Adam MICHNIK: One Must Think Ahead
Adam Michnik, editor-in-chief of Poland’s largest circulation daily, Gazeta Wyborcza, and former dissident, is one of those whose reputation and intellectual authority reach far outside their home country. He is also one genuinely concerned about Ukraine’s future, who love and understands it, who can rise above the daily routine and, in his own words, think ahead. That is why his comments on the anniversary of the 1943-44 tragedy in Volyn are especially relevant. He believes that media people, like everyone else, should be capable of steering a middle course, but only to a certain extent. One such compromise was a scandal involving Mr. Michnik, which he describes as one of the greatest corruption exposОs in Poland. In fact, he recalls it with a sense of humor (he taped an offer of a bribe worth $17.5 million, but kept it to himself while Polish EU membership was negotiated). So far Mr. Michnik’s reputation has survived better than those of the others’ involved.
The anniversary of the Volyn tragedy may become another test of strength of Ukrainian and Polish societies. How did you approach this complex problem?
Michnik: I think that the truth must not be concealed in the first place. We Poles hold difficult and dramatic debates on Jedwabne. Poland was able to see its own unattractive visage there and offer an apology. I consider this an important attainment of democracy. Second, I believe that those graves were not made by Poles, so we are not the ones to dig them up. One must think ahead, not back. Third, I’m convinced that any speculations, any efforts to provoke Ukrainian-Polish conflicts are aimed against Ukraine as well as Poland. Fourth, I believe that there is a strong resistance in Polish politics and history against telling the truth about how much Ukrainians have suffered because of Poland, and this alarms me. I also believe that the Volyn anniversary will be a good opportunity for prestigious and morally and intellectually strong Ukrainian figures to speak the truth, to say how perplexed they are by what happened there at the time, that those tragic events did take place in Volyn. At the same time, I think it would be disastrous if chauvinistic anti- Ukrainian forces in Poland and their counterparts in Ukraine took the initiative. This would damage both our peoples and other countries. Anyway, the truth about what happened must be told. It’s not simple, but we must voice our regret about all those innocents who died there, people that were no way responsible for Poland’s anti-Ukrainian policy before World War II.
Ukrainians also died there...
Michnik: Yes, but the proportion... Obviously it was a neighborhood war and such wars are always the cruelest. I think Poland has a problem telling the truth about what was happening before the war and how Ukrainians were treated in Poland. Another Polish problem is Operation Wisla, explaining how and why innocent people were suddenly forced out of their homes and deported.
In a word, I believe that reputable cultural figures must tell the truth, however unpleasant to Ukrainian society. Poles and Ukrainians have something in common, the so-called innocent victim syndrome. We are historically convinced that we were always good and others always mistreated us. That’s not true, not for the Poles and not for the Ukrainians.
How should we rid ourselves of this syndrome?
Michnik: By telling the whole truth. Such is our responsibility as media people. I could publish a book, using Gazeta materials relating to acts of injustice committed by Poles against Ukrainians. We at the editorial office believe that Operation Wisla belongs to the Ukrainian people but addresses Poles in the first place. In other words, we must know the truth about our history.
How then would we be able to avoid the political aspect?
Michnik: There’s no way to avoid it. The situation as I see it favors very good Ukrainian-Polish relations. It’s very good that we have no conflicts, except those stemming from history. There won’t be a better time to settle this one. Poland needs Ukraine just as Ukraine needs Poland. So now is the best time.
What kind of Ukraine would Poland prefer to have to deal with? The way it is now?
Michnik: I’d never allow myself to take a critical stand toward Ukraine. I’d say that I regard Ukraine from a Ukrainian democrat’s point of view. All that criticism I hear from your democrats concerning the Ukrainian state is very close to me. I see Ukraine through the eyes of Prof. Briukhovetsky, Yuri Andrukhovych, and Oksana Zabuzhko. They are my Ukrainian friends.
What kind of responsibility should the media assume in this respect?
Michnik: This responsibility should be immense. We are the fifth estate and Rosenzweig said that language means more than blood. You can kill with words, meaning you have to be very careful. We have a sharp knife in our hands. We can use it to cut bread or murder people. We have a tremendous responsibility and we must be our own confessors every time we sign an article for publication or put an issue to bed. This responsibility is bilateral, for we mustn’t hurt others’ feelings, just as we can’t let acts of injustice pass unnoticed. As for the political aspect, we are not politicians, it is our duty to protect truth and freedom in society. Of course, we steer a middle course, like all other people, yet our compromise must have certain limits. I bow to all those Ukrainian media and journalists having the guts to speak and write the truth about the Gongadze case, Melnychenko tapes, and Kolchuga scandal.
Why do you think Ukraine doesn’t have its own Gazeta Wyborcza?
Michnik: Because Ukraine used to be a colony, not a satellite country. After all has been said and done, the Ukrainian elite (a very interesting phenomenon in itself) is a miracle, considering the kind of terror you have gone through. It should not have existed after all those purges, [Nazi] occupation, Stalinist terror, massacres of Ukrainian intellectuals in the 1930s. It shows the strength and perseverance of the Ukrainian people and Ukrainian culture.
