It is a great rarity for a new idea to continue to exist for three years in unfavorable conditions of Ukrainian realities, especially if the idea is fueled only by the enthusiasm of a handful of people. That is why the Ostroh Free Youth Intellectual Exchange Club, which was launched in the spring of 2006, can be considered to be fairly viable.
In the three years of the club’s operation students from Ostroh, Odesa, Donetsk, and Kharkiv visited many Ukrainian cities and met many like-minded young people. In their discussions they mentioned topics that are, unfortunately, far too difficult for some of the contemporary Ukrainian politicians: for example, the formation of social capital (discussion of the lecture delivered by the famous philosopher Francis Fukuyama in Kyiv), the problem of Ukrainian identity, and the national integration of the country.
The majority of these young people have already graduated from universities and have been replaced by a new generation of students, but as they left universities they took the idea of the Ostroh Club along. Even now, despite having to arrange their own lives, the members of the Club take part in meetings and conferences, and keep abreast of the times.
The Club was among the first to support the students’ initiative of naming Donetsk National University after Vasyl Stus. The Club receives new members from new places: students from Chernivtsi have joined it at the last meeting, and soon the Club’s members are going to the Crimea.
This can be a short summary of the Ostroh Club’s activities. Because of this life style everybody who was involved in the Club’s activity has changed their lives, views, and milieu. The members of the Club are no different from their peers: they have the same problems, communicate online, etc. But even sitting in an office at a computer they now have a clear understanding what country they belong to and what experience they have under their belt. They have undergone the process of “indigenization” and from now on no globalization currents will carry them away.
The Ostroh Club has reported its every trip and meeting to The Day’s readers. None of the Ukrainian mass media dared to follow our example. One exception is Savik Shuster’s talk show: he once organized a meeting of school students from Donetsk and Lviv. We had traveled along this path a long time ago, but it is good to see that others are moving in the same direction.
Ivan KAPSAMUN, graduate of the Mechnikov Odesa National University, now a political observer with The Day:
“The idea of Ukraine’s national integration is much spoken about, especially in political circles before the election time. However, no actual steps have been taken to realize this idea and no results have been achieved. The idea itself is quite simple—people from different parts of our country, especially the young generation, need to have opportunities to meet and communicate with each other. This can be a good way to get to know yourself, people around you, and your own country. These were the steps with which the Ostroh Club started its activity three years ago.
“Students of a couple universities in Odesa were invited to Maxim Gorky Library for a meeting with The Day’s editor in chief Larysa Ivshyna in March 2006. It was a presentation of books from The Day’s Library Series. We were political science majors in the Mechnikov Odesa National University at that time and the reason we came to that meeting was our desire to learn the unknown facts from the history of Ukraine.
“At the presentation people could ask questions. I asked whether there was a national idea in Ukraine. Ivshyna suggested we find the answer to this question in the Ostroh Academy and invited me and my fellow students to meet students there. This idea was realized after two months. For many of us it was the first time we met students from Ostroh and the first visit to western Ukraine.
“After this trip some pages of Ukrainian history were turned for young people from Odesa. All of us were overwhelmed with the feeling of western Ukrainian spirit, which was new to us. It was in this atmosphere that the Ostroh Club was founded. The Club’s goal was to realize the idea of Ukraine’s national integration with the help of free intellectual exchange among young people. The next practical step was a meeting in Odesa with young people from Kharkiv, who joined us then and discussed with us the topic of national unity and Ukraine’s civilizational choice. This was followed by meetings in Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk, etc. After each meeting students from new places from all over Ukraine joined the Club.
“Ivshyna has been the permanent curator of the Ostroh Club in these three years, and The Day has been a printed medium that supported us. After every meeting we had an opportunity to share our impressions and thoughts on The Day’s pages. I have been also cooperating with the newspaper all this time and Ivshyna invited me to work full time. I was glad to accept the offer and have been working here until now.
