Today the “Our Country through the Eyes of Foreigners” column introduces Susanne Nies, international programs manager at the Paris-based Institute of International and Strategic Studies. She is a longtime researcher of the European Union, trans-Atlantic relations, Central and Eastern European Countries, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Baltic states. We asked this scholar to respond to the following two questions:
1. What kind of Ukraine did you see or discover for yourself? What struck you the most?
2. Can you name three reasons to love Ukraine?
1. I like the diversity of your country, from Odesa to Lviv and Kyiv. This is an enormous country that should reconcile diverse experiences and histories — Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Crimean Tatar, and others. And you’ve managed to do this very well until now. This is a country with a huge potential and a promising future, but you should take care of this. You should preserve the excellent Soviet-era educational system for your children, the next generation. I am always struck to see ‘ordinary’ Ukrainians in France and Germany, who know about Tolstoy, Marie Curie, and Bulgakov — practically everything. This is great, and the new generation should not only be good managers, know how to earn money, or to emigrate, but also to care about the non-material legacy. What I saw was an open European nation (European in terms of culture, democracy, and freedom) but with a lack of equality at the present time, which is a grave problem, and perhaps insufficient fraternity, even though there is much of it abroad, in the Ukrainian diaspora. When I speak to my Russian friends from, say, Memorial, they simply say that today’s Ukraine is a country with an interesting press, freedom, and opportunities to speak out.
2. Here are three reasons to love Ukraine. I love the European idea, not a specific country, and for me Ukraine is part of the European vision or dream. At the moment, your country is in the grips of a difficult geopolitical situation, which in reality provides an opportunity to reflect, as best as possible, on your East-to-West role that you should fully play and make use of. You should be drawing up grand plans instead of struggling for survival and adaptation, as well as maintaining a strong link with the enormous diaspora abroad. So give them a place in your press and make sure that one day they will bring their experience back to this country. I love Ukraine because of its educated Ukrainians, efficient masters, and also because it is a country that is European, not nationalistic, one with a beneficial blend of Russian, Polish, Jewish, and Ukrainian cultures.
As Ernest Renan once said, a nation is the desire to live together.
