It is known that good wine becomes better year by year. Is this principle applicable to political technologies? Ukrainian authorities apparently think this way. At the beginning of the political season, there was an attempt to “switch” the society from urgent problems to the “eternal” ones, and once again the old language card is played.
Three bills (No. 5556, No. 5669, No. 5670) from the MPs from Solidarnist, People’s Front, Samopomich, Batkivshchyna and Svoboda were surprisingly synchronously registered in the Parliament. These three bills are assimilated and aimed at the strengthening of the role of the Ukrainian language.
According to the authors, this strengthening must be secured by strict restrictions for the other languages. Of course, the bills do not stipulate any positive motivation to use Ukrainian (for example, bonuses for teachers who use the state language during their lessons).
The social networks are already full of quotations from the texts of the bills. The bureaucratic initiatives on the establishment of various ‘language inspectorates,’ ‘language certifications,’ and ‘language centres’ are unfortunately very common for our ‘country of winning decommunization…’
As for me, the extract from the preamble to the bill No. 5670 “… taking into account the fact that the Ukrainian language is the determinative factor and the main sign of the identity of the Ukrainian nation…” is the height of absurdity. According to this logic, not only dozens of millions of Ukrainian citizens must feel themselves unnecessary in the “project of the Ukrainian nation,” but thousands of the heroes, who gave their lives for Ukraine, are not the part of this “nation” as well.
After 2014, I thought that the political nation, the civil nation, the identity of which is paramount and is not connected to the religion, native language, region or ethnic origin, really formed in Ukraine. Nevertheless, for some reason, exactly now the authorities decided to raise the language question understanding perfectly that it may cause quite critical and emotional response.
The language issue is an old technique used to split the society, but using it again, the authorities play with fire. Yes, immediately several tasks are solved in the short-run: the attention of Ukrainians are diverted from the prices, taxes, unemployment, and, at the same time, the authorities insure themselves against the appearing of wide united opposition. Of course, it is also an attempt to make advances to the traditionally more active electors of Western Ukraine. Divide and rule…
However, why they give this trump to the enemies of Ukraine right now? Why do they provoke own citizens who speak other languages with the prohibitions and restrictions? Why do they offend them by denying Ukrainian identity to them, and what identity do the authorities urge them on?
Even if the bills are not approved subsequently, they already have the negative effect: Ukrainians were reminded that they are different, and for some reason, it is once again an important political topic. By these actions, the politicians undermine the stability in the country. As for me, it is the real ‘Shatun’ plan, which we’ve heard so much about…
