The rebuilding of Ukraine, our country's place on the European map, in the cultural dimension, and the world without russia. We discussed these topics together with experts, journalists and viewers in the human rights programme RIGHTS NOW!. The events took place during the Travelling Docudays UA.
This year, we brought the experts to three cities: Uzhhorod, Ivano-Frankivsk and Kremenchuk. These were days of lively conversations and interesting discussions. Once again, we were convinced that no video conferencing programme, even the most advanced, can replace live communication.
RIGHTS NOW! began at the Law Faculty of Uzhhorod National University. The city at the foot of the Carpathians was visited by Oleksandr Solontai, Director of Practical Policy Programs at the Institute of Political Education, and Vitaliy Selyk, Director of the Smіlіvі Charitable Foundation, co-founder of the Dare to Restore volunteer initiative.
all together Vitaliy Selyk and Oleksandr Solontai
The audience of this event was mostly first-year students. Oleksandr Solontai drew attention to the fact that students who would have to vote in the presidential election for the first time in their lives will not have this right due to the full-scale invasion: "Ukraine's destiny is to be a democratic country. But the war has ruined the elections," said Solontai.
Despite the temporary impossibility to show their civic position, the students received advice from Vitaliy Selyk to take a more active interest in the life of their city and country. "Ukraine has a powerful civil society system. It is important to join all-Ukrainian civic initiatives from a young student age."
The whole country has suffered from military aggression, and Uzhhorod has also faced certain challenges. Many people from more dangerous areas of Ukraine have moved to the city. So no matter where in our country the recovery takes place, the experts emphasised that cities and villages should be inclusive, comfortable, and safe for everyone. And Ukraine's further development should be based on the Lugano Principles. Let me remind you that these principles are based on a focus on reforms, transparency, equality, decentralisation, consistent cooperation with Western partners, and overcoming corruption.
The event was held in partnership with the Law Faculty of the Uzhhorod National University, the Vested Carpathian Human Rights Agency and the Insider NGO.
The next stop of the RIGHTS NOW! human rights programme was the city of Ivano-Frankivsk. What should happen in the international geopolitical situation for the processes of disintegration to start in russia? We invited Pavlo Klimkin, a Ukrainian diplomat and head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in 2014-2019, to talk about this.
Pavlo Klimkin at the meetingThis event was also attended by many young people and displaced people who now live in Ivano-Frankivsk. During the conversation, the diplomat explained why russia's hostility toward Ukraine will not disappear: "The mental code of the Ukrainian nation includes freedom and justice. Sometimes it is not perfect and not what we imagined, but it is there. And this is the difference from Russia. It also means that our border will be a fundamental fault line with another civilization where people do not want freedom and do not want to take responsibility."
The audience at the discussion with Pavlo KlimkinThe partner of this event was the regional organisation "Moloda Prosvita".
The human rights programme RIGHTS NOW! has come to an end in Kremenchuk. In the second largest city of Poltava region, we discussed how to rebuild our country, strengthen the European orientation, and what Ukraine's place in the world and in the cultural dimension will be. We invited political scientist Mykola Davydiuk and musician Anton Slepakov to join the conversation.
Anton Slepakov Andriy Sokolov, Roksolana Dineha, artist of WARНЯКАННЯ and organizer of the event
And thanks to the O'Komova Kremenchuk cultural association, a concert by Anton Slepakov and Andriy Sokolov's WARНЯКАННЯ charity project took place. But I'm going to digress a bit. In Kremenchuk, we gave our guests a short city tour. We walked along the waterfront, visited the river station, and fed nuts to local squirrels and bluebirds. We also visited the local Palace of Culture. The building, built in the early 70s of the twentieth century, is the cultural centre of the city. Serhiy Sytnyk, the director of the Palace of Culture, told us about its history.
Serhiy Sytnyk, director of the Palace of Culture in Kremenchuk
Mr. Sytnyk drew our attention to the stained glass window. It features traditional Ukrainian motifs: folk musicians, Cossack Mamai, and the work of Ukrainian monumentalist Ivan-Valentyn Zadorozhnyi, "Our Song is Our Glory."
The conversation "How to start building a strong country now" was organised in partnership with the Kremenchuk Information and Education Center "European Club". Anton Slepakov focused on cultural issues: "I think that many people on February 24, 2022, started living here and now. None of us can predict the course of events and say what will happen next, but we need to build that culture now."
Mykola Davydiuk shared his vision of how Ukraine and the Ukrainian people have changed with the start of the full-scale invasion: "It seems to me that on this first day of the war, everyone passed a test to determine who they are, especially by profession. Because everyone decided to help Ukraine in the best way they could, depending on their talent."
The human rights programme and the Travelling Docudays UA in Kremenchuk ended with an atmospheric concert by the charity music therapy project "WARНЯКАННЯ".
During the three events, there was a feeling that the experts were passing the baton to each other, urging everyone to invest in the reconstruction of their country right now: to help clear the rubble or restore housing, to use the tools of public influence, to fight corruption at their own level, to record the history of this war in films or music, and to help the Armed Forces.
To listen to the entire RIGHTS NOW! human rights programme at the Travelling Docudays UA and to be inspired by the opinions of the experts, I invite you to Docuspace online cinema, where we will soon upload recordings of all three events.
Photo: Kostiantyn Botyhin, Iryna Pavliukovska, Andriy Sokolov, Olesia Musienko.
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The 20th Travelling Docudays UA is held with the support of the Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine, Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine, US Embassy in Ukraine. The opinions, conclusions or recommendations do not necessarily reflect the views of the governments, charities, or companies of these countries. Responsibility for the contents of the material lies solely on its authors.
