After having an exciting offline tour in Germany and Poland, we, the Ukrainian Vibes team, went on with conducting three online events. During the tour, we organised discussions on multiple topics with passers-by in Cologne, Berlin, Wroclaw and with young adults at the Krzyżowa Foundation for Mutual Understanding in Europe.

Our tour ended in Wroclaw at the end of July and on the first three Thursdays in August, the online meetings were taking place. For the online events, we focused on the topics of the difficult history of Ukraine, civic participation and the environmental consequences of the war

In contrast to the offline events, the online discussions included also experts’ presentations. With this new setting, our aim was to listen to the voices of Ukrainians who are currently staying in their home country. The online events started with an input given by the invited experts. In each of the three online events two or more experts from the corresponding field joined us to give their perspectives and share their expertise.

After the expert input, the participants had a chance to ask questions and explore the topics among themselves. Since the attendees had very broad backgrounds, from students of physics to professionals in digital democracy, the conversations were always inspiringly active. All together we were attempting to find answers to the following problems: how to cope with a difficult past, what can help citizens to increase their involvement, how to respond to environmental crimes on different political levels and what are the perspectives for the sustainable rebuilding of Ukraine.

During the first event, dedicated to Ukraine’s difficult history, two experts working at the intersection between history and sociology presented very different, and yet crucial points for understanding the depth of the topic. Professor Georgiy Kasianov prepared a speech regarding the use of history in the justification of war. This (ab-)use of history is called affirmative history. 

The major idea of affirmative history employed by Russia today and since 2008 is to show Ukraine as a non-existing state and nation. Within the imperialistic view, Ukrainians were never perceived as separate entities, which resulted in the current politics of Russia. “This kind of outlook is an instrumentalization of the past, and this is how history can become difficult” (said Georgiy). 

Doctor Viktoria Sereda, the second expert of the event, has a scientific interest in war, migration and memorisation practices. Hence she was covering the topic of the displaced population and the therewith changing memory practices. Since the Maidan revolution (a revolution in Ukraine that took place in the winter of 2013-2014, that started as a peaceful demonstration for European integration in Ukraine and resulted in a change of political leaders) and the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the country has observed the phenomenon of grassroots searches for new commemoration practices. 

 

A presentation of Dr Viktoria Sereda dedicated to memory practices of displaced population and rebrending Ukrainian cities. The slide describes the rebranding of Mariupol before the full-scale invasion

Shown are some of the final ideas of the participants, collected via Mentimeter after the experts’ presentations

Viktoria also touched upon current developments rebranding the cities in the east of Ukraine, clearly moving away from the Soviet remains and instead focusing on buildings, squares, and other items creating a new Ukrainian vision and memorisation in the cities. Her example was the dissociation of Mariupol from negative stereotypes of the industrial city and the creation of more touristic places there. The city’s progress is now torn down by the Russian army.

Since the topic is very complex and demands a profound knowledge of history, the participants preferred to ask our experts their opinions on a variety of things. Among the questions were the actions one can take to build a Ukrainian narrative of Ukrainian history in Europe and ways to confront propaganda. In this regard, Georgiy mentioned that Ukraine just recently started the process of promoting Ukrainian views on Ukrainian history with the creation of a responsible institution. 

Our second event was dedicated to the importance of Civic ParticipationLidiia Shumska, a Young European Ambassador (YEA) in Ukraine, joined us to focus on the role of civic engagement in shaping society. Her input was dedicated to the YEA organisation, their means of participation and her personal experience. Their project of a trilogy of stories “Life at War” shows the fears and feelings Ukrainians face now in various life situations. As Internally Displaced Persons, as refugees abroad and as those who still live in constant fear for their lives.  

Kostiantyn Fedorenko provided insights into participation during the Euromaidan revolution and the interplay between Ukrainian activism and emigration. He focused on his recent research that concluded the existence of at least two separate but cooperating movements during the revolution with different ideologies, leaders and political ideas. This is important to understand the complexity of the event and the differences inside Ukraine, that exist for sure. The crucial note, though, was that these divisions almost ceased to exist in 2022 due to the unprovoked full-scale invasion started by the Russian Federation. The current question leading Kostiantyn’s research is the connection between activists now and civic engagement during the Maidan. We’re looking forward to hearing about his latest findings!

This time our team decided to engage the attendees even more by putting them into break-out rooms, and the results were inspiring. People shared a lot about their personal participation and the obstacles they face when being active. We talked a lot about digital democracy and other ways to influence decisions made on the governmental level.

A part from Julia Eichhofer’s presentation on global food crisis as an implication of Russian unprovoked invasion in Ukraine during the environmental online event

Last but not least, the third event dedicated to Environmental Consequences of the War, was opened by a representative of the National Ecological Centre of Ukraine, Inna Tymchenko, focusing on the extensive war damage in one region, Mykolaiv. Pictures showing the region’s nature and energy production plants before and during the war clearly showed the devastating environmental consequences of the war there. The nuclear threat at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is one of the particularly unsettling examples Inna talked about, as the zone of potential influence in case of an accident is estimated at 2 million square kilometers. 

Oleksii Riabchyn,  Low Carbon Business Development Advisor to the CEO of Naftogaz of Ukraine (the largest Ukrainian national oil and gas company – ed.) and Energy and EU Green deal Advisor to Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, also joined our session. Oleksii optimistically was depicting projects that right now work with biogas and biomass, that is current emergency needs erose by war in the context of energy dependencies. Regarding post-war recovery, Oleksii concluded that it will definitely be a green recovery and it is a chance for Ukraine to change the infrastructure towards a more sustainable future by shifting to wind, nuclear and solar energy resources.

Julia Eichhofer, energy project lead at wechange eG, concluded the session. Reminiscing Holodomor, a period of great famine in 1932-1933, Julia emphasised this new potential attempt to create artificial starvation now, when Russia is deliberately shelling and burning out Ukrainian fields and stealing grain. With Ukraine being one of the main grain providers around the globe, this food crisis can be expected to touch all of us. Lastly, Julia suggested some concrete steps we can take on different levels: provide Ukraine with more weapons, introduce harder sanctions against Russia, construct logistical routes for grain export and, on an individual level, save energy and consume less meat.

For the last time, the participants were put directly in contact with each other via break-out rooms to talk about the ways to move from environmental damage to a sustainable future on different levels. The time flew by very quickly and it felt like we could have continued talking for hours!

Same as the offline tour, the online events were a huge success. In total, 174 people registered for the online events and at each meeting 35 to 55 people participated. Ukrainian Vibes united citizens of all ages and all kinds of areas in Ukraine, Europe, Asia and Africa. As it is our purpose to create cultural exchange, everyone had the chance to share their perspective. Our team was thrilled by the enthusiasm and openness of our participants. During conversations, break-out rooms and also when using Mentimeter we found out people are especially motivated to talk about digital ways to participate, initiatives for sustainable development in Ukraine and the possibilities for people with different backgrounds to have discussions and exchange ideas. We all agreed on at least two things every time: small individual steps matter a lot and education is a big part of civic engagement.

Another conclusion of all the events was: one doesn’t have to be Ukrainian by roots to be Ukrainian in one’s heart and share the values of the nation. So all participants, especially those from other countries, became a bit more Ukrainian in the end.

 

Written by Anna Proskurina.

Translated into Ukrainian by Anna Proskurina and into German by Katharina Bews.