I have a feeling that I don’t know much about contemporary Ukraine. I had, like many of us, a moment of awakening over the Euromaidan, but then I think this story got stuck somewhat in internal disputes in Ukraine. The contacts with Ukrainians living in Poland were not enough motivation for me to expand this knowledge, at best I always asked and asked where they came from in order to see this emigration map of Ukraine. It was only the events related to the Russian aggression and the extraordinary spirit of the Ukrainian elite that prompted me to take up the topic.
As I buy books addicted and a bit blindly, I have a book by Mykola Riabczuk on my shelf “Postcolonial Syndrome”. It is a fascinating collection of essays, articles and statements on topics intertwining history with the state of Ukraine at the time when most of the texts were written, i.e. at the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century. From this book, you can also deduce and understand what is happening in Ukraine now, both in terms of Russia’s attitude towards Ukraine and the risk of dividing Ukraine. Here is, among other things, the thesis that nationalism in Ukraine is convergent with pro-Westernism, support for democracy and the rule of law. Which indirectly means that Ukrainian nationalism is not contrary to the interests of contemporary Poland. Riabczuk writes in the elegant style of an intellectual, but he writes extremely interestingly.
There is a lot about Poland here, I have the impression that Ryabchuk belongs to a large group of Ukrainian intellectuals with a clearly pro-Polish orientation. But there is nothing missing here when it comes to the most critical topics, including the reference to the Ukrainian cult of Stefan Bandera. Well, but most of all I am putting these investigations and explanations by Riabchuk on the war. And like Riabchuk, I deeply believe in the future of Ukraine and its relationship with Poland.
