants how to make Molotov cocktails on television. Road safety which asked to turn over the road signs to destabilize the Russians. Did it make Ukraine smile?
Yes, it’s something that’s hard to imagine from a distance, but it’s resilience, it’s tragicomic. It’s scary to have to make Molotov cocktails when you lived in peace until then, but it makes you smile because as soon as you’re 20 or 30 kilometers from the front.
“People use this humor as a form of resistance.”
Antonio Fischettiat franceinfo
To resist aggression, you have to be psychologically strong and to be psychologically strong means feeding on this black humor towards this aggressor. There are limits, it’s not the same humor as us at Charlie where we go beyond the limits, it’s a humor that never uses the trauma of the Ukrainian victims. There is also no humor towards President Zelensky. It’s a humor only directed towards the Russians.