At the crossroads

Many people remember how their hearts throbbed when in the morning of August 19, 1991, the television and radio announcers — in formal voices — announced the introduction of the state of emergency in the country. Three days later putschists rushed to the dacha of arrested Gorbachev to apologize. What started as a tragedy, ended as a farce. The Soviet past seemed to have lost for good. People refused to go back to the stall. Just three days later Ukraine was independent. That feeling of pride returned once more in 2004.

Now, 19 years later, it is important for us, citizens of Ukraine, to answer the question: do we need this freedom and are we ready to fight for it?

The Horshenin Institute recently published the data from one of its surveys. The results, to put it mildly, are disappointing. Only 58 percent of Ukrainian citizens have a positive opinion about the proclamation of Ukraine’s independence in 1991, and only a quarter of the population celebrates the holiday. The expert Volodymyr Fesenko explains this by the fact that Ukrainian society has no tradition of marking political holidays. However, the truth may be much worse.

The state of Ukraine has turned 19. For a human 19 is already quite a mature age, a time for choices. For the country — the more so. The Baltic States have been in the European Union and NATO for quite a while already. The Russian Federation has been building its specific “managed democracy.” Citizens of Russia gave up freedom in exchange for imperial dreams without much resistance.

We still stand at the crossroads. Between Europe and Russia. Between the parliamentary and the presidential forms of government. Between the desire for freedom and the desire of a “strong hand.” Ukraine froze at a “bifurcation point.” Renowned experts hold a round table on the subject “The Ukrainian Statehood: a Myth or Reality?”

Of course, one can argue that we have made our choice long ago. And the new government continues to declare our commitment to European values. Moreover, we no longer have chaos and dual power, but a strong power vertical. Stability has been regained. But why then do so many people harbor the feeling that revenge is in the air? A feeling that the country was turned 180 degrees. A feeling of the USSR.

Obviously, the country has changed over the last six months. It turned out that individual deputies could form a coalition. The “Kharkiv Agreements” have been signed and ratified. Sevastopol was given to Russia for 30 years in exchange for cheap gas, which then turned out to be not so cheap. The course towards the Euro-Atlantic integration disappeared from the foundations of domestic and foreign policy. We are now supposed to merely cooperate with NATO.

On April 27 in Strasbourg the president of Ukraine stated that the Holodomor was not an act of genocide. In Zaporizhia a monument to Stalin appeared. And the Institute of National Memory is headed by the communist Soldatenko. A communist ruling this institution is in many ways even more humiliating for Ukrainians than Tabachnyk as Minister of Education.

In addition, the opposition disappeared somewhere. One can hear it, but the source of the sound is unclear. And this background noise does not prevent the authorities from building their rigid vertical and demanding undisputed subordination.

An opinion has recently appeared among people that with such a pace of surrendering national interests it will not take many years until Ukraine’s independence is but an anthem, a flag, an emblem, and a holiday.

However, we still have freedom. It is attacked from every direction, but it still exists. And freedom is independence. It leaves hope that we will be able to leave this “bifurcation point” and follow our road to Europe.

The Day asked experts to assess the condition of the state’s self-realization. What were the mistakes? What opportunities were successfully used?

Alla CHERNII, candidate of political sciences, Rivne:

“Ukraine has both gained and lost since independence. Our state is recognized worldwide as being independent. This is an achievement of both governing and opposition structures. However, the country has lost a lot due to frequent changes of its direction of development (domestic and foreign). This concerns, for example, the issue of joining NATO. At first, this possibility was viewed as positive, but now state leaders changed reversed this course. But such shifts are misleading for regular citizens. In addition, such activities are frowned upon in a global context. If a state follows one direction, then working with it is much easier. In Ukraine some uncertainty in foreign policy remains. In addition, there is no single direction of future development. Today no one can say where Ukraine is heading. Moreover, a partner like Russia cannot raise the international rating of Ukraine. It is perceived as being somewhat inferior.

“So on the one hand, there is some progress, but on the other hand, we are coming back to those years when you needed to fight for something.

“Regarding internal processes, today the issue of religion is even more politicized than before. There are also negative changes in the social sphere, like raising the retirement age. These decisions are not weighed. Moreover, the issue was not discussed at the level of local councils and involving the public. Educational reforms can hardly be called positive either. Freedom of speech is now more lost than gained, and the language issue has become even more politicized than under President Kuchma. Instead, the public has no influence on the government and MPs.”

Fedir HONTSA, architect, lecturer at the Bohdan Khmelnytsky National University in Cherkasy:

“The state exists, but there is a feeling that it is still underage. It is seemingly both beautiful and intelligent, but something adult is lacking. When it wants to do something it asks for approval, when it did something — it hesitantly asks for praise. A considerable uncertainty pervades its own organization, its own power. It seems to be capable of doing everything, but it is shy to act. After all, what ‘position’ can there be when many of the leaders of all ranks that stay in office are repainted in different colors? Thus, there is a state. The world knows it. But it understands that we keep changing our mind and it is unknown how we will behave. If you think of political life as a freeway, we are driving hectically and making sudden changes. This is dangerous for other drivers. Sudden shifts and movements on the road, as you know, always lead to accidents. Ukraine must understand that it is a grown-up, independent, and confident, not just beautiful and attractive. And it is not becoming for Ukraine ‘to beg’ anyone to be accepted, it must decide whom to give the mitten.

