[lg policy] Ukraine: European Charter against European values

[Harold Schiffman]

European Charter against European values
By Nadia TYSIACHNA, The Day

The Verkhovna Rada is going to discuss the notorious bill “On
Principles of the Official Language Policy” drawn up by the Party of
Regions members Vadym Kolesnichenko and Serhii Kivalov. This draft law
provides for the use of a national minority language in a certain
region, where more than 10 percent of the population considers it
native. According to MP Borys TARASIUK (www.pravda.com.ua), this will
mean in practice the regional status of the Russian language in 13
oblasts and, as a “pleasant bonus,” a similar status of Hungarian in
Transcarpathia and Romanian in Bukovyna. “The Crimean Autonomous
Republic ‘was the luckiest’: in addition to Russian, the Crimeans will
be ‘presented with’ the Crimean Tatar language which the Tatars are in
fact free to use in the local government, education, and cultural
life,” he says. “If this bill is voted into law, we can forget about
the Ukrainian language in cities,” www.newsru.ua quotes MP Oles DONII
as saying, “for, under the guise of liberalism, humanism, and
democracy, they are packaging again the idea that Ukrainian will not
be used in universities, on television, in advertising, or in the
places where at least 10 percent consider Russian as their mother
tongue.”

“Pushing through this initiative, Vadym Kolesnichenko is flaunting,
above all, the support of the Venice Commission and higher educational
institutions, particularly Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University,
National Mykhailo Drahomanov Teacher-Training University, National
Linguistic University, Taurida National Volodymyr Vernadsky
University, Ternopil National Teacher-Training University (I cover my
head with ashes, as I am its alumna), and Odesa National Illia
Mechnikov University. Firstly, the Venice Commission, a Council of
Europe advisory board on constitutional law, which makes conclusions
on whether legislative acts meet European standards and values,
clearly failed to look into our situation. Secondly, this is by no
means the first time that universities are siding with somebody on the
eve of the presidential or parliamentary elections, not to mention the
drawing of the “language card.” For it is the question of societal
disunity, separatist sentiments, and, in the last analysis, the
ousting of not only the Ukrainian language, but also Ukrainian culture
in general from eastern and southern Ukraine.

Ivan DZIUBA, public activist, expert in literature, author of the
famed work Internationalism or Russification?:

“The bill ‘On Principles of the Official Language Policy’ is super
false. Its authors hypocritically pretend to care about the languages
of national minorities; however, in fact they want Russification,
pernicious for Ukraine. The Ukrainian parliament should watch how the
existing constitutional law on languages in Ukraine is observed: it
defines Ukrainian as the national language and guarantees the
development of other languages. The law is perfect and fair, however,
a number of guarantees for Ukrainian as the national language remain
fictitious. The Ukrainian authorities have developed the deficit of
Ukrainian. In these conditions Ukraine’s bitter enemies, acting in the
interests of the Russian imperialism hurry up to take the floor.”

http://www.day.kiev.ua/228966

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