CULTURE

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Fewer bookstores for Ukrainians

Photo by Andrii NESTERENKO

Instead of books the residents of the capital have banks, mobile communication stores, beauty salons, restaurants, and clothing stores: since early 1991 over 70 bookstores and plenty of small shops have been closed in Kyiv.

On Nov. 30, 2007, on this “occasion” and because of other events that have little in common with culture, the Extraordinary Gathering of Intelligentsia took place under the slogan “Ukraine Is a Cultural Disaster Zone.” The meeting was attended by 679 delegates from all the oblasts of Ukraine. Ukraine was an­no­unced a cultural disaster zone by the majority of votes. At the same time Ukrainian intellectuals started to work on the program to overcome the cultural disaster.

The organizing committee recently told the press and the public about the state of affairs and accomplishments. In particular, they published a photo album featuring Kyiv’s bookstores destroyed in the period of 1991-2008: Kyiv became the second Ukrainian city after Lviv where it was resolved to commemorate destroyed bookstores.

The organizers of the “cultural confrontation” say that today Kyivites buy books outdoors, on the market, out in the rain and snow. “Kyiv does not have any specialized bookstores, e.g., for music, medical, and technical literature. Kyiv’s cultural infrastructure is losing such an important component as bookstores and this contradicts Kyiv’s aspiration to be a European capital. London has, for example, over 400 bookstores, whereas Kyiv has a little over 40,” note the members of the organizing committee. At the moment it is expecting initiatives from the Kyiv authorities to address the current catastrophic situation.

The organizers of this initiative consider that during the previous year Odesa and Lviv intellectuals proved to be the most active communities in the cause of overcoming the cultural disaster. Specifically, with the assistance of Mykhailo Vatuliaka, head of the Association of Publishers and Book Distributors in Lviv oblast, local intelligentsia succeded in launching cooperation with the authorities to protect bookstores: a special commission was established for this purpose.

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