“To win, we must change!”

Den’s Days are still on in Uzhhorod. Numerous visitors to the Yosyp Bokshai Transcarpathian Regional Art Museum are not only viewing an exposition of the Den’s Photo Competition’s best pictures, but also willingly buying books from our library, thus topping up on their “collections of wise books.” Editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna’s visit to the Transcarpathian oblast center in fact began with an intellectual debate at Uzhhorod National University’s Academic Board room. The topic of the debate, which included the university’s faculty and students and the region’s academic elite, public activists and diplomatic mission representatives, was “How Can We Win?” This lively two-hour dialog focused on the ways of Ukraine’s development, the political situation in this country and in Europe, the place and role of intellectual journalism in state-building processes, and its impact on the Europeanization of our mentality.

We offer our readers the most interesting ideas expressed during this debate.

MYROSLAVA LENDIEL: “IT IS DEN THAT MAKES ONE THINK”

“Den is not only an impartial source of information for intelligent Ukrainians, but also a true intellectual and educative center which has been working for many years, like a diligent restorer, to rip off the thick layers of foreign ‘plasterwork’ from the glorious pages of our history and causes our contemporaries to critically reconsider social processes. It is not only a newspaper – it is a holding of good ideas and meaningful deeds,” said moderator Vasyl Ilnytsky, a Transcarpathian journalist and Den’s correspondent.

Larysa IVSHYNA emphasized on her part that it gives her great pleasure to communicate with a reading audience. The world of today is overfilled with information, and its “overproduction” is a modern challenge that can only be responded if one has taste, moral criteria, and inner culture. “Our newspaper is aimed at a serious reader, for wise politics grow from a realm of wisdom. As we worked, we always tried to be sort of a navigator for this kind of reader. For this, I searched for allies first of all in the milieu of university academics, not journalists. When we began to launch educational projects, I understood that it was our history that could give us keys to the future. Thus our first book, Ukraine Incognita, saw the light of day. It still receives very many good comments.

“The newspaper has been systemically working all this time to raise the intellectual level of readers. In addition to our own publication, we have grown a ‘tree of knowledge,’ every branch of which is an interesting project. In particular, it is the newspaper proper, photo competitions, and books (our library includes 19 titles now), the Summer School of Journalism, the glossy Route No. 1, and many others. The newspaper has in fact turned into a holding of intellectual initiatives,” Ms. Ivshyna said.

“Den is an emblematic newspaper,” said Myroslava LENDIEL, Doctor of Political Sciences, pro-rector of Uzhhorod National University. “At a certain period of my life, it was this publication that made me think. Every society can have a set of readymade recipes on how to live, what to change, and who to respect. And there can be a material that will make one ponder on their own history, on what is going on today, and on what people can change in their own lives and in society. In my view, Den is this kind of publication.”

LARYSA IVSHYNA: “THE CONSUMPTION OF MASS-PRODUCED INFORMATION IS OUR VOLUNTARY HELP TO PUTIN”

Mykhailo DELEHAN, Ph.D. (History), chair of the regional branch of Ukraine’s National League of Regional Ethnographers, who was the first to be given the floor, noted that Kyiv’s officials are very often not exactly willing to see local problems, including those in Transcarpathia, that cause pain and suffering due to despair and a social deadlock. This is why he said it would be a good idea if the influential Den printed materials on regional issues, which would help solve difficult problems and, at the same time, broaden the circle of the newspaper’s aficionados. This view was supported by Volodymyr PIPASH, chief of the Information and Public Relations Department of the Transcarpathian Oblast Administration, and a longtime head of the Transcarpathian branch of Prosvita society, who thanked Den for the publications that helped stop building about 300 mini-hydroelectric power plants which the previous government had tried to put up and which would have caused irreparable damage to the local environment. “So, I am happy that the newspaper Den exists, comes out, and works for Ukraine,” he said.

“Now about public responsibility of the press. We are striving for the values of Western civilization, based on democracy, and independent press is the cornerstone of democracy itself. And it is very important that journalists themselves should be prepared and have a moral right to exercise public control over all the branches of power,” Pipash emphasized.

