Language and cultural processes

The press from Western Ukraine has raised several nationwide social issues, the resolution of which requires a change of moral basis of the society. One of them is the family violence, and a lack of social workers to settle the issue⁵³. Waifs and “social orphans”, caused by labor emigration of parents, pose another problem⁵⁴. Yet another problem caused by labor emigration is a lack of crèches and kindergartens for children left by their parents⁵⁵. Special attention was paid to homeless people, resulting in certain experience of their social adaptation⁵⁶.

one hand, country schools cherish traditions, but that’s about it: “And then there’s total darkness, caused by unwillingness to learn something new, and intellectual and emotional infancy. It went so far as to the situation when senior pupils have no idea of modern Ukrainian writers. Therefore, cultural situation in the region may be considered “an ignorance dressed in folk attire”⁶⁵.

The Express newspaper from Lviv has similar thoughts: “Annual festivals of ethnic music, regularly held in Transcarpathia, recent victory of Ruslana, with her seemingly Hutsul “Wild Dances”, at Eurovision Song Contest, created an illusion of a kind of renaissance of Hutsul traditions. At the same time, it is becoming harder and harder to hear a true kolomiyka (folk song) in the mountains, while authentic folklore is carried mostly by old people who have nobody to hand over century-long traditions”⁶⁶.

In Chernivtsi oblast, the press turns attention to the direct dependency between national cultural processes and general development: “To love Ukraine, to live in accord means to value and know its history, state language, culture, faith, folk traditions, to love the state that cares for the development of ethnic cultures and raises spirituality of each citizen, protects the people, provides opportunities for their realization and obtaining decent salaries. Under such conditions, our state will become a country of global level of development, and the Ukrainians will turn into a modern nation, respected globally”⁶⁷.

It is indicative that different regions demonstrate similar understanding of the preservation of classical cultural heritage. Thus, in Kherson oblast, the press emphasizes a necessity for growing interest to classical music, while in Ternopil oblast there’s concern with a decline of opera because of scarce funding⁶⁸. The preservation of historical monuments is yet another subject of common concern. In Lviv oblast, emphasis is made on the losses because of removal of cultural artifacts from Ukraine: “Mostly they were stolen and brought to Moscow. Here we may act maybe through an international court, but still there are no guarantees”. The newspaper calls for scientific proofing of Ukrainian property of removed artifacts, and for pressure on officials for greater activity in that regard⁶⁹. Attention is paid to specific monuments as well. In Poltava oblast, there is a concern with destruction of ancient Slavic burial mounds, in particular, with danger to Stovburova Mogyla⁷⁰. The condition of cultural establishments is a common regional problem. In Donbas, relevant articles turn attention to decline of cultural centers and libraries, and scarce funding of museums. In Kherson oblast they believe that it is impossible to survive without centralized support of culture, and call for spreading of Rivne experience of restoration of culture infrastructure in rural areas so that every village would have only one, but really working, cultural center⁷¹.

In central oblasts, the press criticizes the practice of spending tremendous amounts of money on organization of festivities, while this money is managed by few individuals, they are indifferent to the future of museums; attention is drawn to insufficient funding of not only museums, but also musical schools and creative teams ⁷².

In Ternopil oblast, attention is concentrated on factors preventing the development of cultural process: low salaries of culture and art workers, practice of funding shortfall of cultural establishments, including professional teams, lack of money for purchase of instruments for musical schools and books for libraries, and problems of heating of cultural establishments⁷³.

Language issue is the most confrontational one, as confirmed by regional press analysis. Draft law on languages, submitted by O. Moroz, socialist leader, provided a new impetus for discussion.

Donetsky Kryazh had a special interview with him in order to provide a platform for arguments in favor of the draft law⁷⁴. As it should be expected, regional press made completely different assessments. In the East, the position of the Russian language Donbas newspaper may be

considered typical; however, the newspaper consistently supported the development of the Ukrainian language and its broader use, and against granting the Russian language the status of second state language (so to say, nobody forbids speaking Russian); it popularized Ukrainian written records and persuaded its readers that legalizing Russian as a state language is nothing else but speculations of unfair politicians. At the same time, the newspaper supported the draft law by O.

Moroz⁷⁵.