“In my opinion, people who made statist decisions thought unsystematically, that is they considered each decision or group of decisions as a separate issue, with no general concept of development. This is also proved by the lack of a national idea — a global hyper-goal for the country. Any project has certain stages, each with its own purpose, but they are under one common banner. When there is a goal, it is better to work in the country, and understanding various ‘troubles’ clearer. Unfortunately, none of the leaders gave clear answers to banal questions: What do we do? When shall we finish it? What should the results be? We are still undecided whether we live alone (self-sufficiently), or marry either the West or Russia? Admirers are well-known already, and everyone smiles from his corner, and we like the advantages of both, but we still pick our own oven of uncertainty. Thus, we lose time, and one day someone will take us with our entire dowry to do housework.

“Unfortunately, all these years there were more squandered chances; those which were used must be explored and analyzed. But I think that the actions which produced positive results were accomplished by able individuals. Therefore, our success is rather personalized than nationwide. After all, life does not consist of only positive or negative moments; in the country’s life everything is ‘multicolored.’ Sure, one would prefer more warm and pleasant colors, but only against the background of negative ones can positive bright spots be seen.”

Anatolii SOKORYNSKY, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional organization of the Ukrainian People’s Party:

“Despite the fact that Ukraine is an independent state, I cannot say I’m satisfied with everything that happens. In my opinion, our state is not going in the right direction. Today we see that our course towards Europe changed abruptly, democracy is collapsing, and stagnation in all spheres begins. In short, there is no movement forward. We made a major mistake back in 1991: after the proclamation of independence, new elections to the parliament were to be held. Hardly anyone would have voted for the communists, and a new parliament would have come to power. But ‘well-wishers’ began to persuade us that communists were good guys — they also voted for independence. Thus, we did not use the historical chance to radically renew the country, as it happened in Central Europe or the Baltic States. In addition, we didn’t conduct a lustration of even the highest party officials. We showed too much political tolerance, being intoxicated by the independence. However, as one now understands, it was a mirage, a Ukrainian ‘fata morgana.’ Despite these sad results, independent Ukraine has managed to preserve democracy and to gradually develop a civil society. They were unable to impose an authoritarian or dictatorial regime on Ukrainians, as it happened in other CIS countries. We also managed to avoid armed conflicts, rampant aggression, and xenophobia, we were able to keep civil peace. And, in my opinion, the most important is that people of different nationalities can live together quietly, work, and raise children. Civic peace is the main achievement of independent Ukraine. The rest will be acquired over time. So far, we are pulled back by the Soviet past, which is part of every citizen. But a new generation of Ukrainians who did not live in the Soviet Union is growing up, and they see independent Ukraine as their country. We often mention that Moses led his people through the desert for forty years. We have passed only a half of this way, and they try to turn us back. But it is important to continue to move forward, and we will reach our goal at some point.”

Andrii KLYMENKO, the head of the Tavria Institute of Regional Development, honored economist of the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea:

“For me there are three markers showing that Ukraine is a state, and that the theories of failed states, which our northern neighbor tries to impose, are false. Suffice it to look when the team of Ukraine plays in Donetsk, and how the stadium stands up when the anthem is sung, how viewers are decorated with symbols of Ukraine, and how they support it.

“One should also look at the reaction of the Crimean youth who says, ‘We won!’ Or ‘We lost!’ When it comes to soccer, basketball and so on, they are worried. And this is another generation for which the state of Ukraine, even with defects, crooks and problems, is truly their own. And I think that is very valuable.

“Finally, I happened to watch round tables in Yalta on regular readings ‘The Great Russian Word’ that took place several months ago. It is remarkable that our colleagues from Russia — and the best of the Russian political science milieu and media elite were represented — explicitly said: ‘Gentlemen, Russia needs to hurry up because in a year and a half or two years we will have nothing to do here, for a new generation of Ukrainians grew up, who already know two languages, Russian and Ukrainian, and for whom there is no question of choice between Russian and Ukrainian culture, they choose European culture. And for me that fright of Russian politicians, political scientists, and journalists truly showed that the Ukrainian state was realized.

“We are often compared with Poland, and often not in our favor. But the main problem is that the Poles moved from socialism to democracy, and we moved from socialism to capitalism, from authoritarianism to democracy. And nobody else in the world simultaneously tackled the task of creating a state, which never existed before, and at the same time — the task of forming a political nation. Exactly these four transitions, which simultaneously overlapped, created difficulties which we have been dealing with for 20 years. But I think that Ukrainian people will overcome them as well.

“Of course, we made all possible mistakes, and seemed to have used our opportunities poorly. But the main chance, which we did use — this is a spirit of freedom, this is what we managed to gain and keep with such difficulty. The spirit of freedom unites people in Ukraine today, whether they realize it or not, and precisely this helps people move forward both owing to a fair wind, and despite the circumstances confronting them.”

Interviewed by Vadym RYZHKOV, The Day, Dnipropetrovsk;
Tetiana ILNYTSKA, Rivne;
Viktoria KOBYLIATSKA, Cherkasy;
Mykola SEMENA, Simferopol