“Skill, creativity, and respect for our own history”

“Den’s Days started in Lviv on May 18, following a good tradition of our city. The event’s centerpieces are a profoundly meaningful photo exhibition and an in-depth dialog with the editor-in-chief of that extremely important Ukrainian newspaper, Larysa Ivshyna. The meeting with her, centering on the National Dialog, featured people discussing, among other things, the following issues: which topics are lacking in contemporary media and journalism, as well as when the situation in Ukraine will change for the better. [Let us recall that the first meeting of the year between Den’s editor-in-chief and the Leopolitans was the discussion in the anti-cafe Communa, which, incidentally, people living outside Lviv eagerly watched online as it was broadcast live by the SKOVORODA radio station, and Ivshyna had two more appearances on the Nezalezhnist radio station and the Lviv TV and radio station. – Author.]

“While visiting different cities of Ukraine, including Kyiv, I always feel acutely the lack of Ukrainian-language periodicals on newsstands and at street vendors of the city (including at railway stations), and the few existing ones lack high-quality analytical materials on the true history of Ukraine, multifaceted Ukrainian culture, outstanding scientists of the past and present and their impact on the development of science worldwide. In this regard, Den with its intelligent initiatives (Den’s Library, the Ukraine Incognita website, and many others) is an exception,” shared his thoughts Volodymyr Chubai, editor-in-chief of the scientific and analytical magazine Nasha Perspektyva. “In addition, it should be noted that given the ongoing information war, the very role of the media has radically changed. Newspapers, magazines, TV channels, websites and social networks today are not only instruments of news delivery or information sharing, but also actual strategic weapons of offensive or defensive nature. It seems that even before the territorial occupation occurred, occupation of the minds of citizens of Ukraine was on the march in the recent decades, and it is exactly where it succeeded without encountering information resistance at the national or local level that we have now occupied territories and war zones. Therefore, when the Ukrainians living in the occupied territories are persecuted for mere acknowledgement of their ethnicity, journalists and independent media should rethink their roles in confronting the aggressor. I say so because they are often consciously or unconsciously helping it by mistakenly selecting their subjects or inviting guests to a TV studio, showing poor judgment and lack of deep understanding of what coverage is needed to shape an objective public opinion.

“In my opinion, the situation in our country will significantly improve only when the level of each Ukrainian’s personal responsibility for bringing change in the country increases. That is, when most of us will honestly answer to themselves (regardless of age, profession, position, etc.) at least the following three questions: ‘What have I done for the development of the country (at any level, depending on one’s capabilities, even as little as positively changing oneself)?’ ‘Have I done enough for Ukraine out of what I can do?’ and ‘What do I have to do today and in the future to strengthen Ukraine, protect the true Ukrainian history, our native Ukrainian language, and culture?’ If we ask ourselves these questions and fail to get clear answers, then the cause of the difficult situation in Ukraine includes ourselves, too. It is clear that each of us has many issues and responsibilities, including personal, family, workplace ones and so on. Often enough, we get absorbed in our own issues, and dealing with them becomes the sole aim of our lives. The present time needs us to do more, because indifference leads to defeats on every front. The fact that positive changes are still occurring in Ukraine, even if slowly, is the result of the sacrifice of all activists during the Revolution of Dignity and military volunteers at the front as well as civilian volunteers and other people of different professions, ages, and ethnicities. If not for them, there would not be an independent Ukraine today. One needs to understand and appreciate their heroism and join helpful initiatives oneself in different ways and in different areas. It is therefore important to get everyone to understand their responsibility and involvement in defining what the future of Ukraine will look like.

“As for Den’s photo exhibition, I advise everyone to visit it. Words are not always capable of recreating the images transmitted by pictures, in particular people’s eye expressions and their faces convey their feelings and atmosphere of the events they have experienced deeper and more eloquently than words. The imagery and symbolism of the photos will not allow your soul to grow indifferent or apathetic. The pictures displayed at Den’s photo exhibition will remind and confirm once again that the Ukrainian people:

- is unbowed. Even the most brutal regimes were unable to defeat our will to be free. As long as we are united in confronting the enemy (especially if politicians at the national and local levels understand and take into account the important advice of the photo A Wise Instruction), we are guaranteed a decent future;

- firmly believes in the victory over the aggressor. Some of us are courageous defenders who serve at the front, but each of us should daily do everything in their power to strengthen our country and prevent a revenge of the anti-Ukrainian forces (here, the photo Hearth Mother is symbolic, showing that there is neither doubt nor fear even in the eyes of a child, for God and the truth are with us!);

- is fearless and humane. This is evidenced by numerous examples of courage and sacrifice of our soldiers, civilian volunteers, medical personnel and their willingness to defend their homeland from the occupiers or rescue fellow Ukrainians even at the cost of one’s own life.

“Empathizing with events and emotions displayed on images from Den’s photo exhibition is an attempt to look into one’s own conscience and strengthen one’s immune system against the virus of despair and passivity. It is also a powerful incentive to overcome daily difficulties to reach a new level, the level of a self-conscious decent citizen of Ukraine which is creating us and which we are creating.”

Let us recall that the exhibition of the best photos from Den’s 18th International Photo Contest is housed in the main building of the Lviv Polytechnic National University (12, Stepana Bandery St.). On this occasion, we thank the school’s leadership and its International Institute of Education, Culture and Relations with Diaspora for assistance in organizing the event which will run in Lviv till June 4. By the way, in addition to exhibiting more than 130 images of the exhibition, the University got a photo gift as well, since during the opening ceremony, Ivshyna presented rector Yurii Bobal with The Lviv Dream, a photo by Tetiana Sporynina which won her a prize at the contest of 2013.

Also, Lviv region will get 39 book sets from Den’s Library, which will be sent to libraries of the region’s central rural schools with the assistance of the oblast state administration.