Language Issues: A Ukrainian Perspective through the Polish Eyes by Kostiantyn Iakovliev
Writer and journalist Konstanty Gebert provided one of the best examples of how purely linguistic issues can become highly politicized. During the most recent national census, interviewers first asked whether a person was a Pole or not, and only after they received a negative answer did they inquire more; and the same tactic was used again during Ukrainian census when people were tricked into saying they spoke “mainly Ukrainian” if this language was used in at least one sphere of their life. No option to name more than one language was provided. Later these data can be used to manipulatenpublic opinion and misrepresent the number of speakers of some language. For example, the census virtually “eliminated” the Lemko minority, allowing issues particular to this community to be ignored.
Piotr Tyma, President of the Association of Ukrainians in Poland also referred to the problems associated with not recognizing the lemko minority in the country. He also commented on the application of the Charter, noting that it should be used if complies with the law of a given country. He made an important point that this document should never be used to provide a higher status to a language of a minority (like, for example, Russian in Ukraine). It should be further highlighted that the Charter is not ratified in Ukraine in whole, but only partially. Thus, the law respecting linguistic plurality should be developed more in the country.
The Polish example is interesting to consider. According to Human Rights Defender, some Polish cities have voted on referenda to allow two names to co-exist – both Polish and Ukrainian (in case of lemko). This is in contrast to the idea commonly spread all over Ukraine about renaming cities – the Polish model would allow Hungarian names in the West or Russian in the East. Currently, all the places are named in Ukrainian, and there is not any initiative to have two names co-existing, but it should be an option for mutual consensus.
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Religion(s) & Minorities (Tuesday, December 7, 2010)
„Religious Tolerance - the path to the future of the world” by Victoria Vesolovska and Yaroslaw Minkin
"There are 3 levels of interreligious dialogue: Level 1 - local communication between people of different religions, level 2 - dialogue between religious leaders, level 3 - the dialogue between theological scientists" – Agata Skowron-Nalborczyk, Ph.D., Common Council Catholics and Muslims, University of Warsaw.
An interreligious council was established at the University of Warsaw, because it not only serves Polish, Ukrainian, Russian students, but also young people from Arab countries, Iran and other places where the main religion is Islam.
The history of the Muslim presence on Polish territory goes back 600 years. During this time Muslim communities have undergone significant changes. Today, the biggest Muslim community in Bialystok. It is worth noting that Bialystok is also a city where there is a large Orthodox Christian community - about 20 Orthodox churches are there. This kind of diversity—many religions living in one area—is something most people in Poland do not have experience with. Today it would be impossible to convince the majority of the population of Poland that Islam – considered a religion of evil and terrorism—is a normal part of life in Poland. For people in Bialystok, Muslims are neighbors, friends, perhaps even relatives, and part of life.
In order to show that Muslims are as much a part of Polish society, as Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and Jews, social and religious organizations carry out various interreligious activities. Every year a Theological Conference is held between Muslim and Catholic theologians in Stuttgart in Germany. Equal numbers of Catholic and Muslim Theologians are present. This conference is focused on brining together representatives from the Muslim and Christian communities, to cultivate respect for each other.
Mrs. Skowron-Nalborczyk said that dialogues between Catholic priests and Islamic religious leaders are held in Poland. For example, in 1990 a mosque was opened in Gdańsk, and a Catholic bishop took part in the opening. There are now regular meetings between religious leaders in Catholic Church and the Muslim community to discuss common problems and solutions. Such dialogues are emblematic of the civilized developmentments in Polish society that is becoming not just a multi-national but also multi-religious. Poland's Muslim population is now approximately 26-27 thousand people.
The persistence of Orthodoxy in Poland is a confirmation of multinational and multi-religious Poland. Orthodoxy has had different roles at different times, and different historical moments in Poland. During the time of the Russian Empire, the presence of an Orthodox church in Warsaw was a symbol of the presence and influence of Russia on the development of the area. On the other hand, Poles have always tried to instill the Catholic faith in all Orthodox Christians living in Poland. History shows that such mechanisms of Catholicism were quite effective.. Orthodox Christianity's presence in Poland waned with with each passing year.
