On April 7, 2010, Kyiv’s House of the Teacher hosted a meeting with Oxana PACHLOVSKA, a writer, culture expert, professor at Rome’s La Sapienza university, and Shevchenko Prize winner. The object of the debate was her political book Ave, Europa! launched in January 2009 in an overcrowded Ukraine House. To be more exact, the topic was whether Ukrainian society is capable of turning “Ave, Europa!,” which seems to be a farewell phrase now, into one of welcome.
“Quo vadis? This expression may be used to define the subject of our discussion,” began Volodymyr Panchenko, a literature researcher and the brilliant host of this soiree. “Moreover, in our realities, this question very often resembles Hamlet’s formula ‘to be or not to be…’”
“Oleksandr Dovzhenko wrote during World War II that Ukraine was a battlefield for entire Europe,” Ukraine’s ex-ambassador to the US Yurii Shcherbak picked up the tune. “He must have been aware of this country’s strategic importance. There is a serious fight now underway (luckily, without bloodshed) for Ukraine – above all, for the resources that are going to determine its role in the world in the 21st century. This is unfurling against the backdrop of food shortages, when there have been revolts of the hungry and riots in 30 states.
“It is also a fight for human resources, particularly intellectuals and young Ukrainians the vast majority of whom are well-educated and westernized. Oxana Pachlovska’s book is, in fact, a view on the terrible 20th century and an outlook for the 21st century. It is about a choice between freedom and bondage, Ukrainian individualism and the collectivism of a horde, tolerance and aggressiveness, about a dramatic coexistence of two Ukraines: European and Soviet-Russian…
“If asked ‘Who is to blame?’ we must frankly admit: we are. And when we ask: ‘What is to be done?’ we hear in reply: ‘Learn and fight!’ The author gives some interesting and constructive advice about the intellectual and spiritual resistance. For it is common knowledge that culture is an extremely important element in the struggle of systems.”
“Yes, Ukraine needs Europe,” said Bohdan Hawrylyshyn, a prominent economist and a Roman Club member. “But Ukraine, too, can give a lot to Europe. For example, Ukrainians are still sincere in human relationships. You know, the reason why we went out on the Orange Maidan was not to demand wage or social benefits increases, as is the case in France or Greece, where strikers smash supermarket windows and set cars on fire. We defended moral and ethical values. And we were polite, tolerant, and full of team spirit. This is what I call my people. So we should go to Europe with a firm belief in ourselves. I can remember the Poltava-based Kalyna choir singing in downtown Geneva – most of the Swiss who came to hear it were crying. I had never seen a Swiss crying before. In other words, our culture is rich and genuine. And it is bound to be part of Europe’s intellectual culture!”
“The book is of great importance,” says Larysa Ivshyna, editor in chief of Den/The Day. “It is a hope-inspiring sign of times that many, not only sociopolitical, publications are focusing on new books. People want to find the right way out of the informational garbage dump and be able to reach something of value. I was extremely pleased to read letters in the Culture TV channel’s Dialogues program, in which readers asked where they could buy the book Ave, Europa! or just requested us to speak about it. This means that people need a live intellectual contact. We should make all kinds of efforts to meet this demand.
“I agree that we need Europe and vice versa. But we must not forget in what condition we are now. For all this great variety of opportunities has often prompted us to take in the worst in the previous years. And we found ourselves unprotected with our own national immunity. Apparently, the state should try to create some elements of protection so that we do not end up living in a pass-through room. All this talk about Ukraine having to be a bridge… We must delete this vocabulary from our everyday language. Bridges may well be drawn or demolished… It is important to build a full-fledged values-based relationship with Europe and the rest of the world.
“In her book, Oxana has expressed a lot of ideas which I can say carry us from the post-Soviet world to a different – civilized and European – one. In my view, for Europe to understand us better, we must launch our own ‘intellectual industry.’ As James Mace said, Ukrainians will fall into a globalization pit unless they manage to grow and defend their national values. They will be crushed by the steamroller of powerful informational clouts. So let us defend and love the wise and best things that we have!”
The last to speak was the author of Ave, Europa! Ms. Pachlovska itemized her speech. Many of the subjects raised had been discussed in the interviews she granted to Den/The Day. So we offer our readers the most concentrated, in our opinion, ideas.
