SIMFEROPOL — While the news is somewhat belated, it is good to know that the organization that vandalized the trident on Mt. Hoverlia no longer exists. On Oct. 23 the press service of Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice announced that the Eurasian Youth Union has been outlawed in Ukraine. The same day the president of Ukraine brought up the EYU and said that the Security Service of Ukraine must make every effort to find those who are responsible for this act of vandalism and bring them to justice.
What happened on Mt. Hoverlia is a slap in the face to all of us and our government. We have finally realized that any encroachments on national symbols, even if they are carried out by marginal elements, must be prosecuted as a crime against the state. In the past, we merely condemned vandals, thereby giving carte blanche to all provocateurs. In recent events Molotov cocktails were hurled at the statue of Symon Petliura in Poltava on Oct. 14. In Kharkiv, vandals damaged the monument to Taras Shevchenko and poured paint over the inscription “1932-1933” on the monument to the victims of the Holodomor.
We asked The Day ’s experts to answer the following question: “How should the government and society respond to manifestations of interethnic disrespect?
Volodymyr PRYTULA, chairman of the freedom of the press watchdog committee in the Crimea:
Since the EYU is an extremist organization, what happened on Mt. Hoverlia should have been expected. The EYU people did the symbolic digging at the Isthmus of Perekop in order to isolate the Crimea from Ukraine. At one time EYU activists were barred from entering Ukraine, but later they were humanely allowed back in. What they did in Perekop was never unpunished. Ukraine is a democratic country, of course, but extremism has nothing to do with democracy, so extremist organizations must be banned in a democratic society. This incident is proof that Ukraine’s special service is either not working or busy doing things other than its designated tasks, because the SBU should have known about the preparations for this act of vandalism on Mt. Hoverlia. What makes extremism especially dangerous is that it can trigger radical acts by other organizations or groups, which is dangerous for Ukraine, particularly in the Crimea. This outrageous act by the EYU could have been prevented if the Ukrainian authorities had learned their lesson from what took place in the Crimea. In the absence of an official response, the EYU proceeded to operate outside the Crimea.
On the other hand, I am surprised to note the absence of a normal patriotic — I would say healthy — response from Ukraine’s political circles. Naturally, the Communist Party and the Progressive Socialists, as openly anti-Ukraine political forces, issued a response and it was aimed against Ukraine. But why did the Party of Regions, the Socialist Party, and other parties that are supposed to be patriotically minded fail to respond? This is strange, considering that even the Sevastopol-Crimea- Russia National Front, which is not even a fully Ukrainian political force, condemned the EYU’s act on Mt. Hoverlia.
We realize that the real Russian nation and decent Russians have nothing to do with this act of vandalism, and they also condemn it. This acts calls for the severest punishment for the extremists who perpetrated this provocative act that was directed against all Russians. Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies should respond with equal severity.
Therefore, the issue at hand, according to Dugin [Aleksandr Dugin, Russian political activist and ideologue of the contemporary Russian school of geopolitics often known as “neo- Eurasianism” — Ed.] is that Russia is waging a “network” war against Ukraine. Needless to say, anti-Ukrainian extremist organizations were created and are operating in Ukraine with the knowledge of Russian state organs, and it has now been proven that their activities are being controlled daily from the territory of Russia. Moreover, it is no secret that Russia’s clandestine agencies are actively operating in Ukraine, with the special services of the Black Sea Fleet topping the list. It should also be noted that Russia has flooded Ukraine with agents of influence, people who are tasked with conducting anti-Ukrainian activities. For example, it is anyone’s guess why there is a branch in Ukraine of Zatulin’s Institute of CIS Countries, which conducts agitational and propagandistic activity against everything Ukrainian. Ukraine’s state agencies must investigate all these organizations.
Hryhorii HRYN, military historian, Donetsk:
In any society there are quite a few people who refuse to accept certain symbols. There are such people in Ukrainian society. These are extremist circles that exist in other countries, like skinheads or neo-Nazis. These are the people who committed that act on Mt. Hoverlia. This was a manifestation of thoughtless vandalism that can target anything: Ukrainian monuments, Jewish gravestones, monuments to heroes of the Great Patriotic War. Unfortunately, this is reality from which one cannot escape. But I wouldn’t look for national or nationalistic motives.
As for protecting national and generally any other kinds of shrines, I think this is easier said than done. You can’t have a soldier with a Kalashnikov guarding every monument, can you? On the other hand, I think that our government isn’t paying enough attention to its monuments. The government must take proper care of them, protect them, restore them, and maintain monuments that are being ruined.
I think that our government should protect our national shrines not only by shouting about it, but also by carrying out educational work, conducting classes for children, telling them about the history of Ukrainian national symbols, such as the flag, the trident, the Constitution of Ukraine, and the anthem. Then, I think, there will be more respect for the symbols of our country as well for certain controversial aspects of Ukrainian history. After all, in many European countries there are monuments dedicated to various historical periods, and they standing peacefully next to each other. In Great Britain, for example, statues of Cromwell stand near monuments to kings. The same goes for Germany, where you can find statues of Adenauer and Bismarck. So far this does not exist in Ukraine, but if we learn to have a tolerant attitude to all views in Ukraine, incidents of vandalism will automatically decrease.
Mykola VASKIV, professor of Kamianets-Podilsky State University:
Unfortunately, lack of respect for Ukrainian national symbols has been observed for quite some time. I’m talking about the national emblem, the flag, let alone the language. The only reassuring aspect about this situation is that these are mostly yesterday’s phenomena. Today any more or less public-minded Ukrainian tries to demonstrate his patriotism (sincere in some cases), but most often this is limited to declarations. It is gratifying to realize that before long a new Ukrainian generation — boys and girls who were born and grew up in an independent Ukraine — will soon finish high school, even though they were taught mostly with the aid of old textbooks, Soviet films, and agitational books. More and more often we are filled with pride when, during solemn occasions in school, we watch them place their right hands over their hearts and sing “Shche ne vmerla Ukraina” with inspiration, unlike most of our statesmen. They don’t have to be taught patriotism; it is an organic component of their blood. The formation of state thinking, pride in one’s country, and respect for our national symbols continues, but not as quickly as one would like. But even if we educators or statesmen remain sovoks, we must help this process with unwavering resoluteness to protect our state interests and national symbols.
