Russian is on its way to becoming a second official language in the eastern oblasts of Ukraine after the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliamentary body, passed the bill in a contested session. The debate has not ceased, however, as reports of fraudulent parliamentary voting surfaced as Ukrainians took to the streets in L'viv, Kyiv, and other cities across the country. Protests in Kyiv became violent as scuffles between protesters and security services took place. The turn to violence from both protesters and police is an unfortunate occurrence and the use of tear gas against protesters was perhaps unnecessary, but dispersing violent protesters was a necessity for the health of the more dedicated protest movement in Kyiv. After the initial fighting between protesters and Ukraine's security services ended protests in Kyiv were allowed to continue.
Ukraine's opposition parties united in protest against the language law in front of the regional government building in L'viv and were not allowing entrance.
Across the street from the building the opposition parties taped posters to the fences of a small park. These posters give viewers a sense of the strong feelings the language law has stirred among Ukrainians.
"Language - the foundation of your life"
Most of the conversations I've had with Ukrainians came to the same conclusions: the language law is unnecessary, as it is not Russian but the Ukrainian language that needs constitutional safeguarding. Ukrainian is, of course, the official state language, but some Ukrainians fear that the interests of the Russian-speaking population will supercede those of Ukrainians. Some observers, such as Ukrainian reporter Roksana Kharchuk believe that, "they [the Russian-speaking population] simply do not want to study Ukrainian," and are simply to lazy to learn the official language, despite the fact that Ukrainians were and other former Soviet citizens were forced to learn Russian by Soviet authority. These fears may largely be the result of the pro-Russian stance of President Yanukovych and the Party of Regions, as well as the consolidation of 'managed democracy' in Ukraine, the "restoration of the ancien regime in its ugliest, Donetsk-cum-Lubyanka, form," in Mykola Riabchuk's words.
"Don't eat foreign languages"
"For language!"
Some reports consider the passing of the language law as a signal of future policies to come from Yanukovych's regime. Others see the law simply as a campaign ploy, a pre-election game to increase voter support for the further consolidation of power in Ukraine. President Yanukovych has yet to sign the document into law, preferring to pass the bill off to a panel of experts to peruse its contents before making a decision. Once again Ukrainians are left without answers to sensitive issues concerning the future of the country. Moreover, the law is tempting Ukrainians to focus all of their attention on the language law rather than the crucial problems regarding the economy and the political climate in Ukraine today.
Articles referred to in this post:
"Мер Львова про мову: Ми мирні люди, але свого нікому не віддамо" (Mayor of L'viv about Language: We are peaceful people, but we can not cede ourselves to anyone), http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2012/07/8/6968352/
"Мовне питання в Украіні в контексті прав людни та бюджетних видактів" (The language question in Ukraine within the contexts of human rights and public spending), http://www.pravda.com.ua/articles/2012/07/11/6968547/
"Наша мовна війна" (Our language war), http://life.pravda.com.ua/columns/2012/07/9/106072/
"Украина: предвыборная гонка началась с уличных протестов" (Ukraine: pre-election race begins with street protests), http://www.svobodanews.ru/content/article/24637912.html
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Nice post and enjoyed the pictures. You are right, language is a fundamental source of identity and I can see why some Ukrainians (especially in the western part of the country) feel that making Russian an official language would somehow dilute their identity. Still, if I were a Russian in eastern Ukraine, I would want to speak in my native tongue. History placed these Russians in Ukraine, and since two wrongs don’t make a right, I believe that they should have the legal mechanism to communicate in their own language.
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