“I believe that a lot of things in the life of a person and an entire country depend on communication and meetings. The Ostroh Club has proved this to be true. Sometimes you have to take a first step in order to understand many problems and obtain new opportunities. At one point I made that first step — showed the initiative, and the Ostroh Club together with The Day gave me those opportunities to broaden my horizons, develop organization skills, open Ukraine for myself, and find a job. The leaders of our country could solve many problems if they had these traits. With the help of the state they would put them into life by showing initiative and providing the opportunities.”
Daria VOROBIOVA, graduate of the Karazin Kharkiv National University, now a junior research fellow at a research institute:
“I am an average person. I received higher education in the humanities and, frankly, I have no illusions that my life will be out of the ordinary or remarkable in some way. However, back in my university years I realized what is important for me in this life. It’s my friends. I am not an extremely outgoing person, but there are people that I can share absolutely everything with.
“These people did not come into my life overnight. They were filtered through life’s hardships and various situations. As a result, I found that I have friends all over the country. It was so strange to come to a totally unfamiliar city and find spiritually similar people. They are just like me: young, interesting, sociable, and well-mannered.
“There is more to the Ostroh Club than the intellectual elite, although we aspire for this status. Above all, we are friends. We always have good time together; we have things to discuss and argue about. We are all concerned about the future of our country, and it’s not the same to us where and how we will live. Initially, we were united by a desire to change something in the country of our residence. Then, on top of that, we developed a great unifying feeling — friendship.
“Regardless of what happens in our country and in my life, I know that I can always call any of my ‘Ostroh’ friends and find help. Our meetings charge me with patriotism and optimism; they inspire me to move ahead and perfect myself. Perhaps, this was the biggest and most important thing I have gained from the club.”
Denys PODIACHEV, PhD student at the Karazin Kharkiv National University and contributor to The Day:
“Many things have been said about the Ostroh Club, including on the pages of The Day. I would like to say that for me personally it means making dreams come true. Why? As a young specialist, I often have to admit that the idea of building civil society is far from being implemented. We need time to allow the mentality of the transition period transform into the mentality of the destination point. We see how political parties are being formed and once again are convinced in pessimism, because in our country an interest in something has for a long time had a monetary equivalent, while a bottom-up initiative has always been the veiled version of the top-down approach. At least, this is true of the initiatives known to all of the country. It seems that only blind followers and altruists are fit to be builders of civil society. Furthermore, many speak about the need for changes, but few are able to act as tacticians — you have to see ahead for that.
“At one point the Ostroh Club greatly appealed to me as a tool for using a youth initiative to implement this idea and, at the same time, my dream — to do something specific for the socially beneficial cause. This can be educational activities. Our political life is teeming with stereotypes, which various political forces are using to their end. Nationalism is discredited as it is universally perceived in its narrow sense and also in the narrowly negative one — as xenophobia.
“Even our system of higher education demands educational activities, because it is, by inertia, producing these stereotypes. According to the latest opinion polls, young people are the most apolitical segment of Ukraine’s population. However, we do not limit ourselves to expert boards and roundtable discussions in colleges. We plan to carry out actions and submit our suggestions to the authorities.”
Serhii STUKANOV, PhD student at the Donetsk National University and contributor to The Day:
“For me the Ostroh Club is the prototype of free intellectual society that would be nice to realize in Ukraine. This is a kind of society that is based on civil foundations and patriotism. It is important for me that I found like-minded people and sincere friends in the Club’s members. The time I have spent with them, either in roundtable discussions or on vacation (the Carpathians and the Crimea), left me with the warmest memories and impressions.
“While a member of the Ostroh Club, I visited many cities of Ukraine where I tried to show an example of our country’s unity and demonstrate how we can hold discussions on sensitive topics, eventually finding something common that is above all discrepancies. In my opinion, the Club has reached its main goal: unity in diversity. I believe that the Club’s activities have to take a different shape that will enable it to influence broad strata of our society rather than just students.”
