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It doesn’t matter who we are, we want our voices to be heard when it comes to any type of social issue. That is why we often find people protesting, but even the way that they protest may differ from one front to another.

Something interesting happened in this regard at the Guggenheim on March 5.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

350 paper planes were released from the top of the rotunda at the museum to support a no-fly zone over Ukraine backed by NATO.

A call to Pres. Biden to declare the no-fly zone was printed on each of the papers used to create the planes. To show how serious they were with what they were requesting, they printed the following on each of the papers: “This is no longer a local conflict. Act now to save the world.”

Artists Anton Varga, Bea Fremderman, V Pan, and Volk Lika came together to make the group with others that took this action at the Guggenheim. Two of the members were not permitted to take the flyers into the museum, so those papers were not included.

Photo: Facebook/Katya Pavlevych

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, has been asking NATO to protect the skies over his country. The Russians have been bombarding them with bombs, killing civilians, and wreaking havoc across the countryside. NATO has not yet stepped into the scene, perhaps over concern of being pulled into a war with Russia.

That wasn’t the intention of the artists. In an interview with Hypoallergenic, they said: “We want to draw attention to the Russian war in Ukraine. The military brutality of this war waged by Vladimir Putin affects Ukraine, all of Europe, and ultimately every country that is continuously decimated by Putin’s violence. We believe that the importance of asking NATO to close the sky, establish a No-Fly Zone and humanitarian airspace, to prevent a potential worldwide nuclear catastrophe, is urgent and critical.”

Photo: Facebook/Katya Pavlevych

On the papers, the text asked people to imagine what it would be like if the planes they flew with the Guggenheim were made out of steel instead of paper. They also wanted the museum to think about what it would be like to have the planes dropping bombs from overhead.

Included on each of the planes was a QR code to scan for more information about how to support Ukraine.

One of the artists that took place in this event was Betty Roytburd. She had a particular interest, being born in Ukraine, but she also has interests in the West as well.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Many people feel that establishing the no-fly zone would start World War III but she wanted people to look at it in a different way.

According to Hypoallergenic, she said: “A third world war could start if we don’t do anything to stop Putin. This war already affects the entire world. Russia has taken over two nuclear plants, one of them is the largest in Europe. This concerns the entire planet. Not giving Ukraine a no-fly zone is basically telling Putin that he can keep going.”

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