In the East and West, the press disseminates negative attitude towards spreading Ukrainian in the sphere of education and decreasing number of Russian language and literature lessons⁷⁶. Even more so, there are attempts to discredit the Ukrainian language itself. Verzhe newspaper from Zaporizhya claims that “everyone knows very well that expressive means of Russian and its lexical composition are much richer than those of Ukrainian”. Another newspaper from Zaporizhya, MIG, repeats the same thesis: “Modern Ukrainian, according to many literati and readers, is so obsolete that it is simply incapable of adequate description of the present-day reality”⁷⁷.

The press of southern region expresses both positive opinions regarding legalizing Russian language as a state language, and even more radical opinions that there should be the only state language, uniting the people for the achievement of a goal. Hence, aggressive political forces that care not for social interests, but for own ambitions78 raise the language issue.

The press of the western oblasts shows complete imperceptions of granting the Russian language the status of official, let alone state language. Such harsh attitude is reinforced with concerns regarding the present condition of Ukrainian language and culture. In particular, The Express newspaper from Lviv published an interview with G. Udovenko, a member of parliament, where it was underlined that the principal ethno-national problem is the condition of title nation, the Ukrainians, whose language should be the language of interethnic communication in the country⁷⁹. Covering language/cultural situation in the country, Volyn newspaper notes: “Striving to consolidate itself ‘in a friendly circle of nations’, Ukraine faces outstanding examples of overcoming postcolonial language dependency in many countries. In the meantime, we still declare national renaissance, remaining a spiritual semi-colony”⁸⁰. Ternopil press expresses its resentment with disregard for Ukrainian in the parliament, government, presidential administration, TV, mass media, and publishing business⁸¹.

Forecast of catastrophic future of the Ukrainian language has influenced the perception of draft law by O. Moroz. As a result of presidential Decree on the Protection of the Rights of Citizens to Use the Russian Language and Languages of Ethnic Minorities, Bukovyna from Chernivtsi published an appeal of the Reporting and Election Conference of Chernivtsi Oblast Union of Prosvita all-Ukrainian Association to the President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko, deputies of the Verkhovna Rada, ministers, top officials of all ranks and Ukrainian citizens, which stated that, after the draft law by Moroz, it was the second heavy hammer that deals a deadly blow to the Ukrainian language, and probably finishes it off⁸².

In Volyn newspaper, a group of Ukrainian intelligentsia speaking about the draft law by O. Moroz declared that the Ukrainian language has become “one of the most flawless languages of the world”; unfortunately, many people from other ethnic groups have failed to learn the language of the title nation: “So do we really need to adjust our laws to their disrespect of us, their neglect, ultimately, to their ignorance?”⁸³.

In Chernivtsi oblast, people believe that the Ukrainian language is not only a priority, but also an obligation for every Ukrainian citizen; moreover, the language is the national immunity⁸⁴.

The same newspaper published an appeal of Chernivtsi branch of the Union of Ukrainian Females to V. Yushchenko, Yu. Tymoshenko and V. Lytvyn, containing the following wordage: “The state status of Ukrainian language has been steadily ignored by top officials… That flagrant tradition is continued today by some officials and deputies of the Verkhovna Rada, thereby proving their anti-Ukrainian, anti-state position”. According to the authors of the appeal, legalizing Russian as second state language will “bury” the language of the title nation⁸⁵.

Proskuriv, a newspaper from Khmelnytsky, has published a positive reportage of the conference of oblast organization of the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, where the idea of state bilingualism and the said presidential decree were criticized, and The Express newspaper from Lviv gave the floor to L. Lukyanenko, a member of parliament, who warned that as far as the reality demands us to save our motherland instead of spreading Russia in Ukraine, in case of granting the Russian language the status of second state language, it will be necessary to oppose the President⁸⁶.

Leftist media are an exception in Western Ukraine: on the one hand, they are forced to recognize the role of title nation language; on the other hand, they support the idea of two state languages.

Radyanska Volyn, for instance, recalled that during the Soviet times, much more books were published in Ukrainian, and Ukrainian songs were heard in cultural centers throughout the USSR;

as a result, “the Ukrainian language enriched the Russians considerably, primarily, in literature, theater and poetry”. Hence, according to the author of the article quoted, bilingualism is a tremendous cultural resource of Ukraine; therefore, there’s no point in Ukrainian translations of technical literature⁸⁷.

Regional opposition on language issue remains hardly resolvable yet, due to its axiological substance: every part of Ukraine associates with it the establishment of certain spiritual and ideological preferences.