2023-07-20 04:07:43
The building council of Kiev applied a ban on publicly using cultural works in language Russian in the city area. The measure was justified by the “need to protect the Ukrainian information sphere from the hybrid influences of the Russian Federation”. According to a council member, “Russian is the language of the aggressor country and has no place in the heart of our capital.” The ban affects books, music, plays, concerts, and cultural and educational offerings.
an ineffective method
The initiative is supported by the civic movement “Widsitsch” (defense), which already in 2014 promoted the banning of everything Russian in Ukraine, and especially the boycott of Russian films, music and products. “The ban on Russian-language cultural property is necessary. It’s one more lever for activists fighting for a boycott of everything Russian,” Kateryna Tschepura, an activist with that group, told DW.
At the same time, he admits that this prohibition is “an ineffective instrument, because if one does not comply with it, he cannot be penalized”. He believes that “it is more a moral factor, which encourages people who do not want to tolerate music Russian on the street or in the theater”.
Already in September 2019, a similar ban was applied in Lviv (Lviv), and then in two other cities.
Legal aspects
Such resolutions violate the Constitution, according to Volodimir Javorsky, a human rights defender from the Ukrainian “Center for Civic Liberties”. “They are illegal decisions that have no legal consequences. Because local authorities are not empowered to regulate such matters and issue such bans as they are discriminatory,” he tells DW. And he adds that Justice has already confirmed the illegality of said resolutions.
He also stresses that if someone does not comply with the prohibition, they cannot be penalized. “All such bans by local authorities are purely political steps. Only the country’s Parliament can determine such bans on a legal level,” he stresses.
In June 2022, the Ukrainian Parliament had banned the use of songs by some Russian artists in public spaces, but there was no blanket ban. This did not affect Russian singers who condemned the war against Ukraine. Recently, President Volodymyr Zelensky also signed a law banning the import and distribution of Russian books, which had been approved by Parliament last year.
“Do not be a reflection of the aggressor”
Ukrainian author Yevgenia Belorusets, who writes in Ukrainian, Russian and German, believes that bans on everything Russian lead to conflicts in Ukrainian society. And she considers them discriminatory.
Yevguenia Belorusets. Imagen: Yao Tsy
“Underlying all these prohibitions, above all, is the myth of the victim role of Ukrainian culture, which has the right to discriminate against other forms of cultural expression. Ukrainian-language culture knows all too well what discrimination means. That’s why, The way to overcome such trauma should not consist in inflicting similar pain on others”, he stresses. And he urges “not to be a reflection of the aggressor and not to project Russia’s aggressive intentions on the complex and multidimensional internal cultural situation”.
Belorusets warns that such bans divide Ukrainian society. In his opinion, “the challenge is to allow other points of view within society.”
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