Managing partner of Yakaboo Publishing, editor, translator and writer. Former executive editor of Krytyka (Kyiv, Ukraine) and Critical Solutions, the online media project of Krytyka. Her debut novel Duty Free was published in Ukraine in 2012. She is author of essays and articles in Ukrainian and English.
Infrastructure in eastern Ukraine has been decimated; business and manufacturing displaced; cultural artifacts destroyed; communities disrupted and families bereaved. In light of all this, the discussion about what Ukraine stands to gain from the war borders on cynicism.
For Oksana Forostyna, memories of Maidan mingle with accounts of her grandmother’s life in Kyiv before and during World War Two. Recollections of her own search for happiness in her adoptive city lead to more universal questions about the possibility of freedom and love amidst conflict and war.
The works of Somalian-born activist and writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali show that the civilizational jump is incompatible with clan ethics, writes Oksana Forostyna of Krytyka (Ukraine). And given that Somalia is already a synonym for “failed state”, time is of the essence in solving the Ukraine crisis.
Every system has its flaws and every flaw can be exploited any time. Hence the permanent need for updates. But as Russia takes its revenge in eastern Ukraine and attacks on Ukrainian consciousness, trust and infrastructure become ever more devious, what does the future hold? Oksana Forostyna remains optimistic about the chances of modest success, at the very least.
In her firsthand account of events in Kyiv between 18 and 20 February, Oksana Forostyna conveys the intensity of the struggle that led to former president Viktor Yanukovych’s exit. And how the Maidan became a space where protesters from all sorts of backgrounds worked and fought together.
