<I>The Day</I>’s New Year questionnaire

1. How do you feel about 2008? What trace do you think it has left in Ukrainian and world history?

2. What are your ratings of the past year’s events?

3. What do you think of Den’/The Day in 2008? How would like to see this newspaper/digest in 2009?

4. Would you please tell about yourself: your place or residence, age, occupation, preferences?

5. Do you have a New Year message for your fellow Ukrainians? Maybe an aphorism?

Yurii SHAPOVAL:

1. This was a very significant year for the Ukrainian state. Ukraine has received a very good lesson — I mean the conflict between Russia and Georgia.

I further remember this years marked by laborious efforts aimed at launching new projects, interesting trips and meetings. I hope the book, on which we’ve worked together with my French colleagues for several years and which was actually done in 2008, will appear in print in Paris, in 2009.

2. This past year is also important for me because it marked my granddaughter Kateryna’s second birthday.

[This past year] also mean an international financial crisis and the collapse of the so-called democratic coalition in Ukraine. Both being negative phenomena, naturally, and nothing to add to one’s optimistic mood. Nevertheless, I remain an optimist. Ukraine and the rest of the world will survive this crisis. As for [our] political crisis, it shows that our current political elite has deadlocked itself once again, demonstrating inadequate performance; that it is unable to build a strategy that can meet current challenges. All this simply means that the time has come to change the water in Ukraine’s political aquarium and fill it with new fish. We need new politicians, new faces, new ideas, new political discourses. I am sure we will have them.

3. I have been reading Den’/The Day and contributed to it as a historian. I respect this periodical, although I would like to see more features dealing with topics that are uppermost on our society’s agenda. I am always interested to read what people elsewhere in the world think about Ukraine — and I mean not only diplomats, scholars, or men of the arts. I wish there were more features on this subject, just as I wish the editors a giant print run next year — at least not smaller than that of some tabloids.

4. I would like to respond to this one by telling a great Soviet joke. The KGB apprehends a man who was distributing leaflets on a city’s thoroughfare. He is interrogated and his leaflets are there as incriminating evidence — except that they are blank.

“Are you nuts? What made you distribute these blank leaflets?” asks the interrogating officer.

“It’s just that there’s nothing to write; everybody knows what’s what,” answers the man.

Likewise, what do you expect me to tell you about? We all know what’s what.

5. My message to all Ukrainians is this: “Let us respect ourselves, then we will be respected elsewhere in the world.”

Denys PODIACHEV, member of Ostroh’s Free Intellectual Exchange Club, Kharkiv:

1. A torrential course of events, including local armed conflicts, calamities, and a world financial crisis.

2. (1) World financial crisis; (2) Georgia-Russia war; (3) floods in the west of Ukraine; (4) Ukrainian seamen held hostage on board Faina; (5) Ukrainian president’s edict disbanding parliament and the following speaker saga; (6) crisis in Ukraine’s leading industries.

3. From what I know, Den’/The Day has made every effort to make up for what we shouldn’t complain about but which we badly need anyway: competence, a balanced approach, and above all patriotism. In 2008, this periodical was evolving in depth, so to say. I have said and keep saying, however, that there is no sense in enhancing the sense of patriotism in regard to a newspaper that does not expand its target-oriented audiences; it doesn’t have to because it is cultivating patriotism; its audience embraces all of Ukraine’s 46 million residents.

4. City of Kharkiv, 23 years old; junior research fellow, NISI Research Institute, Kharkiv, graduate student, Karazin National University, Kharkiv. My hobbies: political philosophy, politics, political analysis, journalism, sports, history, etc.

5. My New Year wishes are for my fellow Ukrainians to develop a sense of foresight and grow ready to take risks. Over the past 17 years our tactic of hiding ourselves from our problems has devaluated itself. We have to face our problems and say so.

