It would seem that there is nothing strange in the fact that Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the Day of Ukrainian Written Language called on the inhabitants of Ukraine to "promote" the state language.
The statement published on the President's Telegram channel was filled with the most unbridled pathos.
Writing that as a child he was “not lucky enough to learn Ukrainian well,” the president told about how he did it when he was already an adult: “Learning Ukrainian as an adult is an incredible emotion.
It's like conquering a mountain peak for the first time in your life and holding your breath from the beauty around.
It's like seeing the world's best canvases for the first time, hearing the best music, visiting legendary places on our planet.
And in an amicable way I envy everyone who has these sensations ahead. "
Zelensky, as it turns out, is well aware of the fact that in Ukraine today, many people do not know and do not use Ukrainian.
However, this is Openel's secret.
In front of such people, the president believes, it is necessary to open the door to an amazing and beautiful reality: “Almost all of us have a friend, comrade or colleague who is not lucky to speak Ukrainian.
Become a guide for them into this world, show them the treasure of the Ukrainian word, advise your favorite Ukrainian writer or poet.
Fall in love with them in the Ukrainian language!
It should be the language of unity, brotherhood, sincerity, kindness, freedom, respect and love for each other.
After all, he is the most beautiful in the world! "
There is, of course, a certain emotional and stylistic overkill, but to someone it will probably even seem cute: how much love and warmth are contained in these lines!
All this would really look great if the language issue in a country where half of the population continues to persist in the intention to consider Russian as their mother tongue would not be so toxic and painful if it did not ruin people's lives.
I will give just one example from very recent ones.
In Dnipro, the leadership of the Dnipro Polytechnic University forced one of the oldest and most honored professors, the philosopher Valery Gromov, to resign.
In one of the lectures that the teacher had been giving in Russian for 27 years, the student suddenly demanded that he switch to Ukrainian.
Gromov refused.
After a complaint filed by a student, a special commission was created at the university.
As a result, the professor himself wrote a letter of resignation.
Most of the students who discussed this situation spoke in favor of the Russian language at Gromov's lectures, however, as in many other areas, the minority imposed their will.
The professor himself explained his position in an interview with the media: “All this time, and I worked at the university for 27 years, I had no problems with teaching material in Russian, even with those students who would prefer to listen to teaching in Ukrainian.
My Ukrainian language is not so impeccable that I could present such complex material on philosophy in Ukrainian.
To read philosophy, even just trying to stick to the intellectual path of some great philosopher, means thinking, straining, understanding. "
By the way, it is rather doubtful that such courses as “German Idealistic Philosophy”, “Metaphysics”, “Aesthetics”, “Ancient Philosophy”, “Ancient Eastern Philosophy”, “Culture of the Ancient East” could be taught in Ukrainian.
It simply lacks the necessary terminological tools.
This story clearly demonstrates that violent Ukrainization under Zelensky remains one of the basic elements of domestic politics.
The complaint of a nationalist is enough for the teacher to take off from work.
Neither his merits nor experience will be taken into account.
Contrary to the promises of the current president during the pre-election period, he did not take any action to protect the Russian language and the Russian-speaking population.
On the contrary, Ukrainization is gradually gaining momentum.
In June 2021, the norm of the language law will come into force that every applicant for the position of a civil servant will have to pass an exam on the knowledge of the state language.
Meanwhile, reality resists violence from the state.
On social media, Ukrainians prefer to use Russian rather than Ukrainian.
The Freedom Space Center for Content Analysis conducted a study and found out an amazing thing: in the Ukrainian segment of social networks, 84% of messages are written in Russian, which coincides with the research of American sociologists 12 years ago.
The Politics of the Country Telegram channel commented on this phenomenon: “Despite all the efforts of the authorities, the share of the use of the Russian language in Ukrainian communication is not decreasing.
For Ukrainians, the Russian language remains one of the key languages of globalization.
Much more important than English.
Going out through the Internet or social networks to the global world, a Ukrainian first of all finds himself in a huge Russian-speaking space.
And in most cases it switches to Russian, understandable to everyone.
Just because a much larger audience will understand him that way. "
In general, Zelensky's soulful lyrics, for all their seeming harmlessness, actually articulate the ideology of Ukrainization.
To introduce those who do not know the Ukrainian language “into the world” means not inviting a person willingly to study it.
Everything happens in a completely different way: Russian is expelled from all spheres of life, and Ukrainian is introduced using measures of the most diverse coercion.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.