Diaspora Activism of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Since the 2022 Russian Invasion

This article focuses on the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), an organization actively advocating for Ukraine since the 2022 Russian invasion. UCCA is an association of twenty-nine secular, religious, cultural, and professional diaspora organizations. Established in 1940, its wide-ranging representation makes it a unique case study for analyzing how 1.2 million Ukrainian-Americans have responded to the Russian invasion. The article posits that the Ukrainian diaspora has been very active in humanitarian initiatives, in conjunction with the Ukrainian World Congress, as well as in media outreach, public and Congressional advocacy, and organized demonstrations. UCCA’s activities illustrate diaspora philanthropy and diaspora humanitarianism and have implications for diaspora mobilization. The article engages in-depth with the diaspora literature, emphasizing diaspora philanthropy, diaspora humanitarianism, and political opportunity structures that allow for diaspora mobilization and illustrate diaspora agency. The activism of Ukrainian-Americans epitomizes the significance of evidence-based scholarship that contributes to our understanding of the role of diasporas in responding to global and homeland events. The article utilizes original UCCA organizational documents, YouTube recordings, recorded panels, public declarations of organizational officials, as well as news media articles. The research contributes to an emerging body of literature that examines the activity of the Ukrainian diaspora since the 2022 invasion.