Recently, The Day’s office held the fifth roundtable dedicated to Revolution of Dignity. The first, entitled “An Attempt at Adult Conversation” saw fierce discussions in December 2013 (see Den’s No. 234, December 20, 2013). The second – after the killings and Yanukovych’s escape – “Alternative Dialog” (see Den’s No. 11, January 23, 2014). The third one took place in early March 2014, on the topic “Maidan as Means of Cleansing Is Still Ongoing” (see Den’s No. 42, March 7, 2014). And the fourth one was held on the eve of the parliamentary elections – September 26, 2014, entitled “A chance. For Evolution or Conservation?” (see Den’s No. 179, September 26, 2014)
The invitations were sent to unordinary-minded people. It is noteworthy that the first meetings had had wider range of participants. For example, previous discussions were attended by incumbent MPs Hanna HOPKO and Svitlana ZALISHCHUK, co-chairman of Democratic Alliance Party Vasyl HATSKO, publicist Oleksii ARESTOVYCH. But there are three stable members that constitute the backbone of every discussion – Oleksandr SOLONTAI, expert of the Institute of Political Education; Hennadii DRUZENKO, head of the Mykola Pyrohov First Volunteer Hospital; Viktoria PODHORNA, political consultant, managing partner at Public Council Smart City NGO. This time, apart from these three, we invited Viktor ANDRUSIV, executive director of Ukrainian Institute for the Future.
In preparation for the meeting, we had performed a slight revision of previous material. Following the revision, Larysa Ivshyna, Den/The Day’s editor-in-chief and the moderator, addressed the participants of yesterday’s meeting and stated that many questions that emerged in 2013 and 2014 still remain unanswered.
“At previous roundtables we wanted to show that Euromaidan cause would continue, if only we had a united force encompassing the non-oligarchic segments of Maidan,” said Ivshyna. “It is interesting to make a retrospective of these roundtables and see what questions should be discussed again...”
During the more than two-hour discussion, we explored such important issues as: challenges and conclusions of the third Euromaidan anniversary; reasons for the defeat “Maidan’s People” and the victory of “People from Maidan’s Stage”; the risk of pro-Russian forces’ revenge; the prospect of a quality alternative and the state-building plan for Ukraine, which could be able to win the war and become a subject on the geopolitical map of the world.
The full text of the conversation will be published in the next issue of the newspaper.
