FlyTheNest

In a series of WhatsApp messages in early 2025, Streeting, who was then health secretary, told Mandelson of his concern that Israel was “committing war crimes before our eyes” and of his dismay at hearing testimonies from medical staff who had seen “the most chilling and distressing scenes of calculated brutality against women and children”.

In messages to McFadden, Mandelson criticises Streeting’s “wild long hysterical message” which “reflects pretty badly on his maturity”; his stance was “pathetic”. Mandelson appears to prefer what he sees as a cooler, more urbane approach to matters. Garvie messages him in September to say wearily: “In parliament listening to interminable Gaza debate.” Mandelson replies: “Ah.”

Since the war began in 2014, and especially since the full-scale invasion of 2022, book publication has been self-defense. Russia targets Ukrainian publishing houses, archives, libraries, and museums, and in occupied zones Russians collect and burn Ukrainian books. Genocide is about eliminating a people, and it includes the attempt to eliminate their ability to think for themselves, as themselves, in their own language.

Ukrainians defend themselves in many ways, as soldiers and as civil society, and also by reading and writing and talking about books. Ukrainian culture, including book publishing, is undergoing an extraordinary renaissance. More than one hundred publishers gathered at Book Arsenal. From Marci’s photos and video I hope you will catch some of their spirit.