On new ideological base
Liubomyr HUZAR: “Our main task is to bring up a new generation”
The initiative group “December 1” suggested a program of future development of Ukraine. Before making the program public, the group held a roundtable on October 16 in Kyiv to discuss the course of the elections with the participation of experts: journalists, social scientists, and public figures in order to identify the main problems and challenges that Ukraine is facing.
The main problem, which has been outlined by the member of the initiative group Ihor Yukhnovsky, is the fact that Ukraine’s political system is not open for change. “We can not expect changes from new politicians who come into the old system of exercising power – instead we need a new ideological base,” he said. According to Yukhnovsky, 50 percent of all the candidates, who bid for deputy mandates, bought themselves this status. The member of the initiative group suggested a way to overcome this problem in two stages: first, we need to slow down the degradation and second, we have to suggest a new curve of development of the country, which will be based on education, church, and authorities and will have the main goal of creating a system where instead of oligarchs the middle class will be a ruling power.
Given the fact that the ranks of the Ukrainian Parliament are practically never subjected to rotation and lustration of personnel, there is a problem with the instruments, which are being used by the candidates to the highest echelons of power. According to the coordinator of the civil movement “Opora” Olha Aivazovska, during the official campaign there were 288 cases of misuse of administrative resources, 229 cases of bribing the voters, 181 case of obstruction in competitors campaigning, and 112 cases of illegal campaigning, including black PR and provocative actions. Particularly, the movement has the information about the cases of power resources use. According to Aivazovska, one of the candidates wrote a statement of refusal to participate in the elections from jail. “This situation makes it impossible to conduct the naturally competitive elections,” summed up Aivazovska.
Amid quite sad picture that depicts the general nature of this election campaign, experts singled out the issue of lack in passionarity and civic position of the voters. According to the director of the Fund “Democratic Initiatives” Iryna Bekeshkina, despair and apathy are a stable phenomenon in Ukrainian society. Sociological studies indicate that the level of being tired of politics, distrust in elections as a democratic mechanism, distrust in both government and opposition, and lack of faith in their own strength is at the level of 2007. The expert noted that 2005 was unique in Ukrainian sociology: it was the time when people experienced a dramatic increase of expectations and hopes for a better future, however, it did not last long.
The sociologist has also debunked the myth of the commitment of the Ukrainians to the authoritarian model of governance. According to her, on the one hand, the majority is willing to support a leader or a group of leaders who will make the change. On the other hand, 75 percent of the respondents indicated that they would not want the said leader to violate the law. “These results suggest that the Ukrainians have a complex of paternalism, not authoritarianism,” said Bekeshkina. “They wait for someone to come and do everything for them.”
As for the causes of discouragement, opinions have been divided. Public activist Yehor Sobolev believes that the main reason for the passiveness of people is that there is no recipe for victory. “While before the Orange Revolution the authorities at least pretended that they wanted to hear the average citizens and reacted in some ways, Yanukovych regime ignores the will of the people on principle,” he said. According to Sobolev, lack of mechanisms for achieving the goal in a peaceful manner may end up in that people will switch to more radical actions, the ones promoted by Svoboda Party.
Ukrainian dissident, literary critic Ivan Dziuba has a different opinion about the discouragement among the Ukrainian people. “The problem is laziness, indifference, and lack of civic position,” he stated.
Experts also suggested possible solutions to the problems that the Ukrainian people are facing. “The most important task today is a systematic and solid education of the future generation, which means not simply providing information, but also shaping future citizens, who will live and lead the state following the positive principles,” said the former head of the UGCC Cardinal Liubomyr Huzar.
Chief Editor of The Day Larysa Ivshyna stressed the importance of the process of education. “We have to begin with deep self-education, we need to listen to wise people, find out about what they read and read it ourselves in order to have something to discuss,” said Ivshyna. According to her, education is a way to change the overall situation in the country, as often authorities had an interest in system degradation. “Education should be implemented not by outcasts who go from village to village with a sack of books – the modern world offers many opportunities: websites like Ukraine Incognita or intelligent TV programs on TVi channel,” stressed the chief editor.
“Soon the memoirs of Gorbachev will be published,” said Ivshyna. “Publishers who conducted a deep research of this phenomenon can not understand how in a dead standstill of Brezhnevism such ideas could appear and this man could ignite them. The fact that Gorbachev studied at the Department of Philosophy, his Ukrainian nature and parents who came from Ukraine played a significant role in that. Besides, he shared a room with Yurii Levada, who later became a prominent sociologist. There are ferments that are thrown into society or stored in a certain ‘crystal’ and then are necessarily triggered at some point. The result was rather slow because the society was too distorted and mutilated, but it finally worked.”
“Initiative group ‘December 1’ is important because people are willing to listen to them about the things they would not want to hear from others,” said Ivshyna. “The group may also become an important factor in influencing public opinion. Ukrainians are being told that after they failed to build their own state again they have to go back to either Russia or Belarus. Is Ukrainian society capable of containing this pressure, is it ready to realize its ontology of a Ukrainian and European? Everything depends on the appeals of moral authorities and the daily activities of journalists,” added Ivshyna.
In general, the experts see the main ways to change the existing system in systematic work with the society: education, reviving traditions, formation of political culture, restoration of values and axioms of social life, the development of common goal and rules. Now, experts urge people to make their choice and vote. “The prospect of the victory of democracy is the replacement of the current government with another political force,” summed up Yevhen Holovakha, deputy director of the Institute of Sociology.
