C-U-L-T-U-R-E!
Last Thursday the National Opera of Ukraine hosted the All-Ukrainian Intelligentsia Forum, which was attended by President Viktor Yushchenko. The event was held on the initiative of the National Council for Culture and Spirituality, the Congress of the Ukrainian Intelligentsia, and some leading scholars and cultural figures. The forum discussed and adopted a concept of Ukraine’s development in the sphere of the humanities. On the eve of the event, The Day’s readers and experts expressed their opinions concerning the agenda our country’s intellectuals should offer to Ukrainian society and government.
All of Ukraine’s problems are very well known. The gravest of them is the low quality of our elites and the differences among them. All Ukrainian failures, either in the 17th century or during the period of the Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), resulted from the fatal inability of Ukrainians to put national interests above corporate or personal ones, squabbles, or the stupid clash of ambitions. It would be a good idea to force each of our politicians to read Panteleimon Kulish’s novel The Black Council about the 1663 election of the hetman near Nizhyn. The plot of this novel greatly resembles our reality: the frantic attempts of Briukhovetsky and Somko to sweep everything away in order to clutch the mace, playing up to Moscow, which was simply biding its time until the khokhols killed each other off, social populism, and demagogy.
Consider the years 1917-20. The unbridled ambitions of our leaders also had a deadly effect. It is difficult to read everything that Volodymyr Vynnychenko wrote about Mykhailo Hrushevsky, Pavlo Skoropadsky, and Symon Petliura, what Hrushevsky wrote about Vynnychenko, etc. Each one pictured himself in leading roles! There was no self- criticism, only a burning eagerness to serve the enemy just to spite a political rival. This immediately raises the question: if all this never ends, what is the mechanism that causes this mentality to pass from one generation to another? Genes are surely not to blame. Then why do our current statesmen have “doubles” from the past?
In my opinion, first and foremost, we must come to our senses, forget about the 2010 presidential elections, and try to answer the following question for ourselves and society: what do we want besides power? How will we go about establishing our national priorities and achieving our goals? What tactics are we going to employ to implement our strategic plans? Unfortunately, too much energy is still being expended on the political struggle. Instead of the state’s interests, that is what is shaping the behavior of many political players in Ukraine today. I think it would be a grave mistake to opt for a totally party-based electoral system: this would only add fuel to the fire of political conflicts and elevate many “party men,” who are not professionally prepared to carry out government duties.
Another point that I was thinking about on the eve of the forum of Ukrainian intellectuals was CULTURE. I agree with those who believe that Ukraine’s future will depend to a large extent on national culture. There is a lot to be done in this sphere. Ukraine still looks like an occupied country. Proof of this is the despicable state of the information space, book publishing, show business, and cinema. Although this has been the subject of years-long debates, there are few positive changes. All the debates essentially boil down to one thing: the state should pursue the right kind of policy. But what is a state policy? This means people who are vested with power and the documents that these people draw up, adopt, and implement. We have many patriots but very few experts to draw up laws and resolutions. So it is strange to listen to a parliamentarian enumerating problems from the rostrum. He (or she) has been bustling about in all kinds of commissions and committees for years on end, but what has he done? What can these people say to the public? What help do they need from experts?
It is high time we put pressure on the government, demand that it pursue a proper policy, and cooperate with it in all constructive matters. If intellectuals do not do this, then who will?
