for discussion

[Josh Wilson]

I'm not Ukrainian, don't know the language, and have only been there a
handful of times, but I'll chime in as well as purely philosophical level. 

In short, Farion's argument rests on flawed assumptions. 

> "About Misha, we will still talk! And really, children, Misha - who is}
> this? Really Misha is Mykhailyk (the traditional Ukrainian diminutive).
> And if Misha lived in England, then he would be Michael, right? And if
> Misha lived in France, then he would be Michel. But if he is in Ukraine,
> then certainly he is to be Mykhailyk. Which do you like more?" Farion
> asked.

No - if Misha lived in England or France or America or anywhere else, his
name would still be Misha, if that is how he chose to introduce himself. 

The argument assumes, essentially, that two cultures cannot live in one
space - that one must dominate and usurp the other. While some mixing does
naturally occur, in civilized countries people can keep their birth culture
- including their names - while living in their adopted culture. 

PS - by this argument the name on my Russian visa should actually be "Isus"
as that is the direct Russian translation of my name. 
 

> "The question of language is the question of spiritual independence. To
> look at it from any other view than the independence of a nation, then we
> automatically lose the nation. In other words, (language) is the spiritual
> border of a nation."

Granted, but the independence of a nation is dependent on the independence
of its citizens. If you take away the ability of the individual to choose
their culture or practice their culture (including their using their name
and language), you have already lost the independence of the nation to
dependence on dogma.




Josh Wilson
Assistant Director
The School of Russian and Asian Studies
Editor in Chief
Vestnik, The Journal of Russian and Asian Studies
SRAS.org 
jwilson at sras.org



-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Robert Orr
Sent: Monday, March 08, 2010 5:36 PM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: [SEELANGS] for discussion

http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/61055/

Lviv lawmaker touches off latest Ukraine-Russia row over whether Michael
should be called Misha or Mykhailyk
March 04 at 23:00 | Natalia A. Feduschak LVIV, Ukraine - Here's a recipe for
overnight international fame if you happen to be an obscure local
politician: Come to a kindergarten class unannounced, and tell a group of
5-year-old kids that their names are all wrong because they sound too
Russian, then try to teach them how to say them in Ukrainian. Tell those who
disagree to pack their suitcases and go to Moscow. Oh, and make sure you
have a TV crew with you, so that the video ends up on YouTube quite soon. 


This recipe was invented recently by Iryna Farion, a Lviv Oblast lawmaker
from the right-wing Svoboda Party, and made international headlines, causing
a firestorm in Russia.

But Farion doesn't see what the fuss is about.

"I'm a politician and I have the right to go anywhere where I'm needed. I'm
going to Ukrainian children. I'm not interested in Russian children, not
German, not Polish. I'm interested in Ukrainian authenticity and Ukrainian
identity. And I will defend this Ukrainian identity in all acceptable ways,"
she said in an interview.

"In the Ukrainian language, such uncharacteristic forms of names such as
Misha, Styopa, Fedya, Vova, all this is Moscow rubbish which makes young
people zombies and alienates them from their own culture." The diminutive
names she mentioned are shorter Russian versions of the names Mykhailo
(Michael), Stepan (Steven), Fedir and Volodymyr, respectively.

The tempest surrounding Farion, an award-winning Ukrainian language
professor, began when she appeared before schoolchildren on Feb. 19 to
commemorate International Mother Language Day. Celebrated annually on Feb.
21, the day is meant to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and
multilingualism.

With cameras rolling - her appearance was shown on regional television -
Farion pulled out a small chart that listed the right and wrong ways for
ethnic Ukrainians to say their names. With the Svoboda-sponsored graphic in
hand, the lawmaker walked around the classroom, asking children their names.

"Olenka," responded one girl.

"Pretty girl! What is your name?" Farion inquired, turning to another child.

"Misha," the boy answered.

"About Misha, we will still talk! And really, children, Misha - who is this?
Really Misha is Mykhailyk (the traditional Ukrainian diminutive). And if
Misha lived in England, then he would be Michael, right? And if Misha lived
in France, then he would be Michel. But if he is in Ukraine, then certainly
he is to be Mykhailyk. Which do you like more?" Farion asked.