Olha RESHETYLOVA, graduate of the Ostroh Academy, now an editor with The Day:
“What did the Ostroh Club give me? Warm memories, a variety of impressions, extensive experience, friends and like-minded people, and, finally, a job. (In 2006 we founded the Club, then launched active cooperation with The Day, and a year ago I was invited to join the newspaper as an editor.) This is how, in one sentence, I can describe everything I have now.
“Not everyone is aware of the fact that the Ostroh Club is not yet another bureaucratic organization or a diversion group. It is the product of real people’s efforts.
“I am thankful to Odesa students who made the long trip to come to us, Ostroh students, at the invitation of Larysa Ivshyna, whom we hardly knew at the time. I will never forget their impressions of Ostroh, which they published in The Day: ‘We thought we would see the Wild West, but what we saw was civilization.’ Interestingly, this group continued to explore western Ukraine — together with Donetsk and Kharkiv students they spent the Christmas holidays in the Carpathians. In fact, the efforts of these Odesa students combined with Ostroh’s hospitability launched the Ostroh Club in 2006.
“I am thankful to Kharkiv students who came to our meeting in Odesa back in November 2006. They did not simply join our team — Denys and Dasha became its permanent part. Since then trips to any part of Ukraine have not been an issue for them. They turned into “all-Ukrainian” citizens with the distinct Kharkiv flavor.
“I am also thankful to Donetsk students, particularly Serhii Stukanov. When we invited Donetsk students to come to a meeting dedicated to the Union Day, we were subconsciously preparing to meet opponents and were looking for convincing words with which to persuade them. We were stunned to see Vika and Serhii, who had “OC member” written on their foreheads. I also remember the embroidered shirt disco we had then: Serhii, our ‘opponent’ from Donetsk, was dancing with abandon in a vyshyvanka. The quality of his colloquial Ukrainian could serve as an example to many, even in Ostroh. Since then Serhii has been our brain center — he is a philosopher, after all.
“I am grateful to my fellow students, who are now scattered all over Ukraine, while some are abroad. I hope that the Club’s activities are not limited by borders.
“It is important that no matter where we go and who we meet, we find understanding or at least an effort to lend an ear. You say, Ukrainians cannot listen to one another? Then you are wrong! They can listen and want to hear! There simply have to be those who would speak to them. Even in Luhansk, where our Club was called ‘the least organized organization in the world’ (because we did not bring along the expected forms for prospective members and did not act as a party unit), we saw interest in what we were doing.
“The Club is interesting for the university administrators, who have been, in general, helpful (to us and now to our younger colleagues): even when they did not cover the transportation costs, they let us miss classes. It is with great warmth that I think about my alma mater, the Ostroh Academy, and its rector, Ihor Pasichnyk. Despite financial and organizational hardships he always supports the students’ initiatives provided, of course, they made sense. The Ostroh Club for him is a ‘holy cause.’ This makes participants from other universities even a little envious.
“What else did the Ostroh Club give us? It’s The Day. We have always been able to express ourselves freely on its pages. But even this is not the main thing, I believe. For most of us The Day became a kind of education institution. Together with the newspaper we changed our framework of reference and shifted our worldview into the positive plane. We showed to the country that this is real. Unfortunately, not everyone saw this.
“I believe that the system of intercollege communication set up by the Ostroh Club could be implemented at the level of the Ministry of Education. Perhaps it would be even better to start with schools — the sooner Ukrainians begin to study their country, the sooner it will receive its own, unique Ukrainian civil society. On our part, we are ready to volunteer and conduct master classes.”
Petro KRALIUK, first vice-rector of the Ostroh Academy:
“The Ostroh Club is, truly, a non-bureaucratic and informal embodiment of the Bologna Process. This process is about a free exchange of students and teachers both within the country and across state borders. Since its inception the Ostroh Club implemented this European idea as much as it could.
“What can I wish to its members? First, I wish the Ministry of Education and Science finally paid attention to them and provided support — at least moral, if not material. Second, I wish the Club to enter the international arena, for it is an excellent example of civil society that is so much valued by Europeans.”
