Soviet Union

Euromaidan and Youth’s New Way of Thinking

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Photo: Ivano-Frankivsk students at Euromaidan. Illustration for Bogdana Poberezhna's "Euromaidan and Youth's New Way of Thinking"
Ivano-Frankivsk students at Euromaidan. Source: versii.if.ua

Bogdana Poberezhna
Faculty of Natural Sciences,
Environmental Studies (Ecology),
Master Program (1st year)
From Kyiv city

Euromaidan is, for sure, the most lively and discussed event of the past 20 years. Moreover, it will stay the most memorable for Independent Ukraine’s history. Maidan protest started as a student strike, but united people from all over the world. People from all regions of Ukraine took part in protest, part of them came to Independence Square; others – were supporting or observing it on TV. On the one hand, student strikes were numerous in the history of European countries and they were able to bring changes, and the same happened in Ukraine, which was a signal of changes in society. On the other hand, Euromaidan is the event which a new generation was waiting for to reveal its political priorities, attitude to authorities, and information exchange manner. Read more →

Euromaidan: What We Gained

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A police barrier in the Maidan, February 19. Illustration for Olena Iagniuk's "Euromaidan: What We Gained."
A police barrier in the Maidan, February 19. Source: Businessweek. Photographer: Brendan Hoffman.

Olena Iagniuk
National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”
Faculty of Economics
Master Program (1st year)
from Kharkiv city

A lot of people claim that the major achievement of Euromaidan is the downfall of the previous political regime. It is, undoubtedly, true; however, it would be unfair not to mention other important consequences of the recent events happening in Ukraine: the unification of citizens, world community recognition of Ukrainian nation’s democratic values, and a great lesson for future politicians. All of them are of significant importance and should be neither neglected nor forgotten.

First of all, with the help of Euromaidan, Ukrainians realized that they are all a part of the one whole. While fighting for freedom, democracy, and better future, the people showed an extreme sense of unity, support, and mutual help, which might not appear explicitly in peaceful times. There was no prejudice concerning age, nationality, origin, or place of living: brave people from Donetsk and Kharkiv were standing side by side with the citizens of Lviv and Ternopil at the barricades in Kyiv, without facing any kind of language or cultural barriers. Common values and clear vision of the reason that had lead them to Maidan Nezalezhnosti allowed people from all parts of the country to become one single powerful mechanism; the understanding of this fact, in turn, made people stronger, both physically and mentally, in their struggle. Read more →

History Reversed – History Re-lived

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Bohdan Nahaylo

During the half-a-year since the courageous students in the Maidan dared to declare “enough!” and to sound the clarion call to national revolution, we have witnessed: the heroic resistance to, and overthrow of, a corrupt, cynical, and in essence anti-Ukrainian regime; the immediate back-lash from the ancient regime’s backers in the Kremlin aimed at denying Ukraine’s right as a sovereign nation to self-determination, both internally in terms of its democratic choice, and externally as regards self-identification and alignment with the Euro-Atlantic community of states and their values; and, annexation via brutal force, subterfuge and a pseudo-referendum of Crimea, and the replication of these vile methods, with a similar anti-Ukrainian aim, in the Donbas.

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Volodymyr Kravchenko on Ukraine after Yanukovych

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Ukraine after Yanukovych through a Historian’s Eyes

Volodymyr Kravchenko, Director of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS)
Volodymyr Kravchenko
Director of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies and Professor in the Department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

On the one hand, a professional historian finds it more difficult than a political scientist or a sociologist to define what is now happening in Ukraine, since his conceptual apparatus is different from theirs. On the other hand, the current Ukrainian phenomenon, which has aroused alarm and hope throughout the world, cannot be understood without some grasp of history. Read more →

Звернення директора Канадського інституту українських студій Володимира Кравченка стосовно ситуації в Україні

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Vladimir Kravchenko, Director, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies,  on the situation in Ukraine

Останнім часом увага засобів масової інформації в усьому світі прикута до України. Спочатку до України, потім до Сочі, потім знову до України.  І побачимо, що буде після Сочі. Все починалося з Майдану, який  був, я б сказав так, зовсім неочікуваним для багатьох. У тому числі і для професійних політиків, у тому числі і для професійних політологів.  І зараз ми бачимо динаміку розвитку за  три місяці. Динаміка з одного боку виключно негативна, тому що вперше з року проголошення незалежності України  дійшло до крові, дійшло до вбивств, дійшло до смерті багатьох людей. З другого боку ми повинні оцінити ці події з точки зору історичної перспективи. І в рамках історичної перспективи, я є історик, я не є політолог,  але в історичній перспективі це  виглядає як,  мабуть, остання фаза ерозії і деконструкції радянської системи, радянської культури, радянського способу життя. Я маю на увазі ті негативні її риси, які зрештою  привели до розвалу радянського союзу.  І ми бачимо, що радянська система продовжує розвалюватися і в окремо взятих територіях цієї колишньої країни. Зокрема в Україні. Read more →