De-Russification

From the MT:

“Appetite for 'De-Russification' Builds in Ukraine”

(Iryna Sazonova at the Siayvo bookstore in Kyiv.)

At a bookshop in Kyiv, 33-year-old Yulia Sydorenko was dumping an entire collection of old books – some gifts from childhood friends – that have recently lost their appeal. Why? They were written in Russian. "Since February 24, Russian books have no place in my house," Sydorenko said, referring to the day Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. "I got them for my 20th birthday with inscriptions from my friends. I took pictures of them," she said of the books she once treasured.  Showing a collection of children's books, she said she was convinced her children "will never read Russian tales now." Sydorenko is among a steady stream of people hauling piles of books, sometimes by the suitcase or carload, to the Siayvo bookshop.

Inspired by customers who wanted to clear out unwanted sections of their home libraries, the bookstore decided to recycle Russian-language books, giving the paper a new lease of life and helping the army.   "In two months, we collected 25 tons of books. Their recycling brought in 100,000 hryvnias (2,700 euros)," Iryna Sazonova, the shop's owner, told AFP. Following the annexation of Crimea by Russia and the Donbas war in 2014, Ukraine embarked on dismantling Soviet-era monuments and changing place names.

But since February, Ukrainians are contemplating the presence of Russian in private and public spaces, even though 19% of Ukrainians say their native language is Russian. The Bulgakov Museum, where famed Kyiv-born Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov lived for 13 years, has come under pressure, with the National Writers' Union of Ukraine moving to close it down.  Bulgakov is accused of being imperialist and anti-Ukrainian, notably in his novel "The White Guard" which is at the heart of the museum's main exhibition. "War is black and white, but in art, nuances are essential," the museum's director Lyudmila Gubianuri told AFP. "There are many nuances with Bulgakov's works, but people tend to ignore them," she said. Gubianuri accepts that the museum must adapt to reflect the challenges of the situation. "Our team is working on a new concept which will be established in dialogue with the public," she said.

People passing the museum are divided. For Anton Glazkov, a 27-year-old teacher, closing the museum would be wrong because "war and works of art are not always linked." But Dmytro Cheliuk, 45, who runs a nearby clothes store, said "the time has come for us to de-Russify ourselves and remove the Russian empire from our streets." Oleg Slabospitsky, an activist, takes a hands-on approach to removing Russian from public spaces. Several times a week since Ukraine's 2014 revolution, the 33-year-old dons a high-visibility vest and hauls a stepladder around the city taking down overly Russian street signs like "Moscow Street." "These kinds of initiatives must come from the people themselves," he told AFP before setting out with a friend to unbolt three plaques on Moscow Street.

In Kyiv, famous for its long avenues, the team sometimes spend whole days "de-Russifying" city streets. Kyiv City Hall recently voted to rename 142 streets which contained references to Russia. Another 345 streets await the same fate. The street formerly known as "Moscow" now honours the Ostrozky Princes, a dynasty of 16th century Ukrainian politicians. At Shevchenko University – damaged by a recent salvo of Russian missiles – management took down a plaque last August that honoured Bulgakov, who studied there a hundred years ago. Oleksandr Bondarenko, who heads a Slavic studies department, said the measure is "understandable" as the plaque could offend passers-by who had lost loved ones in the war. Ukraine's school curricula no longer features Russian language courses, nor works of Russian writers. Instead, a new course on the war with Russia has been added. The history of the U.S.S.R. is also now presented through the prism of imperialism. Bondarenko's faculty did not enrol new Russian students this year because the literature and language programmes are currently being adapted.  "Courses on information warfare meanwhile are now at the heart of the curriculum," said Bondarenko. "In a hybrid war, like this, you have to learn the language of the enemy to know him well. Qualified translators will be in high demand at war crimes trials."

^ Getting rid of the Russian Language and other things glorifying Russia in Ukraine only makes sense. The Ukrainians were forced to learn and use Russian from the 1700s until 1991 (similar to the Forced Russification of other places like: Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia.)

The Russian Czarist Empire and the Soviet Communist Empire promoted everything Russian to ethnically cleanse all the other groups and cultures. Those that refused were sent to Siberia by the Czars and to the Gulags by the Soviets.

When Ukraine became independent in 1991 they allowed Ukrainian and Russian to be used throughout the country (as well as Tartar in Crimea.) For 23 years ethnic Russians in Ukraine spoke Ukrainian and Russian to ethnic Ukrainians who answered them back in both Russian and Ukrainian.

When Putin and Russia illegally invaded, occupied and annexed Crimea, Ukraine in 2014 the Russian Occupation Forces outlawed the use of Ukrainian and Tartar as well as anything dealing (culturally with Ukraine or the Tartars.) Anyone who refused was sent to Forced Labor Penal Colonies in the Russian Federation (similar to Exile used by the Czars and the Gulags used by the Soviets.)

When Putin and Russia illegally invaded, occupied and annexed the rest of Ukraine in February 2022 the Russian Occupation Forces outlawed the use of Ukrainian as well as anything dealing (culturally with Ukraine.) Anyone who refuses is raped, tortured, murdered and dropped in a Mass Grave or raped, tortured and sent to Infiltration/Reeducation Camps in the Russian Federation.

Ukrainian Children (most who still have Parents and Family living) are kidnapped by the Russians and illegally deported to the Russian Federation to “have the Ukrainian beaten out of them.”

With all the rape, torture, kidnapping and murder being carried out by Putin, the Russian Military and the Russian Population as a Whole inside Ukraine it makes sense that the Ukrainians have decided to not only officially and publicly remove the signs of hundreds of years of Russian Czarist and Soviet Occupations but also privately and personally to stop using the Russian Language or read or watch anything from Russia since the Russians continue to carry out their Ukrainian Genocide against innocent Men, Women and Children.

There was no “Russian Problem” in Ukraine (as Putin first said in 2014 and then again in 2022. Putin and the Russians from the Russian Federation created the Russian Problem in Ukraine by raping, torturing, kidnapping and murdering Ukrainians.

The Germans under Hitler used the same exact excuse (solving the “German Problem” in places like Poland, Czechoslovakia, etc. And also illegally invaded, occupied and annexed those places and raped, tortured, kidnapped and murdered anyone who wasn’t German.

To say Putin and his Z Followers aren’t Russian Nazis, when they have used the exact same excuses and methods as the German Nazis, in not very intelligent. Putin is like Hitler and his Zs are Russian Nazis.

We all know what happened to Hitler, the German Nazis and Nazi Germany itself in 1945. I only hope the same happens with Putin, the Russian Nazis and Nazi Russia in 2022. ^

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/10/14/appetite-for-de-russification-builds-in-ukraine-a79091