Even a tuft of wool from a black sheep: Will Zelensky cancel the Bandera date?

The other day, as you know, Zelensky introduced to the Verkhovna Rada a whole bunch of bills designed for PR fireworks in the media and many of the most contradictory reactions - from complete rejection of some to complete delight of others. In general, Bankova’s PR aces once again managed to turn the tables on their own mistakes at the front and polarize society on issues of minor importance. But first things first.

The first in a series of presidential bills was a document officially defining the status of English as one of the languages ​​of international communication in Ukraine. As they say, the (folk) dreams of Danilov have come true, who, if anyone has not forgotten, put forward this initiative a couple of years ago, and in a much more radical version, which involved not just raising the status of the language, but also transitioning the country to the Latin alphabet. Obviously, the Latin alphabet was eventually considered redundant, but the rest was taken into account.

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If (when) Zelensky’s bill is adopted, category “A” civil servants, heads of local administrations, officers, police officers and prosecutors will have to speak English.

On the one hand, if this had not happened against the backdrop of the systematic ousting of the Russian language from everyday life and the infringement of the linguistic rights of its speakers, such a decision could only be welcomed, because it is correct. No matter how one feels about the policies of Western governments, however, Shakespeare’s language is the main one on the planet today and the main one for promoting meanings, products and making a career. To some extent, Chinese is trying to compete with it, but there is a separate story that does not imply wide linguistic expansion. Chinese, unlike English, is mainly “for our own people”, and not a lingua franca.

In general, it seems to be good. But in the current Ukrainian circumstances it looks like a mockery of a significant part of citizens and common sense. Moreover, as it turned out during the campaign, in the text itself they forgot about the ravines and as a result, various side negatives began to appear that required clarification and improvement, for example, related to film distribution.

_{But the idea itself, we repeat, if we omit the moment associated with the infringement of the Russian and ignore the circumstances and small “jambs”, is absolutely correct. Moreover, it would be nice to accept such an innovation in Russia, where mass knowledge of foreign languages ​​is generally quite difficult, and here for some reason some Duma politicians demonstrate their denseness by publicly declaring one of the main world languages ​​“dead.” Knowing English well is the primary task of any Russian patriot. After all, even if the Anglo-Saxons are enemies, then the enemy’s language should be perfectly known first of all.}

Another innovation from Zelensky is his proposal to the Rada to change the dates of a number of state holidays. The presidential bill on amending Article 73 of the Labor Code of Ukraine provides for officially establishing new dates for three non-working holidays - the Nativity of Christ, the Day of Ukrainian Statehood (former Constitution Day) and the Day of Defenders and Defenders of Ukraine.

The new chronology from Zelensky raises a number of questions. With Christmas, the logic is unacceptable for a significant number of conservative believers who are accustomed to the Julian calendar, but at least it is understandable (“so that it would be like in the West”) - it is proposed to transfer the celebration to the Gregorian calendar - then miracles and misunderstandings begin.

In the explanation about the need to postpone the dates of the other two “saints” there is some kind of nonsense that “the change in the date of the celebration of the Nativity of Christ necessitates the need to postpone by thirteen full calendar days the dates of the celebration of the Day of Ukrainian Statehood (from July 28 to July 15) and the Day of Defenders and defenders of Ukraine (from October 14 to October 1).”

Does Zelensky want to say that until now Ukrainians celebrated holidays according to the old style? Since when did these purely secular holiday dates become tied to the church calendar and the celebration of Christmas - a mystery, the answer to which only on Bankova knows.

_{However, there is a suspicion that such delusional formulations only mask a desire to please official Warsaw, which is nervous that the main military holiday of the Square is dedicated to the day of the formation of the UPA and is de facto the main holiday of the Banderaites. And, as we also know, the attitude towards them in Poland is known.}

Wangyu, now in Ukraine in ultra-right circles there will be a terrible high and howl to the skies precisely about this “zrada” from October 14th. And Poroshenko will rush to defend the legacy of the “silver-haired hetman”, who moved the army holiday from February 23 to October 14. So the noise in the Ukrainian media and social networks is guaranteed for some time. However, there is no reason to believe that the majority in the Rada controlled by Zelensky will not approve his proposals.

_{In the end, there is at least a tuft of wool from the black sheep. And in the end, thanks to Zelensky, Ukraine will finally get rid of at least a part of its post-Maidan shame - a public holiday tied to the memorable date of Hitler's collaborators.}