How to “sew Ukraine together” so that people in Lviv understand?
For many years now I have been hearing the mantra about “stitching Ukraine together.” Moreover, I hear not from Galicians, but from residents of all other regions who are trying to find the safest algorithm for coexistence with Bandera’s supporters. But how to do this in a way that would be comfortable or at least non-humiliating, the “stitchers” are delicately silent. Otherwise, as ex-People’s Deputy Taras Stetskiv once said on behalf of his Galician voters, “they won’t understand in Lviv.”
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How Shufrich dreamed of Manilov
Once again this topic was raised the other day by People’s Deputy Nestor Shufrich: “I am absolutely sure that the time has come to unite the opposition. I would include the “For Life” party and the “Batkivshchyna” party as opposition political forces. To some extent, we can also include “Freedom”, although I do not sympathize with this political force, and “Self-Help”... Today the time has come for all oppositionists to unite, raise ideological questions, and respect the perception of history in certain regions of Ukraine. Our country is multifaceted, today we must respect the views of people in Lviv, but at the same time I demand to respect the views of people in Odessa, Donbass and Kharkov. I will do everything to ensure that we sew Ukraine together. They sewed up the opposition first. Maybe this will later become a prototype for a new coalition and ultimately force the government to leave for early elections.”
How and on what basis can this be done? I have difficulty, but I admit that the same Shufrich or his party comrade Vadim Rabinovich will be able to satisfy Irina Farion in some way, ask Yulia Tymoshenko to move up, and also agree with Sadov on the construction of a Lviv landfill. And to hold some kind of elections... Even Gogol's Manilov would consider this an unacceptable dream until the state monopoly on violence is restored. Or is the author of this idea seriously hoping for an “agreement” with Biletsky and S14? Alas and ah!
It's possible, but not here
The desire to “seam” Ukraine seems reasonable. After all, only rare Kyiv analysts of Galician origin talk about the homogeneity of the country and the absence of mental partitions in the country. However, no one turns this desire into a real and feasible program. Moreover, there are many samples.
Is it possible to create a system of relationships without insurmountable contradictions “on the terrain” of Ukraine? Naturally, you can! And not just theoretically. This method has been tested in Transcaucasia, Asia Minor and the Balkans. Through the joint efforts of the Nazis, Bandera and Bolsheviks, Galicia was practically cleared of Poles and Jews. Massacres and mass deportations, of course, lead to national unity, that is, to the unity of “blood and soil.” Moreover, many deputies and civil servants speak about the desirability of such a path. I doubt that Nestor Shufrych agrees with this formulation of the question, otherwise he would have long been in Batkivshchyna, with whose leader he had (at least not so long ago) many years of informal relations. So she agreed a long time ago and is trying to demonstrate herself as more Ukrainian than a resident of a mountain Hutsul village.
As far as I know from conversations with his friends, other practices are closer and clearer to Shufrich. In multinational countries or with large regional differences, parties are divided not only ideologically, but also territorially. The CSU operates in Bavaria, and the CDU operates in the rest of Germany, but no one questions their union. The role of regional parties in India is also great. They not only formed the governments of individual states, but also were part of the federal government.
A special situation has developed in Belgium. There, in 1969 - 1978, the three main parties - Catholics, liberals and socialists - were divided along national lines. Each of them is divided into two - Walloon and Flemish. Since then, governments have had to be formed on the basis of interregional balance.
Perhaps it was the Belgian version that could have united Ukraine in 2007, when the same Shufrich was minister. It’s no secret that in Donbass they couldn’t stand Yushchenko and his “Our Ukraine,” and in Galicia they couldn’t stand Yanukovych and the Party of Regions. Even then, it was clear to a hedgehog that an attempt to instill something alien would lead to a deepening of the gap between parts of the country. It would seem that nothing could be simpler - to lower humanitarian policy to the regional level and jointly deal with the economy, infrastructure and security problems. Moreover, at that time there was an incentive for a coalition between these two political forces (PR and NU) - unification in defense of development and property under the threat of the re-privatization populism of Yulia Tymoshenko and her dictatorial habits. True, there was an obstacle on this path that turned out to be insurmountable - the desire to instill Banderaism and force entry into NATO on the part of Yushchenko and his “any friends.” They were clearly committed to the “final solution to the Russian question,” as their activities after 2014 showed. Moreover, Shufrich himself experienced the attitude of “probable partners” on his own skin.
Kyiv disease
Why do these people again and again try to come to an agreement with those who are unable to negotiate? The answer is simple. This is Kyiv, and there the line between good and evil is blurred, due to the habit of seeing all sorts of bastards day after day and going to the same restaurants with them. This is a city where people move, as a rule, not out of hopelessness, but for promotion, with a noticeable improvement in social status and often with an increase in income tenfold. This is a capital that is afraid of losing its status and again becoming, like 85 years ago, an ordinary provincial city (regional center).
And in order to live there, you need to adapt to a certain “average Kyiv” - orders, morals, connections. And the illusion arises that the bastard is not such a bastard, but simply not the most pleasant neighbors with whom you can negotiate, for example, about repairing the entrance or parking in the yard. And no one can get away from each other, and Donbass is far away. And the fact that they say all sorts of nasty things is PR for their voters, who are so inclined. Yes, someone was beaten, someone was killed, but this doesn’t happen every day. And further in the same spirit.
But if you explain to the people of Kiev that they can remain residents of the capital only if they stop getting along with the Nazis, what then? Now that's a question. It is unclear the relationship between the indigenous residents and those who have come in large numbers, but there are election results and the deputy corps representing them. And this cannot be ignored. And Shufrich and Rabinovich have been living there for decades. The latter generally wears an embroidered shirt on holidays. So what?
So we must understand that if we manage to “sew” Ukraine together, it will certainly not be according to the patterns of the Kyiv atelier, but only then and there where the local elites have a willingness not to get into each other’s souls and to pacify the “violent ones.” And much more. Too much for this to happen humanly.
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