On August 8 President Viktor Yanukovych signed into law the controversial bill raising the status of Russian as a second official language in 13 of Ukraine's 27 administrative territories. This piece of legislation guarantees the rights of Russian-speaking Ukrainian citizens, at minimum 10% of the total population of Ukraine, to use Russian in all spheres of life. The report from the head of the press service of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine confirms that the decision is the result of Ukraine's continued efforts to protect its citizens rights through European standards: "The purpose of [the legislation] is to ensure the comprehensive development and functioning of the Ukrainian language in all spheres of public life on all administrative territories, guaranteeing free development, usage, and defense of all the native languages of Ukrainian citizens, fulfilling the obligations, assumed under international treaties on these matters, and further introducing European standards in this area." Native languages guaranteed protection under the new law include: Russian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Armenian, Gagauz, Yiddish, Crimean Tatar, Moldavian, German, Modern Greek, Polish, Romani, Romanian, Slovak, Hungarian, Ruthenian, Karaim, and Krymchak.
The benefits of the language law are apparent for those populations who view it as a safeguard of their human rights. Citizens should have the right to speak whichever language they would like, and most countries in Europe and the West guarantee this right. History brought these populations together and the responsibility to protect and serve their interests falls on the shoulders of the government. One of the problems that persists in Ukraine today, however, is how the interests of the minority nations fit into the interests of the ruling regime.
While the legislation will be tied up within Ukraine's state bureaucracy for a number of months, the bill continues to stir debate. The signing of the bill might end the legislative debate about language, but the discussion among citizens and demonstrations will no doubt continue until the late-October parliamentary elections. The national languages and nations that call Ukraine home deserve to be protected by the rule of law, but much of the debate has focused on the Russian population, decidedly the largest contingent among the minority national / language groups. Fears originating among Ukrainian nationalists and the united opposition parties echo sentiments about the Russification of Ukraine under the Soviets. Linguistically speaking, Russian continues to act as a language of international communication in Ukraine, a holdover of Soviet times when Russian was the lingua franca of the multinational state. the situation is further complicated by how alive the memories of the persecution of Ukrainians, as harmful nationalist elements within the Soviet state, are in the minds of Ukrainian citizens today.
Independent Ukraine has only carried the modifier for 20 years now, and even independence has been marred by frequent political, social, and economic scuffles, and, perhaps more tragic, strengthened partnerships with their neighbors to the east. Ukraine's geopolitical position was, is, and perhaps always will be challenged by the Soviet past and the continued domination of the Russian Federation in the country's various enterprises. Russia's seemingly apparent stranglehold on Ukraine and its close relationship with (read: control over) Yanukovych and the Party of Regions paints a bleak picture of Ukraine's future sovereignty.
In my next post, I plan to shed some light on reactions to the language law in the Russian and Ukrainian blogospheres and social media sites, specifically highlighting instances where the two populations share similar sentiments about the bill and what it means for the future of relations between Russia and Ukraine.
Articles referred to in this post:
"Интеллигенция Украины требует учесть ее мнение в вопросе о языках," http://ria.ru/world/20120810/720783875.html
"На Украине вступил в силу закон о статусе русского языка," http://ria.ru/world/20120810/720566903.html
"Янукович подписал закон о статусе русского языка в регионах Украины," http://ria.ru/world/20120808/719251865.html
"Analyst: Language Law Unlikely to Add Rating to Regions Party," http://www.kyivpost.com/content/politics/analyst-language-law-unlikely-to-add-rating-to-regions-party-311280.html
"Language law comes into force in Ukraine," http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/language-law-comes-into-force-in-ukraine-311340.html
"Language law signed. Now what?" http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/language-law-signed-now-what-311312.html
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