Father Sawicki of the Cathedral of St. Mary Magdalen says that today his parish has 3,000 parishioners, and that the total number of Orthodox believers is 25 thousand. They include Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians, Bulgarians and other nationalities.. The reason for the difference between the number of parishioners and believers is the large number of illegal immigrants who live in Warsaw. Father Sawicki says that the church has struggled to make life easier for his parishioners and believers, because each of them left their homeland because of difficult circumstances. Some people just need a kind word, some need help with documents, but most commonly they need help seeking housing and employment.
The multi-ethnic congregation makes the work of the priests veriy difficult. Everyone who goes to church ought to feel comfortable. And what could be better than to hear services one's native language? For this reasons, in the Cathedral of St. Mary Magdalen, believers can hear Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Georgian, Greek. The church also organizes events involving groups from other countries - Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and others.
Father Sawicki says, all this is aimed at trying to make life for parishioners spiritually richer.
After all, in today's world, where but church can one think not only about the vanity of the world, but also for the salvation of our own, sometimes misguided souls.
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Identity & Language (Wednesday, December 8, 2010) by Antanina Siamionava
Our day was devoted to the issues of identity and language for minorities, but the meetings were dedicated to other issues as well. In the first meeting I became familiar with one of the organizations that contributes work to human rights issues. Anyone who believes that his or her rights were infringed because of nationality, ethnicity or other protected characteristics, may report their case and it may be brought to court. The speaker mentioned that there were not so many cases surrounding issues of minorities and language reported recently.
Elżbieta Petrajtis – O'Neill’s speech, entitled, “Beyond Words: Antisemitism in Poland vs. Free/Hate”, made a stronger impression on me. Among other issues, she pointed out that freedom of speech stops when speech hurts another person (or group of people). We discussed the Fascist and anti-Fascist demonstrations in Poland and the role of political authorities in these demonstrations. We also discussed laws concerning the prohibition of using Fascist symbols in public. The speaker mentioned that in Poland this law is not always enforced, while some participants commented on the situation in Ukraine where this law is almost never enforced. The next point of discussion was about hate speech directed at different nationalities, ethnic groups and other groups that experience discrimination. In the brochures, I learned about different reactions to this kind of speech. We also discussed stereotypes associated with the word “Jews” and how these stereotypes can be corrected. Ms. Elżbieta Petrajtis- O'Neill not only shared her knowledge and experience in the field of human rights, but she also has become something of an example for me, of someone dedicated to fighting for human rights. She told us one thing that will remain in my mind for a long time: “Just react. When you see that someone's rights are discriminated you must not be apart.”
The last meeting of the day was with Łukasz Mielnik, who was expected to teach us how to make workshops. Łukasz was very nice and discussed different issues connected with his own experiences doing workshops. It was mostly theoretical, as he gave us some samples of workshops and asked us to prepare them with group the next day. However, I was surprised that he did not actually do any workshop with us. I think that we would have learned more about how to make workshop if we had actually seen and participated in one. So, for me, it was not a very informative meeting.
In conclusion, the day was interesting and gave us new knowledge. For me the most important issues that stayed in my mind after the day were those connected with understanding freedom of speech and hate speech in the contest of national minority rights.
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All animals are equal,
but some animals are more equal than others
G. Orwell
Human rights have always been protected. But not for all of us. Sometimes society “forgets” about certain groups: representatives of some races, women, and children, are examples. But there have always been some people, who have disagreed with, and resisted this neglect. These people weren’t afraid of doing something, not only watching. This is why today, we celebrate Human Rights Day.
Today we tried to put ourselves in this role. We all participated in some workshops . Today we talked about refugees, people with multicitizenship, sexual minorities and other groups. Two people acted as facilitators, and organized the process. The rest of us just had to do our tasks.
We proved many things to ourselves in these workshops. For example, you can declare your tolerance for all, but this can change depending ones contact with those groups. Multiple moralties can also also arise, “one – for us, another – for them.” You can theoretically support refugees, before they come into your home. You might be very polite to homosexuals, but not when it is your own child. The stereotypes and biases are living in each of us. And the workshops helped to uncover them .
How to organize time, clearly formulate goals, and approach tasks- these were topics we defined today. We listened to the experts – people, who have already implemented real projects. Kinga Brudzinska, for example, worked with children.
We also could see how to implement projects for people with disabilities, in practice. This will be helpful for our own projects.
“Be brave. All is in your hands”, - said the event organizers. They’ve got a point: we must find a way of realizing our ideas by ourselves.
