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Intellectuals comment on the crisis in the humanities sphere in Ukraine

01 April, 00:00

Bohdan KOZAK, People’s Artist of Ukraine, professor, and dean of the Faculty of Culture and Arts at Lviv National Ivan Franko University:

“I do not believe in collective decisions and meetings because they always turn into just a gabfest. Every cultural figure is primarily responsible for his or her work, and it is their work that reflects their conceptual vision of the most pressings tasks. As for an all-Ukrainian concept, the Ministry of Culture should be the one drawing it up and posting it on its Web site so that all creative people can read and discuss it in print and online publications. Only then should any kind of serious concept be adopted, especially one aimed at developing the sphere of humanities in Ukraine.

“But even if I believed in the usefulness of this sort of event, I would take the floor and talk about what I know best. For example, Lviv National University has a Faculty of Culture and Arts, and this institution enables us to publish books and journals needed by both practitioners and theoreticians of the theater. After analyzing the effect of articles in these journals, I can say for sure that what theatrical art badly needs today is the earliest resumption of theatrical tours all over Ukraine. We need tours so that the eastern part of the country can welcome theaters from central and western Ukraine and the other way around: Galicia should welcome theater companies from eastern, southern, and central Ukraine.

“There is a tremendous lack of information in Ukraine as to what is going on in cultural life. There are too few good Web sites on this subject. We need a genuine television channel devoted to culture, not a travesty, like the one now broadcast in the middle of the night. Here is an example not from Europe but our eastern neighbor. Russia has an excellent TV channel called Culture, which informs viewers about music news, the country’s theatrical life, new books, and everything that is covered by the broad term ‘people’s culture.’ It is a high-quality European channel, and I am so sorry that we don’t have one like this.

“It is not enough for us to have Proscenium, a quality theatrical journal that is published in Lviv by the National University. Kharkiv should also publish a similar journal, and Kyiv should publish and distribute a larger version of the journal

The Ukrainian Theater throughout Ukraine. We need information exchanges and a professionally organized and well-filled informational space.

“We also need all kinds of theater festivals, not only on the regional scale but the national one. Kyiv’s National Karpenko-Kary University of Theater, Cinema, and Television will hold an international festival of theater schools in April. This is a wonderful example of an organizational search because the festival will be attended by companies from all over Europe. We will be able to exchange experience and learn about the theatrical process in all of Europe, not just in Ukraine. The theater is developing. It is multifaceted and continuously improving its various scenic forms, so we should also know what productions various schools are staging.

“I am aware that every project requires adequate funds, which Ukraine lacks. But we should not rely on budgetary funding alone: we must look for sponsors in Ukraine and abroad, and work more intensively in this direction.

“I think an artistic personality who boldly comes to grips with a certain problem plays a very important role in every project. So I say again that I do not believe in any collective meetings and decisions because it is the individual, a concrete person, artist, or cultural figure that will have to fulfill all these decisions. And I don’t know if they need any general concept. A theater’s concept is the productions it stages.

“I am sorry I don’t personally know those who initiated the forum of intellectuals. I don’t know how delegates were chosen, but I am sure there will be no young people there. The proof is the latest congresses of various creative unions, including theater people. Meanwhile, we should be opening the door of such forums to young, energetic, and dynamic people who are full of new ideas and know how to design and carry out interesting projects, as well as how to raise funds so that they can implement their plans. On top of it, they should understand and love their people and the Ukrainian state, and compare what they are doing with what is emerging and going on in Ukraine and the world.”

Petro KRALIUK, first pro-rector of National University of Ostroh Academy:

“Our government leaders like consulting intellectuals from time to time. Today it is the Congress of the Ukrainian Intelligentsia, and tomorrow it will be some other forum. Is this good or bad? In general, it is good because at least there is some kind of a dialogue going on between intellectuals and the government. As the popular saying goes, ‘Among the blind a one-eyed man is king.’ What is bad is that by force of enduring historical traditions, our intellectuals play an entirely different role from their Western counterparts.

“The West managed to create conditions of relative freedom for intellectuals, beginning with medieval universities and Catholic orders (at least the latter displayed independence from the secular authorities). Modern times saw the rise of academies, publishing houses, the mass media, etc. In Western society, the intellectual is not only a transmitter of knowledge and cultural experience. He is valued as an ‘independent expert’ whose personal opinion may run counter to the views of the majority. This does not mean that the authorities will necessarily accept this opinion, but they have to reckon with it by formulating a more flexible and optimal pattern of behavior. So the West does need to hold any forums of intellectuals because there is a viable model of communication between intellectuals and the government.

