Freedom Square, free from monuments and memorials, may be the symbol of consolidation, Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Feldman considers.
Several days ago, the information about the installation of a memorial on Freedom Square in Kharkiv appeared several days ago, and already nine petitions were submitted by Kharkiv residents to the City Council against the new monument. One of them gathered 1,500 supporters. People are demanding the cancellation of the results of the competition. There are proposals to arrange professional discussion both in expert environment and among the community. It is absolutely apparent that there is no guarantee that the new variants of a memorial and the new jury won’t cause new waves of discontent and indignation.
Today, almost everyone says that the main thing is to install the new symbol on Freedom Square, which will unite residents of Kharkiv. Maybe the square itself, free from monuments and memorials, can be the symbol of consolidation? Comfortable for walks, open for fairs, festivals and concerts. European, beautiful and open. Not without reason they say that for things to remain the same, everything must change. Why do we have such an ineradicable desire to install giant monuments and memorials? (The height of the winner’s column is 86 metres!) Maybe because we think nothing of destroying them “to the very foundations.” And then… And then, to construct the new ones instead. You know, there is a reason why some people say that when destroying the monuments, it is necessary to leave the pedestals, as they may come in handy. But, maybe it’s time to end this monumentalism practice on one of the largest squares in Europe; maybe it’s time to stop ‘embedding’ money into concrete? There are a lot of things in the city to spend this money on. Clean, green, beautiful, and open square is a real symbol of freedom, mutual understanding, respect to the past and hope for the future.
