The previous issue of The Day carried a front-page letter from Anna Vakulenko, a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl residing in Mykhaylivka, Kirovohrad oblast. She answered our question “What do you think is wrong with the adult world?” addressed to Ukrainian children by posing several dozen questions of her own. The Editors relayed her questions to politicians and all of The Day’s readers. This time, her questions are answered by Ostroh Academy National University students, young people only several years her senior (incidentally, Anna dreams of becoming an Academy student), and their peers at the Kamyanets-Podilsky State University (a group of students led by Yevheniya Sokhatska, one of their teachers and a regular contributor to The Day, who decided to add to Anna’s List).
This desire to answer the questions of eighth grader Anna Vakulenko seems to have turned into a large-scale discussion of a pressing issue.
A COUNTRY OF TWO REALITIES
The following are comments addressing several questions [in boldface] posed by Anna Vakulenko.
Why do we hear about Europe’s highest economic growth in Ukraine, and why do I see fellow villagers wearing valenki felt boots and galoshes?
Because there are two kinds of statistics, one for the government and the other for the cabinet-supervised State Statistics Committee, even though both reflect an overall GDP growth. Another thing is important, specifically how this increment and effective reforms affect the man in the street in Ukraine. Of course, this progress is obvious in Kyiv, for the capital is perhaps the only place where one can see what Ukraine should look like today, in every region and district. Why? As a political analyst, even if just embarking on the career, I am certain that the reason is that rigid centralization is being practiced in the political system and in the allocation of financial and human resources. Indeed, a strong capital city with a strong central government, meaning pro rata allocation of the said resources, was very badly needed by Ukraine at the dawn of national independence; in fact, it is a phenomenon peculiar to most postcommunist countries striving at all costs to preserve their stability and sovereignty. In the case of Ukraine, a desire to integrate with the EU, where most countries are decentralized or have found some golden mean in keeping with the principle of a strong capital city with strong regions, is accompanied by the pressing need to implement that long-planned and cherished administrative and territorial reform. The latter boils down to granting more rights to the oblast administrative regions, along with opportunities to solve problems relying on their own resources. I am sure that people in Mykhaylivka, the village mentioned by Anna Vakulenko, know better about their problems and needs than any Kyiv bureaucrat. Therefore, the main objective of this reform should be establishing a system whereby local bureaucrats could take measures and find solutions to problems so as to raise the local living standards without waiting for or fearing instructions from those upstairs, be it a village, district, or town.
Why did I have to pay as much as eighteen hryvnias for a Ukrainian book on animals as a present for my brother?
In view of the current situation, it has transpired that Ukraine does not need inexpensive and quality Ukrainian books. Book publishers complain that the state is paying little attention to their problems and point to Ukraine’s neighbors, particularly Russia where book publishing ranks with the highest domestic political priorities, where the publishing companies enjoy all kinds of tax concessions and are actually protected by the state. The result is a paradoxical situation, which defies common sense. Under the circumstances, Ukrainian books are best published in Russia (considering the costs involved). Why not in Ukraine? There is a powerful pro-Russian lobby in the Cabinet and Verkhovna Rada. The last thing these people want would be for the Ukrainian book-publishing business to become competitive. Obviously, this problem has long surpassed social limits, becoming more and more political. Reasons behind this lamentable situation should be sought in the current government’s ineffective book-publishing policy; those in power do not seem willing to heed the publishers’ proposals. One is reminded of the recent actions of protest in front of the Ukrainian Cabinet building, with manuscripts symbolically burned by those in charge of state-run and private publishing companies. Uncoordinated efforts on the part of the parliament, State Tax Administration, and Finance Ministry have resulted in a conflict of laws, meaning that under some laws the publishers were VAT-exempt and subject to certain privileges, while under others the STA had to levy taxes at the rates effective since 1991. Not surprisingly, under the circumstances, the Ukrainian book-publishing industry had fallen into decay, with the situation quickly getting from bad to worse, meaning an overall long-term crisis. Ukrainian politicians not interested in developing the publishing business should know that books are what forms a nation, and that their absence leads to national regress and multicultural expansion.
Does this mean that I should dream of leaving Ukraine since childhood?
