“We want to be different!”

Kyiv–Chernivtsi–Kyiv — “It is a pity that we are not in a position to show today’s meeting live on television,” Den/The Day editor in chief Larysa Ivshyna said as the session of the Ostroh Club of Free Youth Intellectual Exchange in Chernivtsi drew to a close last week. It is indeed unfortunate because the forum held last week at Yurii Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University was a significant event not only for its participants from almost all regions of Ukraine but also for the country as a whole. This talk became the initial point of a different trail being blazed by the young people who are aware of their responsibility for the state’s further destiny and are seeking an opportunity to stay away from the sad realities of today’s politics. This forum will not be known to as many people as we would like to, but, fortunately, Den/The Day readers are sure to read about it. Now more in detail about this.

The dialogue between the newspaperDen/The Day and Ukrainian students has not ceased even for a second since it began almost a decade ago. The most illustrious proof of this is the Ostroh Club of Free Youth Intellectual Exchange established under Den/The Day’s patronage in 2006. In the almost four years of the Ostroh Club’s existence, its members have toured the entire country: Ostroh, Odesa, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Simferopol, and other cities. Each of the club’s destinations saw a debate on the topical subjects of Ukrainian society. What is more, the participants tried to find mutual understanding, thus laying a very important, even if fragile, bridge between the young people of different regions. “As I graduated from the university, I had two supplements attached to the diploma: one with grades and the other called Ostroh Club. It is the club that taught me to understand this country, listen to, and, moreover, hear others,” Ostroh Academy graduate Maryna Pashkovska said, assessing her experience. In each city the club has left its tiny island, the source of a new way of thinking and a new interpretation of this country.

Meanwhile, Den/The Day’s pages still remain a rostrum for club members, and the editorial office keeps inviting them to take part in all newspaper debates. By way of crystallization and meticulous selection, Den/The Day and the Ostroh Club have formed their own reality separated from this country’s littered space. The Chernivtsi conference showed the Ostroh Club’s transition to a new stage: from forming its own environment to choosing the direction of movement.

However, the Chernivtsi conference was preceded by a three and a half year-long journey full of events, disappointments, and achievements. (Den/The Day’s regular readers have been able to watch the Ostroh Club’s development in our publications.) This year the club’s conference, traditionally held on Unity Day, January 22, in Ostroh, invited Chernivtsi students. They were so much captivated by the club’s idea and atmosphere that they promised to arrange a similar conference in their university.

There was no need to persuade the Chernivtsi University Rector Stepan Melnychuk and Vice-Rector Tamara Marusyk, the initiator of the meeting, to do so. They have been in touch with Den/The Day since 2007, when Larysa Ivshyna presented the newspaper’s library for the first time there. So Ivshyna and Ostroh Club members received a cordial invitation from them to hold a conference at Yurii Fedkovych University. What is more, we were accompanied on this journey by our new acquaintances from the Crimea — students from higher educational institutions located in Simferopol and Sevastopol. Their arrival itself shattered the stereotype that the Crimea’s young people are apolitical. On the contrary, they made the 36-hour trip the Crimea to Chernivtsi in order to learn more about “mainland Ukraine” and the life of their peers.

The first part of the forum — launching Extract 150, a new book in The Day’s Library Series — provoked a lot of questions from the audience, especially from Serhii Hrechaniuk, lecturer at the Department of Journalism. He asked how the editor in chief managed to develop the newspaper’s longtime credo “not ours but best.” Actually, this should be the natural formative principle for any professional milieu, including the topmost echelons of public administration. But the metamorphoses that have occurred in Ukrainian society over so many years have led to a situation when wherever this phrase is pronounced, it sounds almost like a revelation.

As the debate showed, the recipe for this country’s success is not so complicated, and one should not invent national ideas and record them on the “officially stamped” paper. One should create a new system of thinking and communication, and this begins with such seemingly simple things as the Ostroh Club. “Such small practical steps produce a great spiritual effect. Whatever careers Ostroh Club members will make, I am convinced they will be interesting people with awareness of their responsibility. And, what is more, they will always support one another if necessary” said Ivshyna, expressing her belief that this formula, evolved in conjunction with the club, is the beginning of this country’s transformation. The participants of the Ostroh Club’s conference, which addressed the topic “Political Culture of Young People,” are convinced that it was one of the best discussions in the past three and a half years. The explanation is simple: the accumulated knowledge and experience of communication have brought the club to the moment when it is only natural to ask: What should be done with this?

Much to our regret, modern-day Ukrainian politics as a sphere of practical application of the gained experience arouses nothing but resentment in intelligent young people. Yet, musing on why it is so, the debaters asked themselves self-critically: “And if we were in politics, would we be the same? What are we to do in order not to dilute in this milieu? Will we be strong enough to stand our ground?”

“Everybody is responsible for their own life project,” insists Ivshyna. From now on, the Ostroh Club is a reference point and norm to which they should always return in critical situations. This standard will not let them get lost in the jungles of modern-day informational space and will always help them distinguish between deviations and the norm.

Unfortunately, Ukrainian society is largely unprepared for this kind of thinking. Nevertheless, the roundtable heard that young people account for a mere four percent (!) of today’s Ukrainian parliament members.

When a discussion is sincere and uninhibited, it maintains the same temperature no matter where it is being held — at an official conference or an informal dinner. Therefore, a surprise from Ivshyna — a dinner at Karintia, one of Chernivtsi’s most hospitable and democratic restaurants — was the logical continuation of an hours-long debate. An unforgettable promenade across the nighttime Chernivtsi, the atmosphere of a Vienna-style cafe, and the expression of gratitude to the organizers and friends for becoming like-minded people was a good way to round up a hard day. And then came a gift from Chernivtsi University: a discussion on Ukraine’s achievements and an excursion to Khotyn, one of Ukraine’s historically most important cities, where the outstanding Ukrainian Hetman Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny (incidentally, an Ostroh Academy alumnus) won a victory.

