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Let's Sit Together at the Holiday Table
// The price of the question
It is risky to look to history to finding a steadying point for shaky Russian-Ukrainian relations. History is a minefield, especially the common history of a metropolis and its periphery, whether you call that periphery a colony or Soviet republic. Making your way through the minefield of history really is like the work of the bomb squad. One incautious move and boom. History has been exploding in Russian-Ukrainian relations more and more often in recent years as the Ukrainians dig into it in search of sources of their identity and bases of their statehood. It is unsurprising that the question of whether the famine in Ukraine in the Stalinist 1930s was the national genocide of the Ukrainians or a social genocide in which Russians suffered as well as Ukrainians is not the only historical event that divides rather than unites.
Is it possible to interpret history in such a way that it suits both sides equally? Or have Russia and Ukraine, having set off on their own courses after the collapse of the Soviet Union, destined to have their own songs, their own holidays and commemorations from now on, and no more in common?
There is no answer to that question yet. The answer will depend on the skill and caution of the historical minesweepers. For Moscow, there is no better way to scuttle the new and still unimplemented idea of using history to draw closer to Ukraine than to try to deny Ukraine its right to its own reading of history, even though it will unavoidable differ from the Russian reading in places. Mazepa is a good example. In Russia, the image of Mazepa, reinforced by the genius of Pushkin, will always be that of a traitor. In Ukraine, he is one of the forerunners of Ukrainian independence, a figure worthy of depiction on their money. That's normal – there's two sides to every coin.
Moscow should not play history teacher, and Kiev should resist the temptation to read history as an endless exercise in disobedience to Russia and celebration of dubious and scandalous figures. In the attempt to escape the Russification of history that took place in the Soviet era, it is easy to lurch into the opposite extreme and create a simpleminded mythology of independence that spite history.
So, are Russian-Ukrainian holidays possible today without controversy? Of course they are. The liberation of Kiev by Soviet forces – for whom was that not a holiday? It was a holiday for Russia and for Left-Bank Ukraine and for Right-Bank Ukraine. Isn't Baby Yar an incident in history that unites? And Gogol, who cannot be divided between Russia and Ukraine? There are not a lot of events that can support Russian-Ukrainian relations. But there are enough of them to prevent those relations from drifting too far apart.
Sergey Strokan
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 26, 2008
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