Dressed in a furry cossack hat, a middle-aged man stands on a small stage in a quieter part of Maidan. But instead of agitating, he gives a lecture on the European style of governance.
The man is
Viktor Tymoshchuk, deputy chairman of the Kyiv-based Center for Political and Legal Reforms. He is one of many
volunteers who lecture in the self-organized Free University of EuroMaidan.
The Free
University was set up on Dec. 10 by the activists. Every day it offers up to 10
lectures on subjects ranging from politics to art. The lectures
– like most other things inside the barricades – are free, and are a form of volunteering
for the intellectuals.
Tymoshchuk’s
audience is way smaller than the one listening to political speeches at
Maidan’s main stage, but not less dedicated. Around 40 people are listening,
bright-eyed, in freezing cold. With no place to sit, surrounded by a humming
crowd, people still remain motivated. They stand on bits of foamy insulation to
get their feet off the concrete tile floor.
Natalya
Shapoval, one of the coordinators of the Free University, says volunteers find
willing lecturers among leading professionals in a number of fields, including law, politics, business,
culture, theater and cinema. Every lecture lasts roughly an hour and a half.
“Some
lecturers are our friends who offer their help, others just find us,” Shapoval says.
Iryna
Kartsenko is one of the regular visitors of the Free University who finds the
classes very interesting. The young woman is particularly interested in
start-up businesses and found the lecture about making a business plan very
useful.
“Now I know
the people who are experts in the field, and I know where to get the reliable
information,” Kartsenko said, adding that she is also looking forward to the
lectures on culture and politics and plans to come to the Free University every
day.
The Free
University has students of all ages. Pensioner Halyna Matsibora, 68, likes
lectures, too. A former teacher from Chernihiv Oblast, twice a week she loads
two big bags with homemade food, walks some five kilometers from her village to
a bus station to take a bus to Kyiv to bring the food to EuroMaidan’s
protesters. On Dec. 12 she brought some potatoes and salo, gave it to the
protest kitchen and stopped by the stage to listen to the Free University
speakers. Matsibora usually listens to just one or two lectures and then
hurries back home, carrying her empty bags back. The woman likes lectures on
culture the most and believes the university should first of all focus on moral
education of young people, because “morality is above all.”
Ivan
Syrotenko, 71, comes to the pro-European protest every day and eagerly attends
the Free University classes. The man stands shyly aside, listening to the
lecturer. “I am interested in lectures on politics and want to know more about
Ukrainian politics,” he says.
Kyiv
National Aviation University student Serhiy Shapovalov smokes and sips hot tea
to get warmer while listening to the speaker on the stage. Shapovalov has
already listened to about 10 lectures and plans to come there again. He says he
already gained some useful knowledge through this open air education.
“As a
smoker, I’m really worried about the fact that a pack of cigarettes costs some
10 euros in the EU countries. But from the lectures here I found out that there
are more pros than cons of Ukraine joining the EU,” he says.
Shapovalov
wants to continue education in a European university and is therefore
interested in lectures on European education.
“The
information on the Internet is contradictory and here I can find some useful
information and contacts,” he said.
See the schedule of lectures at Free University here.
Kyiv Post staff writer Nataliya Trach can be
reached at [email protected]