This question is best addressed to the current politicians. It could be answered by posing yet another question, concerning myself and our younger generation at large: Do we have to act as bazaar vendors to build our future? If I don’t have any strings to pool, rich relatives to rely upon, nothing except my desire to make a career, and if I am a strong-willed individual, the only solution to the problem is working hard and struggling to achieve my goal. Struggling to achieve it at all costs, including one’s health and the loss of all those precious years of carefree youth. I have seen people my age or my senior, leaving Ukraine, deserting Ukrainian villages and small towns for the sole purpose of trying to earn a living abroad, even if paid a pittance, doing jobs no one of the populace would even think of accepting, becoming alcoholics, drug addicts, and criminals. We are all out to get the GDP increasing, but few know how many Ukrainians are outside their home country. Millions are out there. Consider the social losses thus incurred; the Ukrainian population is getting old, with more people dying than children getting born, when we are faced with a major industrial output crisis, considering that most businesses will lose their equipment in a couple of years, owing to the natural process of wear and tear, without any upgrading.
Why does the rural intelligentsia refuse to subscribe to newspapers and magazines, feeling content to make do with leaflet-format periodicals containing weekly television programs and short items addressing Nagiyev and his scandalous Okna talk-show?
If the rural intelligentsia does so, these people can hardly be referred to as intellectuals, even though the very notion of intelligentsia, as individuals supposedly acting in order to achieve a certain lofty objective, boasting superior moral and cultural values, is becoming extinct. Instead, we constantly hear about elite. Unfortunately, in Ukraine the critical matter of the political elite has not undergone any global transformation. Some 88% of this so-called elite are functionaries originating from the Soviet nomenklatura. It is also true that the domestic elite is experiencing an inner struggle for survival, while there has taken place an evolutionary change of generations. Obviously, the latter- day political intelligentsia — people aged between 20 and 30 — is only taking shape; people that are supposed to have inherited the best from the postcommunist system — like moral values, principles, as the Young Pioneers and Little Octobrists, apart from the Soviet ideology, were instilled with general human values and rules of conduct, along with an aspiration for collectivism, which envisioned understanding and respecting the needs of others; from the liberal understanding of the market economy mechanisms, an ability to adjust oneself to constant changes in the way of life, daily competition; an aspiration for democracy and freedom. I personally belong with that group that is potentially advantageous to Ukraine. When my time comes, I would not want to struggle against the system so as to change the world for the better; rather I would like the current political elite to show a degree of understanding and sacrifice their interests for the sake of those of the nation, society, and every citizen.
It took us several weeks to prepare for a people’s deputy’s visit to our grade school, for which purpose classes were cancelled. Why?
Because there are actually two realities in Ukraine; one for those in power, people’s deputies included, and the other for the common folk. The former has the notion of pomp and ceremony. The common folk call it a virtual phenomenon. Why virtual? Because whenever a high official is expected to visit a certain place, the local lower-ranking officials bend over backwards make him feel welcome, so he leaves content without firing anyone. This means that what this high official sees is only what those under him want him to see; that it is easier for them to sweat out a couple of weeks, preparing for his visit, rather than work effectively during the year, so as to have no causes for alarm. Every time the VIP leaves all those under him heave a sigh of relief, telling themselves they have passed muster this time around. The same is true of grade schools visited by supervising bureaucrats; the principal is suddenly assisted by local bureaucrats in getting modern teaching aids, having cosmetic repairs made on short notice, with the technical staff suddenly receiving fresh uniforms and dozens of flowerbeds miraculously appearing on the compound. Everything is hastily tidied up, for the sake of pomp and ceremony. Then, after the VIP’s departure, all such upgrading and renovation disappears as quickly and miraculously, reminding one of the Cinderella tale. The reasons behind this phenomenon ought to be sought deeper, all the way down to the conservative and marginal nature of Ukraine’s bureaucratic system, where the right kind of people are given the right kind of ranks and positions, where one’s professional level is often far from satisfactory. Our politicians should look up Max Weber more often, especially where he writes that an effective bureaucracy, in addition to inherently serving the corporate interests, also means taking good care of the popular needs.
