A statement from Adam and Markus

As the war in Ukraine continues, we watch the news in horror and think especially of the three Ukrainian cities who planned to join the Global Service Jam. All those Jam events are of course now cancelled; we hope all the people who wanted to participate, and their loved ones, are safe.

Jamming is all about getting better at peaceful, positive, international collaboration between individuals. We believe it should always be open to all who share that mindset. And we do not think it is fair to punish individuals for the actions of governments, unless they are actively participating in them.

But after listening to many voices and different viewpoints, we have had to accept that sometimes even peaceful intentions can be misused. And that misuse can endanger the future of a platform for understanding and – more importantly – the wellbeing of its participants.

We have seen that there are people who are ready to mislabel our inclusive policy as a condonement of Russian aggression and war in Ukraine. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Like so many countries, companies, sports associations, arts organisations, and the ICJ, we stand with the Ukrainian people and renounce Russian aggression.

Therefore we will not be allowing or supporting Russian Jams at the 2022 Global Service Jam.

We ask everyone reading this to look for ways to help the people who are affected by war and are in deep crisis. International organisations coordinating aid include the World Food Programme, Red Cross / Red Crescent, and Medicins Sans Frontieres. As the Jam community is truly global, you may have other organisations and opportunities in your local context. Please look for them.

We look forward to a day when everyone can Jam in peace.

Adam & Markus

Co-Initiators, Global Jams

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