“Our situation is different. No matter how hard we swear allegiance to democracy, proclaim our pro-Western attitudes, etc., our society still remains hierarchical. Its essence has remained intact for centuries in spite of the changes of government. Our society, which existed in the times of the tsars and during the Soviet era, is now successfully reviving in Ukraine. Typical of this kind of society is a written or unwritten ‘table of ranks,’ whereby a higher-ranking individual wields almost unlimited power over a lower-ranking one. In this system, reaching the peak of power is the end that justifies any means. And such a system does not exactly need the intelligentsia.

“In other words, intellectuals are needed to serve the government, so it is no accident that in Soviet times intellectuals were regarded not as something self-sufficient but as a stratum that catered to the workers and peasants (in reality, to the communist nomenklatura). In our country, too, the intelligentsia remains a stratum that the powers-that-be need in order to carry out their plans. The result is that most of our mass media are singing the praises of government officials on different levels, intellectuals are joining the ‘proper parties’ en masse, educational institutions are constantly receiving instructions as to what they should do, and so on.

“There are exceptions, of course, but they only confirm the rule. Perhaps in time these exceptions will lead to the creation of a critical mass of people who will shape a powerful body of truly independent intellectuals in Ukraine.

“In general, I wish society and the government would change their attitude to intellectuals. We can’t confine ourselves to sporadic ‘forums’ during which we hear — let’s tell the truth — what the government wants to hear. We need something different: we have to create autonomous institutions and proper conditions for intellectuals so that they will become truly independent.”

Ihor PASICHNYK, rector of National University of Ostroh Academy:

“I would advise the forum participants to borrow a page from their predecessors, the Ukrainian intelligentsia that has always existed and shouldered the burden of saving the nation. The wisdom of Prince Vasyl-Kostiantyn Ostrozky was that he was the only one in his time to understand that princes should give way to a new formation called the intelligentsia. So he founded Ostroh Academy, which sowed seeds that sprouted generously and bore fruit in the subsequent centuries of the Ukrainian nation’s existence. It is the intelligentsia that assumed the function of preserving culture, spirituality, and morality in the most critical moments of our national history. The intelligentsia is not just a guide — it lays the groundwork for a viable society.

“We sometimes urge our state leaders to do unrealistic things, demanding that Ukraine be on par with highly-developed countries during the short period of its independence. On the other hand, we must look each other in the eye and say bluntly that during the years of independence Ukrainian society has reached a critical mass of problems related to spirituality and morality. Today, solving the problem of our country’s development in the humanities is not just a pressing issue. We are witnessing a threat to Ukrainian statehood.

“Over the years of independence, despite the presence of dozens of research institutes in the fields of psychology, pedagogy, and the theory and practice of upbringing, our state has not chartered a clear-cut national, scientifically-based, and applicable program of upbringing and education. Neither teachers nor the media know what basic ideas and values the younger generation should be taught. So we are approaching the point where our country’s future elite will turn from guides into destroyers of the nation.

“At Ostroh Academy, for example, we have solved the problem of upbringing without looking for any innovations or special know-how. The educational process at our university is based on morality, Christian values, and the national idea — notions that the Ukrainian public prefers, for some reason, to mention only in whispers. There is no alternative to these basic things, and the entire Western world has acknowledged this. There were attempts in the Soviet Union to change this system of upbringing, and you know the result.

“I am surprised that some well-known politicians and public figures say that we should first raise the economy and only then start dealing with history, culture, morality, etc. There have already been such experiments. The economy was once built on an anti-moral basis in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. I recall President Ronald Reagan saying that America spends big money on education and culture not because it is rich — it is rich because it spends big money on education and culture. If we are to follow in the West’s footsteps, let us think in terms of Western standards.

“The Ostroh Academy recently hosted public hearings in which some intellectuals from Rivne took part. We drew up proposals about a concept for the development of the humanities in Ukraine, including such urgent things as a national program of moral education based on Christian morality and the national idea, a viable program for the Ukrainian national informational and cultural space, resolving family and public health problems, etc. I wish the national forum would not only outline problems of the development of the humanities in Ukraine but also find realistic ways to overcome the crisis in this sphere. It is time intellectuals assumed responsibility for the current state of affairs in our country.”

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