UJE: "The Jews and the Maidan"

[Bad Thoughts]

http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2014-03-26-portnikov-en.html

This is a translation (somewhat rough) and an abridgment of an editorial commissioned by the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter, a political advocacy organization. It describes the problems of identity for Ukrainian Jews in the context of the legacy of Russification and Sovietization. (I suspect the original article has more depth and nuance.)

From its beginning, the movement of Ukrainian citizens against an oppressive regime has been denounced as dominated by anti-Semitic forces. Neither the presence of the Jewish movement's leaders and rabbis on Maidan's stage, nor the guarding of Kyiv synagogues organized by Maidan's self-defense security forces, nor the existence of "the Jewish hundred", nor the death of Ukrainian citizens of Jewish descent during the crackdown on protesters, nor international support from Jewish organizations could stop the staccato of Russian propaganda being willingly echoed in the West.


This will not stop: it is part of the Kremlin's strategy to discredit the Ukrainian revolution, delegitimize the new government and destabilize the country.

Instead of repeating the obvious once again I want to ask what the place of Jews in Ukrainian history has been, and how it has changed since the Maidan revolution. Against all allegations of anti-Semitism and xenophobic nationalism this event marks the birth of a political nation that finally allows the Jews, as all other Ukrainian citizens, to choose and live their identity.

This Ukrainian political nation will not have inner ethnic boundaries, in the same sense, for example, that the French political nation does not have them. French Jews – despite all anti-Semitic incidents in the past – have long felt a part of the political nation precisely because ethnic boundaries have been erased, and everyone who wants to feel French, to remain a Jew, or to combine both identities has the free choice to do so.

But when there is no political nation, there is no free choice. This used to be the situation in Ukraine. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, both Ukrainians and Jews were considered part of a kind of a "super-ethnos": the "Soviet people," sub-divided into republics, like apartments in a building, and into ethnic groups. At the same time, the idea of "the Soviet people" masked the de facto dominance of Russian culture. Ukrainians still had the option of either accepting Russification and abandoning their national identity in order to achieve social success, or preserving their ethnic identity. However, the costs could be high, as insisting on one's Ukrainian identity was considered to be close to Ukrainian nationalism. Jews had no such choice at all.

More at link

[The Magistrate]

1. An Interesting And Informative Article, Sir

Thank you for sharing it.

[Bad Thoughts]

2. You're welcome. eom.

[frazzled]

3. Indeed

The Russian charges of anti-Semitism have been bogus since the beginning. Jews were an important part of the Maidan uprisings, as were Muslims and other minorities.

[Behind the Aegis]

4. From Pravda and the Klan

Pravda: The Untold History of Ukrainian Nationalist Movement and Jews

KKK: The KKK wants YOU (to stop US interference in Ukraine)!