Ukraine wages war on Russian language
Viktor Olevich
7 November 2000
Ukraine wages war on Russian language
Death of folk-singer fuels anger
By Ian Traynor in Lviv
Orest Dzhmyl fully understands the language he was forced to learn in a
Soviet primary school. But the 20-year-old maths student will not speak a
word of it.
Slumped in front of a television in a hall decked with the paraphernalia of
Ukrainian nationalism, he and his three skinhead mates explain their loathing
for the language of Pushkin and recall with relish the day the local Russians
got their comeuppance in Lviv.
"I've not really got anything against Russians. Some of them are my friends.
But they've got to realise this is not Russia, this is Ukraine, and I love my
country."
"If the Russians don't like it here, they should leave."
Mr Dzhmyl is a foot soldier on the frontline of Ukraine's linguistic war. In
a country where Ukrainian - banned by Russian tsars and communists - is now
the official tongue but the majority still speak Russian, language is an
incendiary issue.
One evening in the summer, Mr Dzhmyl and fellow members of the Patriots of
Ukraine, the militaristic youth wing of the extremist Social National party,
went on the rampage in Lviv, trashing cafes and bars frequented by young
Russians.
Since then "Muscovites Out" graffiti have been daubed across Lviv, and
Russian Orthodox churches have been vandalised.
"You don't hear so much Russian spoken on the streets now," he grins.
"Anti-Russian hysteria," complains Roman Manyakin, an ethnic Russian
political scientist from the east Ukrainian city of Donetsk.
"Those nationalists are Nazis preaching a gospel of ethnic intolerance."
"It's depressing," says Inna Pidluska, a political analyst in Kiev. "And the
government is turning a blind eye."
Independent Ukraine is struggling to shake off centuries of Russification. As
any student of 19th-century European nationalism knows, language is central
to nation building. Ukraine is discovering that the principle remains
axiomatic in the 21st century.
Around 20% of Ukrainians are ethnic Russians, yet more than 60% of the
population of 51m speak Russian.
"Any real native of Kiev speaks Russian," says a Ukrainian man born and bred
in the city. "We learned Russian at school, we speak Russian at home, and I
can't be bothered learning Ukrainian now. I'm too old for that."
Mr Dzhmyl spends his weekends marching in a white shirt and black tie under
8ft Ukrainian banners or doing paramilitary training in the hills outside
Lviv.
"The Russians are our biggest problem," says his leader, Andri Parubi, 27.
"We're training young people for service in the army and developing their
patriotic spirit."
Since independence in 1991, the Ukrainian government has switched lessons in
thousands of schools from Russian to Ukrainian. But while Kiev may be banking
on schooling to revive the mother tongue, this is not enough for the
authorities in Lviv, the stronghold of Ukrainian nationalism, which is Lvov
to the Russians, Lemberg to the Viennese, and Lwow to the Poles.
The Lviv city council has been trying to ban Russian-language pop music in
bars and cafes and to close down a Russian-language radio station, and
linguistic vigilantes have been cruising shops and kiosks, bullying retailers
into dumping Russian literature, newspapers and CDs.
It's a tall order. Russian-language newspapers still outnumber Ukrainian 10
to one across the country. At a second-hand book stall there are only tomes
in Russian. In an art gallery bookshop, Russian predominates.
"We specialise in philosophy and those books haven't been translated into
Ukrainian," explains the shop assistant. "We do have a Ukrainian version of
Kant's Critique of Reason if you're interested."
Another Lviv bookseller says the local authority is trying either to ban
Russian publications or to slap on punitive taxes. But Ms Pidluska in Kiev
says the reason for the domination of Russian is simple.
"Nobody will put any money into publishing books in Ukrainian."
Lviv's language war was ignited by the death of a popular local folk-singer,
Igor Bilozir. At an outdoor cafe one evening in May, he and a friend were
playing his Ukrainian ballads while a group of Russian youths at the next
table were singing songs in Russian.