“I know very well that people in the regions often regard me as not a newspaper’s editor-in-chief but as a Kyiv representative to whom they can voice their complaints, which are in fact supposed to be addressed to the president, the premier, MPs, and ministers, because these are not exactly in a hurry to go to the regions and hear the people,” Ivshyna answered. “We have been writing daily for many years about nationwide and local, including Transcarpathian, problems. But I can only see Segodnya and Fakty, not   Den, at Uzhhorod’s newsstands. I think Transcarpathians should also take more care about the proliferation of an intellectual space instead of just waiting for somebody else to come and begin doing some beneficial work. Why are your well-off fellow countrymen not exactly seeing to it that wise books come to the schools their children go to? If the Ukrainians themselves do not begin to tackle the problems of their communities, Kyiv will surely not do this for them. And the mini-hydroelectric plants example only proves this.”

Speaking of the information war against Ukraine, Ms. Ivshyna pointed out that everyone is in fact a target. And The Power of the Soft Sign emerged as an antidote to the “Russian World.” The Russia-unleashed information war means for us that every citizen must be aware of being a target. For this is a war for our identity, awareness, and history. The aim of it is to persuade the West that Ukraine does not exist as such. The consumption of this mass-produced information is our voluntary help to Putin. Instead, Den offers sound-minded Ukrainians an effective weapon. All we have to do is read, get “armed,” and be ready to respond to the difficult challenges of today.

LARYSA IVSHYNA: “WE MUST WORK VERY WELL TO SET ASIDE WHAT RECENTLY DOMINATED”

There was an interesting dialog between Den’s editor-in-chief and Laszlo VIDA, Hungary’s consul in Uzhhorod. The diplomat expressed deep gratitude to the publication he reads every day. There are practically no newspapers of this level and content left in Hungary, he says. They have been ousted by the gutter press. The press is highly responsible, particularly in the current Ukrainian situation, when there must be no twisted or unreliable information. In the diplomat’s view, the Ukrainian press is covering the attitude of the Hungarian government and public to the current situation in Ukraine in a somewhat warped way. Den is a pleasant exception in this case. “We are pleased to recall that the newly-appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Hungary to Ukraine, Mr. Erno Keskeny, granted his first big interview to no other than Den’s correspondent in Transcarpathia, Mr. Ilnytsky. As for how to win in the eastern Ukraine conflict, this can only be done by force of example. And I must emphasize that Hungary is unambiguously on Ukraine’s side and is vitally interested in its territorial integrity,” the diplomat said.

“WISE POLITICS GROW FROM AN INTELLECTUAL SPACE”

“As for Ukraine’s way to Europe, there should be first of all reforms, not empty promises. We can hear today very many statements and see very few real steps and concrete actions in this direction on the part of the Ukrainian leadership. Unfortunately, Ukraine and Hungary do not know each other on a proper level. And an ordinary Hungarian schoolchild knows about Ukraine as much as his Ukrainian peer does about Hungary. So, we should coordinate our efforts to know better the history and culture of the two neighboring countries. And it is difficult to overestimate the role of the press here,” Mr. Vida pointed out.

“We once made a book on Ukrainian-Polish relations. I think it would be a good idea to make a similar publication about Ukrainian-Hungarian relations, too,” Ivshyna said. “A German journalist is doing on-the-job training in our newspaper. We are prepared to make a similar offer to our Hungarian colleagues. This would be a joint contribution to the rapprochement of the two nations and a big step to foster greater mutual understanding and strengthen our relations.”

At the same time, Den’s editor-in-chief noted that there had never been even a single Transcarpathian in the Summer School of Journalism and called on Transcarpathian media people to try to pass the advanced studies competition this year.

It was the Uzhhorod University student Myroslava HARAZDII who asked the most interesting question. She inquired about award conditions for the For a Civic Stand prize named after James Mace, a former Den contributor, whose studies helped Ukraine and the world to know more about the Holodomor. As a reward for penetrating interest, she received a gift from the editor-in-chief – Ukraine Incognita. TOP 25, the Den Library’s latest book.

Ms. Ivshyna said the following about her vision of how we can win: “It is a monumental task to modernize the national character. To be able to win, we must get rid of all that has always hindered us from having a ‘comfortable Ukrainian home.’ The state and the people must make an all-out effort for everybody to live well. This will undoubtedly influence the overall atmosphere. We must work very well to set aside and marginalize what recently dominated.”