“We want to inspire people to unite and express their protest against the Ukraine occupation. Furthermore, we want to encourage people to press the politicians to take adequate actions against the Russian invasion.”
On the weekend of September 13-14, 2014, a group of young people in Vilnius, Lithuania drenched themselves in “blood,” calling to the world to cease being indifferent to the war in Ukraine. Called the “blood bucket challenge,” this performance involved more than 20 people of different European nationalities, calling upon their compatriots in their native tongues to dare to see the real European challenge: stopping the bloodshed of people, violence, stopping the war in Ukraine. Though the “blood” was only colored water, the message was about a danger that is more than real, with the recent statement of the European parliament condemning the presence of regular Russian army in Donbas and Russia’s fomentation of violence that had taken nearly four thousand lives in Ukraine and recent news reports showing that Russia has a rising “concern” about the Russian speakers in the Baltic states and renewed interest in the the breakaway region of Transnistria.
The performance’s deliberate parallel with the recently held ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that successfully raised more than $50 mln in donations for research and treatment of Lou Gehrig’s Disease intended to show the power of average people to change big things: “all people united by the idea become a strong power that may determine not only the fates of those who are severely ill, but also may stop the war.”
The organizers themselves state that their main aim is to attract people’s attention to the contemporary events in Ukraine and at the same time to inform about the inaction and ignorance of the World’s (especially European) politicians to those events. In order to do so, they plan to use the formula of the successful “ALS icebucket” project, with a target is to reach as many people as possible via Facebook and Youtube channels. They want to create the platform in our “bloodbucket” account where people could express their opinion, find and share the information about the situation in Ukraine in order to inspire people to unite and express their protest against the Ukraine occupation. Further plans include encouraging people to press the politicians to take adequate actions against the Russian invasion.
The shooting took place in an abandoned factory in Vinius. Photos were taken by the 400 Blows Studio.
The initiator Marius Mateika wrote ABOUT THE IDEA:
The initiative attraction ALS ICE Bucket Challenge has spread overnight throughout the world, people willingly accept the ice bucket challenge and send the challenge to their friends, colleagues and their closest people. More than one and a half of million videos have been shared within a brief period of time and the number of sharing is constantly growing. The initial idea is nice and fair, i.e. to donate money for the clinical trials of new drugs against a rare neurological disease; more than eighty million dollars have already been donated for this purpose in the world. People are not indifferent.
As I see people in Ukraine dying every day, peaceful citizens losing their homes, business – everything that has become the standard of satisfying western life, I strongly believe that the world should not remain indifferent. Although the EU leaders use such safe terms as conflict, crisis, I dare to say the word “war.” And I am not afraid to say that I am frightened of war.
Recently, a similar blood bucket initiative was undertaken by an Ohio University Student to voice criticism of Israel’s “genocide” in the Gaza Strip.