“Europe is, first of all, a space of freedom and responsibility for this freedom. These categories have existed for millennia since the times of Ancient Greece. Europe is a cultural, rather than a geographical, notion. And we must say that Europe’s borders have been changing throughout centuries. There has always been the question of Europe and non-Europe. Europe is a space of the law, intellect, and creativity. It also means critical thinking, i.e., constant and organic ability to reformat itself and reconsider its own history.
“Samuel Huntington wrote in his well-known book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order that the dividing line between the civilized and uncivilized world, where man is, in fact, a slave of the authorities, institutions, and situations, goes along the Dnipro. In other words, democracy cannot strike roots on the territory of Orthodoxy and Islam. It should be noted that Ukrainian Orthodoxy has a totally different tradition than the Russian one does. It had an absolutely European anthropocentric dimension until the 18th century, when it was destroyed by the Russian Church.
“As we see, there has been a Europe-Eurasia opposition for centuries on end. The past few years have seen major tensions in Russian-Ukrainian relations. In reality, however, relations have been strained between Russia and Europe. For Russia does not accept the European option and interprets this tradition as eventuality of its disintegration as a state. If Russia underwent democratic changes now, it would become an ideological, rather than economic, partner of Europe and the world would have changed.
“Europe is also a space of historical memory. However, memory should not be a moral killer or a cause for depression. Memory should compel one to live. I wish you to overcome all the problems that force us to feel that we are far away from Europe. Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary marched towards Europe, feeling that they were a stolen Europe and believing in their European cultural foundations. Only in this way can one make a choice of civilization.”
In addition to central problems, the conference also broached some other, equally important and profound, subjects, including the necessity to do good and the ability to be grateful. They naturally followed from Lina Kostenko’s account of her personal history. “The presence of a certain person in this room prompted me to reminisce,” Ms. Kostenko began. “This reminiscence is in my memoirs, where I name all names. Oxana suffered very much because of me. She was not admitted to Kyiv University. To be eligible for admission, she had to work as a secretary on the admission commission. And when the dean learned that my daughter worked on this commission, he said to an acquaintance of mine, who had helped her to get employed: ‘You are planting a mine under me!’
“We had to send her to study at Moscow University. Then she worked as a doctoral student at the Institute of Literature – she was invited there because they needed a professor in Italian studies. So if she had passed exams even with a satisfactory grade, she would have returned to Ukraine in any case. But Moscow insisted on a bad mark, and Oxana, who usually received straight A’s, was given an ‘unsatisfactory’ in Marxism-Leninism. There was one named Byalik. He said to the child who had learned Lenin by heart: ‘You are distorting Lenin.’ What could I do to help her? I had no option. I was to do something so that Oxana could pass exams in any Soviet city but Moscow or Kyiv.
“I approached Pavlo Zahrebelny on this matter. He said he could not help but there is a very decent person at the Academy of Sciences… This ‘decent person’ kept me waiting in his reception room for three hours. He smiled all the way and… didn’t lift a finger. This is the way Oxana Pachlovska’s academic career began. Now it is OK. But, maybe, she really needed to go through all this in order to understand what kind of people we have and how they like humiliating others…”
In the end, Ms. Kostenko thanked the ethnic Ukrainian Swiss Bohdan Hawrylyshyn and the Kyivite Yosyf Zisels for financially supporting the publication of Ave, Europa! (over a dozen Ukrainian “patriots” refused to do so).
As a matter of fact, the end of March and the beginning of April showed a demand for intellectual contacts in our society – among different generations at that. (It is, first of all, about the launching of Lina Kostenko’s books Berestechko and The Hyacinth Sun.) Ms. Pachlovska recently delivered a lecture, “Ukraine – Europe: Is an Encounter Possible?”, at the Kyiv Children’s Academy of Arts. To tell the truth, this was followed by somewhat naive questions, but still it was a lively and sincere contact. Taking into account Ms. Pachlovska’s authority, it would have been perhaps a good idea to hold this meeting at, say, the Kyiv-based Ivan Bohun Military Lyceum. For the House of the Teacher has its regular audience, a part of which may have attended the launching of Ave, Europa!
One more touch. All speakers emphasized the necessity of civic activity. This kind of debates may help implement the already-existing idea of founding an intellectual club which could professionally discuss matters of vital importance for Ukraine. These debates may eventually form the critical mass which the authorities will heed sooner or later.