The Russians warned Bilozir to stop singing in Ukrainian. He refused. They
came to blows. The fighting spilled along the street and the 45-year-old
slumped to the ground after a blow to the head. He died three weeks later in
hospital, becoming for Ukrainian nationalists an instant martyr.
"He was killed because he sang songs in his own language," says Mr Parubi.
Russian newspapers turned things around and said the dispute was over the
right to use the Russian language.
More than 100,000 people in Lviv turned out for Bilozir's funeral. The next
day the Patriots of Ukraine went on the rampage.
Two ethnic Russian youths were arrested on suspicion of murder. One was
released inexplicably on bail and left the country, the other is the son of
the local deputy police chief. Expectations of a fair trial are low.
A black cross, flowers and a picture of the songwriter mark the spot where he
died. "Igor Bilozir. Murdered here by Russian-speaking thugs," reads the
inscription across the road from the local McDonald's.
"Do you like McDonald's?" asks Orest Dzhmyl. "I don't. I like our national
food. Borshch. It's not Russian, it's Ukrainian."
Ihor
Igor wrote in message ...
>If these Ukrainian nazis win this "war", Ukrainian culture will be the
>biggest loser.
First of all, the Guardian reporter wrote this crap making up facts and
arguments and not sounding like someone who researched for this article for
more than an hour. It sounds from his article as thought "Patriots of
Ukraine, the militaristic youth wing of the extremist Social National party"
represent all Ukrainian-speaking youth. If there is such a party, virtually
no one knows it exists, I, for one, have never heard of it, or anyone else
among those who discussed this piece of garbage in ukr.politics.
>The Ukraine will cement its position as the laughingstock
>of the world.
Because Russian won't be spoken there?
-----------------------------------------------
Ihor
PS: Another article, IMHO much better than the first one, was published by
The Guardian a few days later. Just go to their website,
guardianunlimited.co.uk, and search for "ukraine".
>
>igor
>
>Viktor Olevich <vikol...@aol.com> wrote:
>* The Guardian (UK)
>* 7 November 2000
>* Ukraine wages war on Russian language
>* Death of folk-singer fuels anger
>* By Ian Traynor in Lviv
>*
>* Orest Dzhmyl fully understands the language he was forced to learn in a
>* Soviet primary school. But the 20-year-old maths student will not speak a
>* word of it.
>*
>* Slumped in front of a television in a hall decked with the paraphernalia
of
>* Ukrainian nationalism, he and his three skinhead mates explain their
loathing
>* for the language of Pushkin and recall with relish the day the local
Russians
>* got their comeuppance in Lviv.
>*
>* "I've not really got anything against Russians. Some of them are my
friends.
>* But they've got to realise this is not Russia, this is Ukraine, and I
love my
>* country."
>*
>* "If the Russians don't like it here, they should leave."
>*
>* Mr Dzhmyl is a foot soldier on the frontline of Ukraine's linguistic war.
In
>* a country where Ukrainian - banned by Russian tsars and communists - is
now
>* the official tongue but the majority still speak Russian, language is an
>* incendiary issue.
>*
>* One evening in the summer, Mr Dzhmyl and fellow members of the Patriots
of
>* Ukraine, the militaristic youth wing of the extremist Social National
party,
>* went on the rampage in Lviv, trashing cafes and bars frequented by young
>* Russians.
>*
>* Since then "Muscovites Out" graffiti have been daubed across Lviv, and
>* Russian Orthodox churches have been vandalised.
>*
>* "You don't hear so much Russian spoken on the streets now," he grins.
>*
>* "Anti-Russian hysteria," complains Roman Manyakin, an ethnic Russian
>* political scientist from the east Ukrainian city of Donetsk.
>*
>* "Those nationalists are Nazis preaching a gospel of ethnic intolerance."
