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<div id="gmail-printableAreaHeader" class="entry-header gmail-header-post-author"><h1 class="gmail-post-title">Activists: Rada should adopt language legislation, since decisions on Ukrainian as primary language are sabotaged</h1>
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<div class="gmail-pm-item">By
<a href="https://www.kyivpost.com/author/interfax-ukraine"><strong>Interfax-Ukraine</strong></a>.
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Published Sept. 18 at 2:23 pm
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Protesters hold banner Kharkiv for Ukrainian language (written in Ukrainian language) on Kharkiv rally.
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Photo by <strong>Courtesy</strong>
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<p>Activists
from NGO For Ukrainian-Speaking Kyiv insist that the Verkhovna Rada
adopt the language legislation regulating the use of the Ukrainian
language since the rights of Ukrainians to being serviced in the
Ukrainian language are frequently ignored by business entities and local
authorities.</p>
<p>The activists said at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine news
agency on Tuesday that on September 16, a cashier at a McDonald’s
restaurant in Kyiv refused to service a client in Ukrainian.</p>
<p>“We are saying that such cases are not isolated, and despite the fact
that some large chains still try to offer services in the Ukrainian
language, many others stubbornly ignore the rights of Ukrainians (…) The
Citrus chain, which refuses to switch to the state language, the KFC
chain, and a number of other networks, in particular, Rukkola, ATB,
BILLA,” said Andriy Smoliy, head of the Kyiv branch of the Ukrainian
Galician Party, deputy head of NGO For Ukrainian-Speaking Kyiv and a
civil activist of the Away from Moscow initiative.</p>
<p>He recalled that at a meeting on October 5, 2017 the Kyiv City
Council adopted the decision on measures to ensure regional language
policy in the city of Kyiv, according to which business entities should
have their documentation in the state language.</p>
<p>“Despite the fact that on October 5, 2017 the Kyiv City Council made
the decision that Ukrainian is the primary language of service in the
territory of the city of Kyiv (…) this decision is openly sabotaged by
business entities and KCSA (Kyiv City State Administration), which
should ensure the implementation of this decision,” the activist said.</p>
<p>Smoliy added that the only solution would be the adoption of the language legislation by the Verkhovna Rada.</p>
<p>“Now the only solution is the adoption of the language legislation at
an all-Ukrainian level, i.e. by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (…) Only
the adoption of such a law, which will cover all spheres of social life
of Ukrainians, will be able to correct the situation with the language,
both in Kyiv and in Ukraine as a whole,” he said.</p></div></div>
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>