Some young people in Vinnytsia, out to prove that they don’t want to read in Russian, drove their point home by staging a rally on the veranda of the regional administration, which they covered with Russian- language periodicals that are popular in Ukraine. If a passerby pulled a Russian-language magazine out of his bag and put it on the steps near the regional administration building, this was a sign that he supported this action.
The organizers repeatedly stated that they are not against Russia or the Russian language. “We just want the authorities to stop discriminating against us and to observe the law and Article 10 of the Constitution of Ukraine,” said Yurko Stypanets, representing the Nashe Podillia civic organization.
“In most cases these are international publications. For example, Dobrye sovety (“Good Advice”) is published in Polish in Poland and in Estonian in Estonia. Maybe I could find something useful for myself there.”
Some officials immediately came out to see the organizers and participants of the rally. They admitted that the action was not only useful but necessary.
“We have some regional media that use the Russian language extensively,” said Oleh Kolomiyets, a leading specialist on domestic policies at the Vinnytsia Oblast Administration. “It would be very gratifying and beneficial to familiarize ourselves with the young people’s suggestions.”
The leaders of youth organizations have made one suggestion so far: every Ukrainian should be provided with a translator. The young rebels immediately demonstrated the way it should be done: reading the materials of Dobrye sovety, they simultaneously translated them into Ukrainian.
Vinnytsia’s young people are planning soon to hold a similar action in front of the government offices in Kyiv.
