Participants of the “Save Your Language” rally came to the parliament committee building on the morning of Oct. 4. in Kyiv. They brought five yellow-and-blue national flags and several “golden” cages with books and disks in Ukrainian.
The “golden” cage symbolized the new draft law on languages. It was registered on Sept. 7 by the ruling pro-presidential parliamentary coalition, led by the Party of Regions. The law would leave Ukrainian as the nation’s official language, but would also significantly lift the status of the Russian language and allow its broader use in the public sector, including in schools and on television.
For the Ukrainian language, often compared to the melodious singing of a nightingale, the measure is the same as putting a bird in a golden cage, rally participants believe. The protest comes against a backdrop of broader political dissent against President Viktor Yanukovych’s Kremlin-friendly overtures, including the April deal allowing the Russian Black Sea Fleet to stay in Crimea until at least 2042.
The demonstration against expanding bilingualism in Ukraine was organized not by oppositional parties, but by young, small civil groups – the volunteers’ movement Space of Freedom, the civil movement Repulse and the civil campaign New Citizen. Organizers got in touch with people through social networks on the Internet and by private phone calls. Their initiative was supported by 1,000 Kyiv’s students, pensioners and public figures.
Demonstrators displayed a cartoon depicting the powerful Russian language beating up on other languages while claiming self-defense.
Young people carried handwritten posters: “Language is not an election toy,” “Poverty is the problem, not the language,” “Want bilingualism? Learn Ukrainian first.” Someone even brought a poster in Russian that read: “I want to learn Ukrainian, they don’t let me.”
Demonstrators chanted “Long Live Ukrainian!” against the proposed law as the Kyiv choir, Homin, performed several Ukrainian patriotic songs. To create noise, some participants beat “golden” cages with empty plastic bottles.
One who came with a “golden” cage on his shoulders was Zorian Kis, 28, manager of a charity fund.
“Inside this cage there are books and disks in the Ukrainian language which are endangered if this draft law will be accepted,” Kis explained. “I think, apart from certain ideological issues, representatives of the coalition lobby the interests of Russian businesses, which are interested in the Ukrainian advertising, publishing and cinema market. And therefore they try to give Russian language an advantage in comparison to Ukrainian. As a result, Ukrainian will become the same as Belarusian – few people will use it.”
Apart from organizers and politicians, public speeches on the rally were given by the Kapranovy brothers, popular Ukrainian writers; Oleg Mykhailuta, a.k.a Fahot, leader of Tanok na Maydani Congo; and dissident Yevhen Sverstiuk.
“We did not have enough time to make a first step, to lift our head up, I mean people who speak Ukrainian and love Ukrainian culture,” Fahot said, using a loudspeaker. “I am really scared now. As we only started lifting our heads up, they want to cut it off. Therefore we have to be strong enough to grow two Ukrainian heads. As always there will be somebody who wants to cut one of them.”
Parliamentarian Andriy Shevchenko from the opposition Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko addressed protesters and announced that the draft law on languages will not appear on the deputies’ agenda for at least next two weeks.
“This is a small, tiny victory in a very long severe war. And it became possible because of our protest also,” Shevchenko said, adding that the draft law can be read by deputies at any time, so people have to mobilize very quickly to prevent the measure from being passed into law.
“All of us have small wars in our private lives. But there are situations when we all are in the same trench,” Shevchenko said. “We know that now we are attacked on many fronts but one is the most important. This is language.”
It is questionable whether the law has the support of a majority of the 450 lawmakers.
"We are not sure there will be 226 votes,” Mykhaylo Chechetov, deputy from the Party of Regions, told Segodnya newspaper. "I am sure those who joined our coalition from BYuT and Our Ukraine factions will vote for the tax code, but I am not sure they will give their votes to support law on languages. Lytvyn also remains a question.”