The children yelled in unison "Misha!"

"Catastrophe!" Farion responded.

What grabbed headlines, however, was an exchange seconds later, when the
lawmaker asked yet another girl her name.

"Olenka," the child responded.

"Olenka," Farion repeated. "What a beauty! Never be an Alyona. Because if
you become Alyona, dear child, you'll have to pack your suitcases and move
to Moscow."

Within days, Vadym Kolesnichenko, a lawmaker within President Victor
Yanukovych's Party of Regions, which supports granting Russian official
status as a state language along with Ukrainian, said Farion had humiliated
and discriminated against children and called on Ukraine's general
prosecutor to press charges. Ukraine's Helsinki Human Rights group also
condemned Farion.

The country's blogosphere went wild with many attacking Farion, as well as
delving into the idiosyncrasies of the origins and use of names and
diminutives that often confuse those who don't know Ukrainian and other
Slavic languages. Russian television ran a lengthy piece about the furor.
The video of Farion's lesson quickly became a YouTube hit.

Local officials, in the meantime, swiftly determined Farion's classroom
visit was unsanctioned, but said they could take no disciplinary action
against her.

Svoboda, Farion's political party, meanwhile defended their member, saying
in a statement that "in Ukraine there is only one type of xenophobia -
Ukrainian phobia." Oleh Tiahnybok, Svoboda's leader, claimed that
Kolesnichenko's declarations were nothing more than a new stage in the fight
against Ukrainians that were sure to come now that the Party of Regions
leader, Yanukovych, was president.

During the presidential campaign, Yanukovych had argued that Russian, used
by much of the population, should become a second official language in
Ukraine and one of his priorities when taking office would be to ensure
linguistic parity.

"We are all aware that the painful attempts of those with Ukrainian phobia
to condemn the language specialist (Farion) are only in the first stage of
their attack on the Ukrainian language and the Ukrainian nation," Tiahnybok
said, warning that "an avalanche of anti-Ukrainian acts" should be expected
next.

But apart from Tiahnybok, few have come out in Farion's defense publically.
"I won't comment on Farion," said Andriy Ben, head of a non-profit group
called the Youth Nationalist Congress. He preferred to discuss the problem
of "the state being ruined from the top."

When Victor Yushchenko was president, there was a sentiment that a Kyiv-Lviv
axis could influence eastern Ukraine with its largely dominant Russian
language and culture and make it more Ukrainian, said Anatoliy Romaniuk, who
is a political science professor at Lviv's Ivan Franko National University
and one of the region's leading analysts.

Many here are now worried that the eastern Ukrainian political forces who
have come to power in Kyiv - including Yanukovych - will try to do the same
and strong arm a regional world view that is alien to the west, including
making Russian the second official language in Ukraine.

The incident at the school is one example of that fear and shows many people
are still intolerant, he said.

"Yanukovych's election was a critical blow to Lviv and western Ukraine,"
said Romaniuk. "Still, Western Ukraine isn't the Ukraine of Farion."

As an example, he noted that last year, Svoboda tried to have a school
teacher fired because she didn't want to exhibit in her classroom one of the
charts the party had supplied which promoted correct Ukrainian-language
terminology. Svoboda has sponsored charts encouraging the proper use of
Ukrainian-language terms since 2006. Those charts are often seen on buses
and other places throughout Lviv.

Parents successfully rallied around the teacher and she kept her job.

"Such measures are a tendency of authoritarian forces, but these are forces
of the past," Romaniuk said.

For her part, Farion remained unapologetic and promised to take her fight to
Kyiv if the new president tries to give Russian an official status.

"I believe I gave the nation a wonderful master-class on the Ukrainian
language," she said of the lesson with school children. "The question of
language is the question of spiritual independence.To look at it from any
other view than the independence of a nation, then we automatically lose the
nation. In other words, (language) is the spiritual border of a nation."



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