Daria VOROBIOVA, member of Ostroh Free Youth Exchange Club:

1. I will remember 2008 as a year marked by a number of sad events, including the flood in the west of Ukraine, the plummeting living standard owing to the world economic crisis, the war in Georgia, and so on. Among these sad events was Annie Lorak placing second during the Eurovision contest and the US presidential election’s outcome. This past year has been doubtlessly a hard one for my country and for me personally. This year will leave its noticeable trace in history, considering that we will spend another couple of years living through the consequences of the world [financial] crisis. However, it has been marked by good events, among them a number of interesting ones in Ukraine, including the world-renowned singer Paul McCartney’s visit concert on the Ukrainian capital city’s main square; that of Kofi Annan; the legendary Queen’s concert; the anniversary of the baptism of Kyivan Rus’ attended by the Patriarch of Constantinople, and so on. There has also been an event that left no one untouched, the anniversary of the Holodomor of 1932-33. Despite many accusations addressing our president and accusing him of acting the wrong way, this event has played a very important role [for many people], including me. I learned a number of new facts and details relating to this tragedy. It was then I could see its actual scope and the attitude to it on the part of the rest of the world. I guess it was important for the younger generation because you have to know your past before you take a step into your future; you have to forgive all who have acted wrong, so that you have a clean heart when stepping into the future.

2. Personally I rate first the flood in the west of Ukraine; next comes the economic decline; I place the war in Georgia third; number four is the Holodomor anniversary, and number five, the US presidential election.

3. Den’/The Day has been quite informative in 2008. This periodical has taken part in and initiated a number of projects and I expect it to be as active and informative in 2009.

4. Born in Kharkiv, aged 23, political scientist with a research institute; quite sociable, with many friends and acquaintances. Hobbies ranging from music (especially live jazz) to yoga to traveling, discovering things for myself. Over the past three years I have discovered Ukraine.

5. Dear Fellow Ukrainians, New Year [Eve] is when we sum up the past year, remembering the good things and trying to forget the bad ones. The New Year will certainly bring forth many reasons to make us feel happy; it will be considerably quieter than the previous one. Our economy will be revived, our political situation will stabilize, and we will be hearing only good news. Please remember that all our life is in your hands!

Viktoria SKUBA, student, Ostroh Academy National University:

1. For me, 2008 marks a year of personal growth, not only in professional terms, but also in terms of a certain degree if internal self-development. During this year I have been able to communicate with different people across Ukraine and accumulated some useful experience; I have been able to assess fellow humans. This year has been rich in events that can hardly fit any ratings, that are hard to remember at any given moment, but which have left a noticeable trace in your mind, among them meetings with people, good books you’ve read. All told, this year has been very good for me. As for Ukraine, its history has long diverted from linear progress, so it is very hard to pass judgment on some or other events. I don’t want to discuss politics, but I would like to believe that some little things have happened in 2008, everywhere, to help revive our Ukrainian spirit, the results of which are not seen today, but are influencing the assertion of the Ukrainian nation’s global future.

2. In fact, I remember all my personal events during the past year. In terms of ratings, I could write a diary with entries describing meetings with friends, some accomplishments, my own or others’ celebrations, warm words, smiles. Also, bad experiences. However, it isn’t always important to remember events as such, it is more important to follow their trace in your life. For me, there have been two schools of journalism I graduated from this year, including the one provided by Den’. These experiences have partially determined my further activities, so I should rate them first. I think I am not in a position to assess events on the national level. I am not an expert, so my personal opinion should influence the Ukrainians’ attitude some or other event.

3. I wish all good things to remain conservative, all over the world, therefore, I do not wish any special changes to come about. This summer I saw how Den’ is working as a participant in its summer journalism workshop seminar. Each periodical has its philosophy, so does Den’, and its one can perhaps meet the Ukrainian reader’s needs in a better way. Anyway, this is the kind of approach that should be always present in the Ukrainian press, so I would like to see Den’ the way it was in 2008.

4. Name: Viktoria Skuba; currently a resident of Ostroh, 4th-year student, faculty of political information management, Ostroh Academy National University, majoring in public relations management. My profession appears to be especially popular on the modern Ukrainian labor market, yet my cherished dream is a career in journalism, so I am working hard in this direction. I have lots of hobbies; in short, I am fond of classics in every field; I am fond of extraordinary individuals capable of capturing and savoring every exciting moment of life.

5. Every year comes to pass, bringing with it accomplishments and negative experiences, I wish everyone enough wisdom to appreciate everything life gives us, to live through its joys and sorrows, to enjoy every moment of it, to find in fellow humans only good things and share the warmth of your heart with them. I wish you to be sincere in your relationships, to have fresh energy, and to be proud of being Ukrainian.