Studies show that more than half the residents of Donetsk oblast tend to regard themselves as Ukrainians and declare that they love our country and that nothing Ukrainian is alien to them. Meanwhile, other studies argue that the development of the Ukrainian language and culture is being artificially curbed in this oblast, and that the sphere of education is not even oriented on Ukraine and Ukrainian specifics.
Moreover, even a superficial analysis of the situation shows that literally all spheres of life in the Donetsk region are isolated from any chances of developing within the boundaries of Ukrainian realities, which has been especially facilitated by the adoption, on the regional level, of the status of the Russian language as a regional one.
Maria Oliinyk, who heads the Donetsk oblast branch of the Prosvita Society and the political party Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, shared her views with The Day on the humanitarian sphere of today’s Donbas region, which is gradually lowering to a disastrous level. She also discussed her ideas about the region as culturally and linguistically isolated from the rest of Ukraine, the artificial build-up of anti- Ukrainian moods, and “recipes” for solving this situation.
How would you generally assess the current humanitarian situation in Donetsk oblast?
M.O.: If you consider the humanitarian situation in general, it is necessary to discuss all aspects: culture, education, literature, tourism, regional studies, and religious relations. All these spheres are experiencing great hardships in Donetsk oblast in terms of development in the Ukrainian context.
The Ukrainian language is suffering the worst. We are currently witness to an absolutely outrageous situation where people are forbidden to do paperwork in their native Ukrainian language. I am referring specifically to what happened to Mykhailo Lytvyn, a worker in a Donetsk bakery, who tried to fill out the 24-hour shift log in Ukrainian. As a result, he found himself ostracized by the entire personnel and management. He was showered with all kinds of bans, even insults, and ordered to fill out the log using “the language understandable to everyone.”
In the end the victim filed a complaint with a court of law and the court justified the malfeasants’ actions. Lytvyn lodged an appeal against the court decision, and the court again handed down an unprecedented ruling. The litigation has been underway for almost two years. The case has been heard by eight courts, and we still cannot prove that what happened to Lytvyn is a vivid example of humiliation of human dignity in this region and discrimination on the basis of linguistic and ethnic origin. Now we have to bring the case before the International Court.
Speaking of the overall situation of the Ukrainian language, which is the main factor defining the function of the state, Ukrainian is simply nonexistent in Donetsk oblast. All paperwork, all public events, all decisions and actions of the regional administration, city council, and councils on various levels are conducted in Russian. All of them, even the oblast state administration, have made an about-face to Russian.
Is this explained by the fact that the oblast council passed a resolution to adopt Russian as the regional language in Donetsk oblast? We know that Prosvita has contested this decision in court. What are the results of the court hearing?
M.O.: There are no results. The decision remains in force even though we have specified a hundred times that we are not campaigning against the Russian language. It is simply that the oblast council’s resolution reads that Russian is to be used in the region on equal terms with the Ukrainian language. In actuality, there is no Ukrainian in Donbas, period; the council members resolved that Russian will be the second language, but they actually regard it as the only one. As a result, the Ukrainian language has been ousted from practically all spheres of life in the region.
What about people in Donetsk oblast who want to learn Ukrainian? Is this at all possible in the region, and if so, what will be the quality of such studies?
M.O.: It is hardly possible to learn Ukrainian here, in schools I mean. In 1932, 88 percent of schools were Ukrainian. Then the numbers started to drop, until only 2 percent was left before the 1990s. Today we have only four Ukrainian schools and nearly 170 Russian ones. However, since the local authorities are required to provide statistics on the opening of Ukrainian schools in the region, they have come up with a formula you will not find in any legislation: “Schools with Ukrainian as the language of instruction” and this status currently applies to schools where there is only one Ukrainian class.
The same is true of institutions of higher learning and secondary special educational establishments. Vocational schools, institutes of culture, art, and music in Donetsk oblast are 100 percent Russian. Out of 31 higher schools only Donetsk National University has equal Russian and Ukrainian groups. Here everything generally verges on the absurd. For example, there are parallel groups at Donetsk National Technical University where instruction is in German and English, but there is no Ukrainian section.
The consequences are much more serious than what meets the eye. Children who finish school with Ukrainian as the language of instruction have to enroll in higher schools and relearn everything in Russian. After graduation they get jobs and have to communicate with colleagues in Russian. For example, we have a Ukrainian college that trains schoolteachers, and its graduates have to work in Russian schools because there are not enough Ukrainian ones. We used to have a crash course at Donetsk National University to provide a second Ukrainian education for those already trained in the humanities, but no one needs it now and the course was abolished. As a result, blocks of students will have to transfer to instruction in Russian. Moreover, parents increasingly often wonder if it is worth sending their children to a Ukrainian school, since they won’t need the language afterward. As a result, Ukrainian schools and classes in Donetsk oblast may empty.
It is obvious that artificial conditions have been created in the region to impede the functioning of the Ukrainian language on various levels. No one is controlling this process. No one cares about those who want to learn Ukrainian. Of course, we are not demanding that everyone in Donbas switch to Ukrainian overnight. This can be achieved gradually, since Ukrainian-speaking residents in the oblast also want to study, read newspapers, and watch performances in their native language. We are as much a part of Donetsk oblast as the rest of the people, but our rights are being violated.