Antin SHKURO, 4th-year student majoring in political science, Chernivtsi National University:

I was greatly pleased to be present at the Ostroh Club roundtable debate. It is sort of a circle of like-minded people who are not indifferent to this country’s future and who are trying, by discussing pressing issues, to attract other interesting parties to the dialogue. Of great interest was the question of young people’s political culture. This is a problem for each and everybody to discuss. But the main thing is that young people should be aware of being the nation’s prime moving force. We must create an effective mechanism to get youth involved in the political process. The debate also spotlighted such a topical problem as the mass media’s impact on young people’s political culture. As a political science student, I was glad to hear the opinion of my counterparts from other universities as well as many other interesting things. In general, the conference was held in a superb format. Many thanks to all the organizers of this event for an opportunity to take part in the debate. Special thanks to Ms. Ivshyna. We are looking forward to seeing you again.”

Vasyl MARDAL, 4th-year student, Chernivtsi National University:

“My friends and I liked it, although initially it looked like we were forced to take part in the roundtable. But I must frankly admit, however, that I would hardly have found myself at the conference had it not been for the Ostroh Club member Denys Podiachev, whom I know personally, and for never-ending reminders from our deputy dean. The club should improve the way it advertises itself. Regarding the political culture of Ukraine’s young people, we should first look at the society in which they live and the political system into which they are squeezed today. It is a typical post-totalitarian society which seems to have broken the old system of values but has not yet created a new one. With this in view and taking into account our socioeconomic situation, we can clearly see that it is very difficult for young people to find their own goals and motifs, let alone create their own integrated system of values.

“It is common knowledge (and this was also on the roundtable’s agenda) that young people are showing a very pronounced tendency towards emigration. So it is difficult to speak about political culture when people cannot find a place for themselves in their own country. I think this problem is interrelated with the socioeconomic situation: if the latter improves, there will be fewer people like these, and vice versa. This country is fed up with talk — one must work! Youth is very much fragmented. Surveys show it is the most disillusioned part of society. Still, young people also have positive features: they are free of the archetypes and other elements of political culture associated with our past when Ukraine was subject to imperial forces. In my view, people of this kind are quite capable of building an independent state.”

Ivan SOPIHA, 4th-year student majoring in political science, National University of Ostroh Academy:

“What struck me, and perhaps all the others, the most is the architecture of Chernivtsi National University and the city of Chernivtsi itself (often called “Ukrainian Vienna”). I advise everybody to visit it. Yet excursions were not high on the agenda of the Ostroh Club’s sojourn in the capital of Bukovyna. Launching a new book in The Day’s Library Series, Extract 150, was the conference’s star attraction.

“In the words of Ms. Ivshyna, the book comprises the most high-profile articles written in the years of the newspaper’s self-denying existence. There was, as part of the book launch, a debate between Ostroh Club members and Chernivtsi University students on the political culture of young people. As usual, while discussing the problem, the debaters expressed various, sometimes opposite and disputable, opinions. Yet there was no difference of opinions on crucial issues. This means that young people are taking a critical view of what our mass media are feeding us with. It is unfair to say that the old political elite will give way to a new, but not better, generation. It was interesting to hear political scientists from various nooks and crannies of Ukraine speaking in the same (and correct, in my opinion) vein. This reveals an equally profound understanding of the existing problems and ways of their solution. So there is bound to be the national elite in Ukraine!”

Niyara NAGAIEVA, 4th-year student majoring in political science, Tauris Liberal Arts and Ecology Institute, Simferopol:

“I was very glad to receive an invitation to visit the Ostroh Club session in Chernivtsi. Firstly, it is a meeting of old and new friends. Secondly, it means new acquaintances. Thirdly, it is seeing a new city. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Ms. Ivshyna, whom I consider a prominent journalist and an interesting personality, would be attending the event.

“After covering a long distance, I reached the charming city of Chernivtsi. It was very unusual to find myself in a cool Bukovyna after the warm home in the Crimea, but the superb landscapes captivated and struck me with their beauty so much that I immediately forgot that I was cold and felt tired after a long journey. It looks like I fell in love with… Chernivtsi! It is pervaded with a wonderful atmosphere, harmony, and peace. People are sincere and amiable here, and young men are very attractive.

“The Ostroh Club roundtable (a lengthy discussion, interesting questions, and compliments from the club members) showed that Chernivtsi students are very clever and quick-witted. I had naturally expected a warm welcome, interesting impressions, and useful contacts — but not to that extent. I am bursting with emotions and impressions, for they are unforgettable. I only sadden when I recall the necessity of going back home. Discussing the topic ‘Political Culture of Young People’ was beneficial for everyone because many of us began to think differently. And this is very important, for the future of our country is in the hands of youth. We must do all things possible and impossible to keep Ukraine prospering. Glory to Ukraine!”

Kyrylo KOMISSAR, 3rd-year student, Sevastopol City Liberal Arts University:

“It is on my first journey to western Ukraine that I first attended an Ostroh Club debate. In my opinion, the forum was brimmed with emotions. The excellent group of political science students from Chernivtsi National University surprised me with their intense activity. What also struck me was the city of Chernivtsi, its beautiful architecture, warmhearted and amiable people. As for Ostroh Club members, they all turned out to be wonderful, very interesting, and sensitive people, the people you want to see and mingle with over and over again. All this made a lasting impression on me. I wish I would take part in more roundtables, visit other cities of our fatherland, and… come back again to Chernivtsi.”