>*
>* "It's depressing," says Inna Pidluska, a political analyst in Kiev. "And
the
>* government is turning a blind eye."
>*
>* Independent Ukraine is struggling to shake off centuries of
Russification. As
>* any student of 19th-century European nationalism knows, language is
central
>* to nation building. Ukraine is discovering that the principle remains
>* axiomatic in the 21st century.
>*
>* Around 20% of Ukrainians are ethnic Russians, yet more than 60% of the
>* population of 51m speak Russian.
>*
>* "Any real native of Kiev speaks Russian," says a Ukrainian man born and
bred
>* in the city. "We learned Russian at school, we speak Russian at home, and
I
>* can't be bothered learning Ukrainian now. I'm too old for that."
>*
>* Mr Dzhmyl spends his weekends marching in a white shirt and black tie
under
>* 8ft Ukrainian banners or doing paramilitary training in the hills outside
>* Lviv.
>*
>* "The Russians are our biggest problem," says his leader, Andri Parubi,
27.
>* "We're training young people for service in the army and developing their
>* patriotic spirit."
>*
>* Since independence in 1991, the Ukrainian government has switched lessons
in
>* thousands of schools from Russian to Ukrainian. But while Kiev may be
banking
>* on schooling to revive the mother tongue, this is not enough for the
>* authorities in Lviv, the stronghold of Ukrainian nationalism, which is
Lvov
>* to the Russians, Lemberg to the Viennese, and Lwow to the Poles.
>*
>* The Lviv city council has been trying to ban Russian-language pop music
in
>* bars and cafes and to close down a Russian-language radio station, and
>* linguistic vigilantes have been cruising shops and kiosks, bullying
retailers
>* into dumping Russian literature, newspapers and CDs.
>*
>* It's a tall order. Russian-language newspapers still outnumber Ukrainian
10
>* to one across the country. At a second-hand book stall there are only
tomes
>* in Russian. In an art gallery bookshop, Russian predominates.
>*
>* "We specialise in philosophy and those books haven't been translated into
>* Ukrainian," explains the shop assistant. "We do have a Ukrainian version
of
>* Kant's Critique of Reason if you're interested."
>*
>* Another Lviv bookseller says the local authority is trying either to ban
>* Russian publications or to slap on punitive taxes. But Ms Pidluska in
Kiev
>* says the reason for the domination of Russian is simple.
>*
>* "Nobody will put any money into publishing books in Ukrainian."
>*
>* Lviv's language war was ignited by the death of a popular local
folk-singer,
>* Igor Bilozir. At an outdoor cafe one evening in May, he and a friend were
>* playing his Ukrainian ballads while a group of Russian youths at the next
>* table were singing songs in Russian.
>*
>* The Russians warned Bilozir to stop singing in Ukrainian. He refused.
They
>* came to blows. The fighting spilled along the street and the 45-year-old
>* slumped to the ground after a blow to the head. He died three weeks later
in
>* hospital, becoming for Ukrainian nationalists an instant martyr.
>*
>* "He was killed because he sang songs in his own language," says Mr
Parubi.
>* Russian newspapers turned things around and said the dispute was over the
>* right to use the Russian language.
>*
>* More than 100,000 people in Lviv turned out for Bilozir's funeral. The
next
>* day the Patriots of Ukraine went on the rampage.
>*
>* Two ethnic Russian youths were arrested on suspicion of murder. One was
>* released inexplicably on bail and left the country, the other is the son
of
>* the local deputy police chief. Expectations of a fair trial are low.
>*
>* A black cross, flowers and a picture of the songwriter mark the spot
where he
>* died. "Igor Bilozir. Murdered here by Russian-speaking thugs," reads the
>* inscription across the road from the local McDonald's.
>*
>* "Do you like McDonald's?" asks Orest Dzhmyl. "I don't. I like our
national
>* food. Borshch. It's not Russian, it's Ukrainian."
>*
>*
>
>
>--
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