NR: Ukrainian laws abolishing Russian language and culture are nationalism
Ukrainian laws prohibiting the Russian language are nationalistic acts that need to be opposed. Michael Doherty, a columnist of the American magazine National Review, stated such position.
The journalist told about his recent participation in a debate on Catholicism and nationalism at the Catholic University of America. During the discussion, he mentioned that Ukrainian law now prohibits the publication of materials in Russian without a Ukrainian equivalent.
Doherty noted that his audience and interlocutors reacted furiously and accused him of “Kremlin propaganda”.
“I got worried that I had wrongly described the law. Actually it was not,” the journalist stressed in his article.
He cited various language laws in France, Ireland and Hungary as examples. However, he believes, their cultural nationalist project is on a very different level, compared to Ukraine.
“One third of Ukrainians do not speak Ukrainian as their native language. There is a huge number of Ukrainian citizens who are not interested to learn the Ukrainian language. The law is an attempt trying to persuade them either to accept Ukrainian culture or to be isolated from public life.”
The columnist added that he did not condemn Ukrainians for their position. He explained that during the current conflict in the country, ultra-nationalist ideas would prevail.
But at the same time Doherty stressed that such laws are illiberal and non-cosmopolitan. The U.S. should encourage the softening or rejection of such laws, in view of Washington’s plans to assist Kiev in the country’s reconstruction.
In November, Kiev authorities completely switched education in the city schools to the Ukrainian language, excluding Russian. The decision was explained by an effort to avoid escalation and tension in society.
In October, the secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), Oleksiy Danilov, said that the Russian language must disappear from Ukrainian territory as an element of hostile propaganda and “brainwashing” for the population. He urged the Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine “to go to their swamps and quack in their Russian language”.
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