Following Den’s Days in Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, and Lutsk, we held an intellectual marathon in Lviv. It started with meetings, which saw Larysa Ivshyna talking with townspeople at the Communa anti-cafe on May 26, and with students of the National University “Lviv Polytechnic” the next day. The discussions touched upon tasks of modern journalism and Den’s projects, creation of the Ukrainian media space, the recent history of Ukraine in retrospect, the project vision of society, “repairing” the national character and challenges facing the young generation.
Lecturer in new media at the journalism department of Franko Lviv National University Yuliana Lavrysh, who was the moderator of the event at Communa, believes it to be a great success, as the very sense of time disappeared as it went ahead, and there was no end to questions from the audience. “We were able to highlight key points and ponder on the time we live in and challenges we face. We have no right to get tired of thinking, because we have no right to live amid apathy and indifference, no matter how hard the situation in our country is. The Communa audience showed that in every city, there is a critical mass that goes beyond the mainstream. For a journalist, it is perhaps the greatest delight to see their ideas and initiatives reaching people’s hearts, awakening them, bringing them back to life,” Lavrysh said in sharing her impressions of the meeting.
“GOOD GOVERNANCE’S DEFINING FEATURE IS BRINGING OUT THE BEST TRAITS IN THE PEOPLE BEING GOVERNED”
“We should launch a national project aimed at refounding civil society on the basis of a ‘repaired’ national character,” Den/The Day’s editor-in-chief remarked. Referring to the experience of Japan, Ivshyna noted the advantages offered by the print media and their influence on the national character. “This is not just about the exemplary Japanese character. For example, there is a stereotype of what makes a good Ukrainian, what is our role model. And then, we see whether good traits are developing. Good governance’s defining feature is bringing out the best traits in the people being governed. If it brings out the bad traits, then it is bad and even harmful itself. There are many issues with what we believe our ideals and values to be, how we see them and what we are ready to defend.”
OPENING OF DEN’S PHOTO EXHIBITION IS ALWAYS QUITE AN EVENT FOR THE MEDIA. THE LVIV CEREMONY WAS NO EXCEPTION / Photo by Ruslan KANIUKA, The Day
“As for the national character, we can provide some examples and show how this can be perceived, and then it requires mass production and distribution. Den offers a research laboratory, an experimental plot, while the rest is up to Ukrainians themselves.”
“PEOPLE FIND ALLIES HERE”
The emotional climax of Den’s May 27 Lviv program was the opening of the Photo Exhibition Den-2015 in the main building of Lviv Polytechnic, even though the exhibition itself was visited by faculty members and students of the school as early as May 26. The opening ceremony was attended by Ivshyna; director of the International Institute of Education, Culture and Relations with Diaspora of the National University “Lviv Polytechnic” Iryna Kliuchkovska; head of the Lviv Oblast State Administration (OSA) Oleh Syniutka; MP Oksana Yurynets; deputy mayor Andrii Moskalenko, and head of the Mostyska Raion State Administration (Lviv oblast) Stepan Buniak.
“When a person is alone with a photo, it sparks a special relationship. You can feel this aura of intimacy perfectly clearly,” Ivshyna noted. “I always visit Den’s exhibitions not only for the opening day, but on ordinary days as well, and watch how people react, sometimes with excitement or even tears... Some people leave three times in a row, and then come to the same photo on every occasion. I know so many people who visit a photo exhibition with family and friends several times. There is a very trusting and strong contact emerging between the meaning, which is incorporated in the photo, and the human response. This is sometimes unachievable with mere text. We want Ukrainians to consciously perceive what surrounds them, to look at it critically, but not indifferently. It is highly important to nurture a community which is strong in its beliefs, but also very flexible. This is photo monitoring of every year of our lives. There are a lot of events on display that have occurred in this very year. People who seek the answers and assessments find allies here. These are not preacher-like allies, because people feel amidst their own here. One of the speakers at the opening ceremony said, and it was no accident, that the photo exhibition was very much alive. This is our credo. Live picture, live chat, live flowers, live human beings, live music... We have been doing it for 18 years, repeating it every year as if following some British tradition, which says that something must be just so and not otherwise. In this way, we create and augment our quality tradition which we practice and offer for emulation to our society.”
DURING DEN’S DAYS IN LVIV, WE PRESENTED PAST YEAR’S BESTSELLERS: LARGE VOLUME OF HISTORY STUDIES RETURN TO TSARHOROD AND OUR JOURNALISTIC TRIPTYCH, INCLUDING BOOKS “THE TRAP,” OR A CASE WITHOUT A STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS; I, AN EYEWITNESS. NOTES FROM THE OCCUPIED LUHANSK; AND CATASTROPHE AND TRIUMPH. THE STORIES OF UKRAINIAN HEROES. REASSURINGLY, THESE HIGHBROW PUBLICATIONS WERE IN GREAT DEMAND / Photo by Ruslan KANIUKA, The Day
Another important and worthy of emulation element of the event was the charity drive “Give Den’s Library books to Your Hometown’s School.” Thanks to the Charitable Foundation in Support of the Newspaper Den’s Initiatives, as many as 18 Lviv schools obtained copies of historical bestseller Return to Tsarhorod. Meanwhile, the region’s businesspeople, supported by head of the Lviv OSA Syniutka, purchased copies of Ukraine Incognita, our already classic publication, for 60 schools in three raions of the oblast. Moreover, the OSA funded purchase of Den’s book sets, including The Power of the Soft Sign, Ukraine Incognita, Your Dead Chose Me…, Return to Tsarhorod and photo almanac Living History, by 40 libraries in cities, towns, and villages of Lviv region!
“THESE PHOTOS SHOW THE CONSEQUENCES OF PERMANENT INDIFFERENCE...”
Editor-in-chief of the research and analytical magazine Nasha Perspektyva Volodymyr Chubai shared his impressions: “Den’s Photo Exhibition traditionally allows all its visitors to relive once again heroic as well as, unfortunately, tragic events of last year, think through the depth and sincerity of human emotions and experiences reflected in the photos of 2015, the depth which is impossible to convey in words, to feel the sting of the war intruding into civilian life and stunning effect of its minute details, which mostly remain out of sight in the news or articles, as well as to look into the eyes of the events’ participants and read in them what really happened in the minds and hearts of many people. When viewing this photo exhibition, one gets a feeling that these photos show the consequences of permanent indifference to the state-building process, civic passivity or complete inactivity of many Ukrainians. Had most of us since independence continuously made the slightest effort to strengthen Ukraine, raise our own cultural level and national consciousness, the bloody criminal and his clique would have never got into power, and the aggressor would have never had any chance to occupy Crimea and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, causing so much grief.”
