the Russian gaze

[Maryna Vinarska]

Actually, plenty of such articles have been written, and plenty will be written. There is nothing new in it, although some statements are really irritating.
Among them are the following:
"Тут следует уточнить термины: русскоязычный в постсоветской Украине в точности означает русский."
This is nonsense. Or maybe this is how the author would like it to be. The fact that people in one part of Ukraine speak Russian doesn't mean that they are Russians or that they identify with Russians. The fact that they speak Russian is the outcome of the forced russification, which is no secret for anybody.
The whole set of comments on the ethnicity in South-Eastern Ukraine is exactly the case when Ukrainians usually say: "V ogorodi buzyna, a v Kyevi diad'ko. Za te ja tebe liubliu, shcho v golovi dirka".
"В такой объективной этнической ситуации требовать от взрослого человека выбрать свою национальность в соответствии с записью в паспорте своиÑ
 родителей было, конечно, абсурдом, странной советской игрой, смысл которой мало кому был понятен."
The author probably thinks that if _he personally_ is not able to understand what the sense of that "igra" was, then those who ruled at that time were idiots, which actually was not the case.  They knew what they did
I once used to deal with the group of historians whose knowledge on the subject I can fully trust. One day I said that I had always been surprised at how many mistakes the clerks working in the offices issuing passports always made. The result of those mistakes was always one and the same: Ukrainian last names suddenly got Russian endings, Suprun - Suprunov, Koval' - Kovaliov, etc. It worked only in one direction. After I mentioned that, I was told: "Don’t be naive. Those were not mistakes. Adding Russian endings to Ukrainian last names belonged to all those tactics aimed at making Eastern Ukraine look "Russian". And then I was told that making people choose Russian and not Ukrainian as the entry in their passports, when they reached the necessary age, belonged to those tactics too. It was not forcing them... those were simply all kinds of tricks the corresponding authorities were to perfom.
So there was a lot of sense in that "igra". Due to that "igra" some keep yelling now that the whole Eastern Ukraine is populated by Russians, which is not the truth, no matter that people have Russian last names and speak Russian. The truth is that the majority of them are ethnic Ukrainians, and not Russians.
"Ну а после того, как из постсоветскиÑ
 паспортов исчезли советские отметки о национальности, выяснилось, что юго-восточные регионы и Киев являются, по сути, полностью русскими, поскольку лингвистическая принадлежность осталась самым наглядным и бесспорным критерием национальности."
Yes-yes... V ogorodi buzyna, a v Kyevi diad'ko. Give such 'grafomany' power, and they will say that there is no sense to distinguish between the British and Americans, Canadians and Australians, or between Germans and Austrians, etc. Really, why not reduce the number of those nationalities or ethnicities to a minimum, for convenience? Let all those who speak English be the English. I'd like him to submit this proposal... to the Irish.
"Следующее стремление русскиÑ
 на Украине: поднять статус русского языка, а вместе с ним - и свой собственный политический статус."
Nonsense.  First, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Russian in Ukraine. Those who spoke Russian, speak it today too, and no one forces them to speak Ukrainian. This means, there is nothing to talk about in this respect.
Second, even Russians in Ukraine, those who love the country they live in, realize that this is exactly Ukrainian, the status of which should be restored, and not Russian which is in no case oppressed or smth like that.
Third,  the only problem in Ukraine in this duo, Ukrainian-Russian, is Russians like the author of this article who "mutiat vodu den' i noch'" instead of doing smth useful.
"Антинатовские настроения русскиÑ
 объясняются опасением разрыва связей с Россией и опять же боязнью дальнейшего снижения значения собственного политического голоса.
В то время как украиноязычное население видит своего естественного союзника в западныÑ
 странаÑ
, русские на Украине питают надежды на связь с Россией."
First, if Russians in Ukraine are afraid of smth, they can always move to Russia, although there is no any reason for doing this. Second, I myself don't know any Ukrainian who wants Ukraine to enter NATO.  Third,  I don't know any Ukrainian who wants Russia to become abroad for them. Fourth, Ukrainians do want to get rid of all those who want to impose whatever it is on them, be it either Russian as the state language, or NATO, or whatever else someone has up in his sleeve. And this is their right.
The rest of the article is just usual bla-bla-bla.
Regards,
Maryna Vinarska

P.S. Russian is in Unicode.


Nina Shevchuk <n_shevchuk at YAHOO.COM> wrote: http://www.russ.ru/docs/121392371
   
  In the same magazine as the interview about translation... Notice the labeling of different Ukrainian regions as "russian-speaking," "Russian," and "polonized" (�����������). Another evidence of the Russian gaze's inability to see anyone "Ukrainian"? Notice also, the inverted commas and a ukrainianism for "independence" - �����������. 
   
  Nina Shevchuk-Murray
  Lviv-Lincoln, NE

   
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups gets better. Check out the new email design. Plus there�s much more to come.  

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------


 		
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
 Everyone is raving about the  all-new Yahoo! Mail Beta.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------