Isn’t it true that drama companies in Donetsk oblast have Ukrainian repertoires? Take the regional Ukrainian Musical- Drama Theater where more than half of the productions are in Ukrainian.
M.O.: Yes, it’s true, but this drama company is the only one of five regional companies that does so. Take the regional Opera and Ballet Theater. There is no Ukrainian there. It has a children’s repertoire: eight fairy tales, but they are all in Russian. The same is true of the “adult” repertoire, except the only Ukrainian play, Zaporozhian Cossack beyond the Danube, which is more than 40 years old. They also staged Bohdan Khmelnytsky in Ukrainian this summer, but the opera looked more like a show with a cast from all over the world. In the end it was staged several times in Donetsk and once in Kyiv and Lviv. Then the actors went home, and the opera was removed from the repertoire.
I am not saying that all plays must be immediately converted to Ukrainian. I think a region like ours should have two variants, Ukrainian and Russian, so people can have a choice. As it is, there are no conditions for the development of Ukrainian drama in Donetsk and other cities; there is a Russian theater in Mariupil, a Russian youth theater in Makiivka. What about people who want to watch Ukrainian plays? Do they have to travel to Lviv?
Why do you think all this is happening? Who is benefiting from this situation?
M.O.: I can say one thing: I have studied the situation that has developed in the oblast at length and in depth. I can see that ordinary people have nothing against the Ukrainian language, that they treat both languages equally well. Still, there are organizations like For a Ukraine without Yushchenko, Union of Those Born of the Revolution, and Slavic Parties, which are constantly hashing over this issue, setting people in Donetsk oblast against all things Ukrainian. The impression is that in certain cases these organizations act the way an attack dog does on hearing “Sic ‘em!” As a result, nothing is even oriented toward the perception of Ukrainian culture in Donetsk oblast.
In my opinion, this artificial curbing of the development of the Ukrainian language in Donetsk oblast is being done for a political purpose — in order to force a certain concept and then use it for one’s own benefit. That is why the local government is so viciously fighting Lytvyn and other people who want to be Ukrainians above all. The entire system is working against this. As a result, this slant in the Donbas humanitarian sphere is playing into the hands of anti-Ukrainian forces. In this situation I, as a representative of the Prosvita Society and the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, as well as other like-minded people, feel very uncomfortable. We are painfully aware of the absence of support for our interests and views.
Under these circumstances, what are you doing to defend your interests?
M.O.: We are doing many things, but not everything pans out. For example, we have been trying to open the oblast’s only Ukrainian bookstore Kobzar for almost 16 years. We have three thick files of correspondence with the local authorities; they have offered us premises near Marianka, near Yasynuvata, near an airfield, in basements and bomb shelters. In other words, no one wants to help us with this project. We’ve found a basement closer to the center of the city, but we did this through friends.
Through this bookstore we purchase textbooks and send them to schools in Donetsk. We buy these books under our program that is financed by the United States. Therefore, we are being helped by Americans, while our fellow citizens remain indifferent to this problem.
Another effort is our two newspapers that we intended to sell from newsstands, but you can’t buy them there. They are kept under the counter and then ruthlessly written off. I asked the vendors why they were doing this, and they said that nothing Ukrainian is in demand in Donetsk, including newspapers, so they keep them under the counter. I have filed complaints with all kinds of authorities, but the situation remains the same.
How do you think this situation can be changed? How can one alter the public mood in Donetsk?
M.O.: This can be done if there is enough desire, but there is no desire. This should concern every individual, every Donetsk family, and the state as a whole. It is especially painful to hear young people in Donetsk fresh from school, in independent Ukraine, say, “How we hate the Ukrainian language!” because they were forced to study it, whereas in the past students could be formally relieved of it. So when these people encounter the need to use Ukrainian in doing business or establishing business contacts, they become angry and blame the language, not their families or themselves. This is a question of family world perceptions; the way parents handle the process will be the way their children will perceive it. On the other hand, it is the task of the state to create a system for learning the Ukrainian language. As it is, they are shutting down Ukrainian schools. School No. 36 was recently closed in Donetsk.
As a result, children have to change four or five schools to finish the Ukrainian curriculum. Is this normal? Moreover, school is not the only thing that matters. There is also daily life in which Donetsk residents could learn to use Ukrainian. Meanwhile, everything in this city — names of streets, new stores, ads, even posters and billboards — are in Russian.
For example, I wanted to file a complaint to a court of law against Lukianchenko (Mayor of Donetsk. — Ed.). I asked for a housing pay book in Ukrainian and I never received it, but when I made entries in the one I had in Ukrainian, they refused to accept the bills. I simply do not understand why even this right should be infringed upon. Does it mean that I do not exist in this region? Other Ukrainians in Donetsk oblast are suffering the way I do. There is only one protection, one way to struggle against this: endless lawsuits. Unfortunately, I see no alternative.
