On the “injections of patriotism”

In a cozy library of this classical school (gymnasium), you suddenly see a high pile of newspapers Den. Unlike the other, filed, publications, these were just put one copy on another. The librarian Liuba Tovstobriukh must have caught my glance and explains: she never files the newspaper Den. Nor is she going to do so this year. For, otherwise, she would have to constantly undo the file – teachers very often try to borrow a Den and read it at home because they cannot do this at their workplace. But if they bring the newspaper home, the whole family and even the neighbors will read it. The small town’s interests are not confined to its own boundaries, and they appreciate Den for its attitude, information, and articles, Tovstobriukh says. The articles are then discussed for a long time, but the school is cash-strapped. Lokachi residents have more than once thanked their fellow countryperson, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna (Zhalovaha), for being able to read “a wise newspaper and wise books.” For, although she says she is Volyn-born, the small town remembers and is proud that this lady comes precisely from Lokachi.

“The impression is we are supposed to be born readymade patriots. But it is not so. Our principal Oksana Sakharchuk likes quoting the writer Svetlana Alexievich’s phrase: ‘You can’t make free people overnight. It is not Swiss chocolate or Finnish paper. It takes a very long time to create a human.’ When we were schoolchildren, the Soviet authorities cared so much about ideology, our class used to conduct political briefings for the entire school. We were to keep track of Party congresses and plenums and analyze their decisions. But citizens need to be shaped now, too,” saying these words, Tovstobriukh takes some Den-published books off the shelves: ‘Armor-Piercing Political Writing’ and ‘Subversive Literature’ series, The Power of the Soft Sign, and others – she must carry them to the assembly hall for an exhibit that is part of the workshop about Den’s new publication – Ukraine Incognita. TOP 25.

Judging by the way they look, these books were read more than once. New readers come to the library to borrow them after each workshop.

“People sometimes say even like this: ‘Olia Horodniuk spoke about Hrushevsky so interestingly! Please, give me this book, too,’” says Liuba who was stunned when after the conference even mathematics teachers, whose professional interests seem to be far from literature and history, came to take “Subversive Literature” because the history of Ukraine and the persons who created it cannot leave a conscientious person indifferent.

“When Larysa Ivshyna handed over ‘Armor-Piercing Political Writing’ series to the school, I leafed through these little books and understood that my moral and professional duty was to acquaint as many people as possible with them. It is not simple to become a true Ukrainian, a patriot. To become a Ukrainian today, you must make a lot of efforts, learn the language perfectly, and know history. It costs an effort to regain historical memory, understand who you are in this world, in this land, and become aware of your identity. Our main goal is to give an impetus to reading,” the school principal Oksana Sakharchuk says.

Sakharchuk (the main, so to speak, inspirer and organizer) administers “injections of patriotism,” as workshops on Den’s new books are called here, in different forms. While senior-grade pupils presented “Armor-Piercing Political Writing” to participants in a regional seminar for law teachers, teachers presented “Subversive Literature” to pupils. And Ukraine Incognita. TOP 25 was to be presented in the presence of the district’s well-known people. The principal says that, to present a wise book, she selected wise people: Vasyl Demydiuk, chairman of the Lokachi Raion Council; Iryna Romaniuk, deputy editor-in-chief of the district newspaper; and Vitalii Kushnir, curator of the Viacheslav Lypynsky Memorial Museum. The workshop was titled “Salubrious Drops of the History of Ukraine from the Newspaper Den.”

In Sakhachuk’s opinion, these words of Taras Shevchenko are decisive for 25 political articles gathered under the same cover. She, a linguist by profession, immediately finds the necessary quote in her memory. Literature and history have merged together here, so to speak. Once, speaking to pupils about the ethnic traits of Ukrainians, she noted that the centuries-long occupation of our land by foreigners had left an imprint – unfortunately, the traits that are not typical of our mentality have caught on so strongly that some people easily consider them “ours.”

“Look, Kotliarevsky wrote long ago that ‘Aeneas was a lively fellow and quite a Cossack for a lad.’ We have known this phrase since we went to school. But the writer also indicated a different thing – that Aeneas was a… briber. So, corruption, against which the Maidan rose up, is not a new problem. The children say to me: ‘We wish there had been an anticorruption bureau at the time,’” Sakharchuk says smiling.

Each of the adult grand men who were presenting the book Ukraine Incognita. TOP 25 chose the text which they thought fully expressed the ideas consonant with those of their own. Vasyl Demydiuk, now an official, cannot (and does not want to) forget that he is a history teacher, for he is convinced that it is a very great benefit for society to know true history. But all history schoolbooks have always been politically biased. So, he advises reading Den’s books, for they are debatable and disclose many things that we did not know. He has revised school manual texts on the period of Kyivan Rus’. It was interesting to hear his reflections on that Prince Volodymyr only completed the baptism of Rus’, which the previous princes had begun. He shares the opinion that Kyivan Rus’ achieved the peak of its spiritual prosperity under local, not Varangian, rulers. Incidentally, he does not exactly like it that there are sort of “Varangians” in the current Ukrainian government, while there are enough wise patriots among the Ukrainians.

The local newspaper deputy editor Iryna Romaniuk spoke about Serhii Krymsky’s “High Sky Effect.” The philosopher explains why such a temple as St. Sophia of Kyiv has managed to survive, what it means for us, why people reflected on the end of the world as long ago as the 1st millennium, and other interesting things. Vitalii Kushnir, curator of the Viacheslav Lypynsky Memorial Museum in the village of Zaturtsi, chose to present Serhii Lytvyn’s article “Petliura and Pilsudski: a Difficult Path to Mutual Understanding.” As a historian, he takes a keen interest in the epoch when these personalities lived, for it was also the time of Lypynsky who wrote prophetically that nobody would build a state for us unless we did this by ourselves. Kushnir said that Ukraine Incognita. TOP 25 had also been presented to the cultural community of Zaturtsi and the surrounding villages at the museum he curates. He is pleased that Den offers a virtual excursion to the Viacheslav Lypynsky Museum on its website, being one of the first in this excellent project.

“We invited 9th, 10th, and 11th grade pupils to our workshop. Eighth-graders also wanted to come, but there were no seats for them. We want you to read the books published by our renowned fellow countryperson Larysa Ivshyna who studied in the same classrooms where you study today,” school principal Sakharchuk said. “While people say ‘Tell me who your friend is and I will say who you are,’ I would express this idea differently: ‘Tell me what books you read and I will say what kind of a person you will become and whether you will become a citizen at all.’ I fully share Larysa Ivshyna’s opinion that the drama of Ukraine is a drama of unread books. So, I will repeat her words over and over again: ‘Ukrainians, read!’ My dear pupils, read and reflect on wise books, make citizens out of you!”