This year’s Eurovision made clear a few aspects which we should be aware of. Firstly, Europe really sympathizes with Ukraine and understands the present threat emanating from Russia. It understands that history of aggression is now being repeated and reinforced, and the tragedy of the Crimean Tatars is a reminder that evil tends to return. After all, the native Crimeans who began to return to their homes in Crimea in the late 1980s are now experiencing another wave of occupation and are once again forced to leave their homes. Worst of all, the tragedy of the Crimean Tatars is just an episode among many unlearned lessons and undone home assignments of the past, which include the artificial famine in Ukraine, repression, outright genocide and ethnocide launched against peoples that tried to resist the Kremlin horde. Ukraine won the contest with its song and its pain, while Russia plays its part with deaths and morbid dances. This is intuitively readable at the subconscious level, which is hard to deceive.
Secondly, Russia is aware of its sin, but it does not want to recognize it. This is the source of hysterical and cynical statements by Russian commentators, like that claiming that Jamala’s song told the story of the Tatars who “looked for a better life” in Kazakhstan.
Thirdly, Ukraine has, unfortunately, proved that it lives in two parallel worlds at once. On the one hand, we have a nation which is able to win the contest thanks to its talents, to attract the world’s attention to the tragedy and, according to Refat Chubarov, send just one person to do something that thousands could not do. On the other hand, it appears that our government did not expect the victory in the slightest. That is, it chose to hold no preparations whatsoever, which is why it turned out that Ukrainians switched TV channels in vain if they hoped to get any more or less complete coverage of this exciting event. Therefore, it has made evident what likely is the main breach in our humanitarian defenses, I mean a failure of strategic planning. Thanks to Jamala, Europe sees that Crimea is not just another Russian region. Crimea is a victim of Russia. Our singer foiled insidious media plans of the Russian special services who buy over Western European journalists and politicians.
That is why the current burning issue is how systematic and thought-out Ukraine’s approach will be as it will work to use the opportunity offered by this victory, I mean the right to hold the Eurovision contest next year. And it is not only the allocation of funds which is at issue here, since the amount required is much less than the sums involved in oligarchs’ transactions (according to advisor to the Minister of Infrastructure Jaanika Merilo, the amount may range from 8 to 15 million euros). The real issue is whether we will be able to plan for all the possible ways of attracting the international community’s attention to the disaster brought about by Russia.
“I AM VERY POSITIVE ABOUT THE IDEA TO HOLD THE EUROVISION IN SEVERAL UKRAINIAN CITIES”
Zurab ALASANIA, Director General of the National Television Company of Ukraine:
“Concerning ways for us to gain ideological benefits from Jamala’s victory, I remind you that we learned of that victory only yesterday. That is, we still need to digest it. As the first step, we need to assemble a working group to think about the strategy to be pursued within the National Television Company of Ukraine. We should ascertain what we have, what we want, and what we can get. After this, we need to use this audit’s results to evaluate the country’s resources. I am very positive about the idea to hold the Eurovision-2017 in more than one city. After all, apart from the contest itself, we have the national selection to hold as well. This is a huge opportunity for my TV channel and for the country. As we strive to transform the state TV into a public TV, I believe that this contest will kick even our monstrous system into higher gear. The list of the contest’s venues can include various cities, from Kharkiv to Lviv. We already have the infrastructure, built for the Euro-2012. In addition to the infrastructure, we also have a wonderful experience in holding large-scale international events.
“As to your question about my experience in stealing public funds, I want to say that I am not going to steal anything and will not allow anybody to do it. The budget for coverage of the event will be known after we negotiate with the European Broadcasting Union, which owns the Eurovision rights. Frankly speaking, I am not going to repeat the mistakes that were made in 2005, on the previous occasion when Ukraine hosted the Eurovision. The government has nothing to do with this contest at all.”
“MAYBE, THE EUROPEANS HAVE REALLY REACHED THE STAGE OF HISTORICAL RETHINKING”
Vitalii PASTUKH, a producer:
“Regarding the technical preparation for the competition, I believe that this should not be a problem, because Ukraine has experience gained from hosting the Eurovision as well as the Euro-2012 soccer championship. I believe that the government can find the funds required to hold this contest as a dignified representative event for Ukraine. The sum required is more or less equal to the MPs’ annual compensation after the recent hike. Still, I believe that they will steal some Eurovision funds this time as well. Nonetheless, I am glad that we can make a nice work with minimal resources and even in a critical situation. As for stealing, they will continue with it until the whole country changes for the better.
“Frankly, I did not expect that Jamala would win. I did not expect it because Europe is generally inclined to distance itself from any difficult issues, from wars, and we have a war going on in Ukraine. And then it turned out that on the contrary, Europe showed it cared about our misfortune. Maybe, we do not know everything that is happening in the minds of Europeans, and they have really reached the stage of historical rethinking, and rethinking of ongoing events as well.
“The fact of our victory is yet another opportunity offered to us by ordinary Europeans. We have to show quality work to Europe. It may prompt Europe into putting more pressure to finally end this war.
“I have major complaints about the media coverage of the Eurovision. Effectively, immediately after the contest, all attention shifted to the Internet, while TV proved completely not ready for hosting discussions and supporting our shared joy of victory. UA: First and other Ukrainian channels were asleep. After the Eurovision broadcast, we saw something amazing, as we switched channels, but found no post-format shows whatsoever. It was very strange. On the other hand, I am convinced that Russia was preparing to win a year in advance, and they prepared congratulations on Sergey Lazarev’s projected victory, and the show to follow it. Russia is very serious about it all, planning everything in advance. Many said that Ukraine is now run by embezzlers of public funds and Facebook posters. All positive comes from the public, which actually pushes the government and points out specific challenges and tasks to it.”
