Leading academics signed an open letter supporting the Euromaidan protests and European values at the turn of 2014. One might have expected a more critical and nuanced position of them, writes Volodymyr Ishchenko. For they ignore the role of the far right in the Ukrainian public sphere at their peril.
The Internet and social media have so far provided a third of Ukrainians with digital connectivity. And, as a new era in Ukranian politics begins, new forms of sharing opinions will surely play their part in the struggle against what can now be called an ancien regime, writes Igor Lyubashenko.
Poland is the only post-socialist country with a women’s movement worthy of the name, writes Teresa Kulawik. Should it succeed in establishing a transparent structure that can accommodate compromise, Kongres Kobiet could provide a model for the country’s political system.
One of the highlights of Hungary’s EU presidency was the launching of the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies. But a closer look at the situation of the Hungarian Roma provides an alarming picture, writes Yudit Kiss. And more than sufficient reason to head westwards.
Culture work provides Sinti and Roma people with opportunities to develop personally, combat negative modes of representation and intervene politically too. As such, it counterbalances the obstacles that the everyday realities of educational disadvantage and racism create, writes Hamze Bytyci. He takes two surveys on German Sinti and Roma from the past decade as his point of departure for sketching the artistic and cultural landscape, principally in Berlin, surrounding the Sinti and Roma.
In an interview conducted before Euromaidan commenced, Tatiana Zhurzhenko discusses the intricacies of regional tensions surrounding Ukraine, taking into consideration questions of memory, language and a putative civic, liberal Ukrainian nationalism.
It is wrong to make immigration responsible for Europe’s social ills, writes Kenan Malik. Worse still is the way in which fortress Europe has created not only a physical barrier around the continent, but an emotional one, too, around Europe’s sense of humanity.
Culturally-led urban strategies rely more on selective images of cities than reflecting a socially and ethnically diverse urbanism, writes Malcolm Miles. For, under the surface, it is not civic renewal but economic and commercial motives that drive the cultural city.
Almost overnight, Ukraine ceased to be a “kingdom in the middle”. Now there are only three options left, writes Ivan Krastev: sign the agreement with the EU, as the majority of Ukrainians want; join Putin’s Eurasia, as the endangered political elite desire; or go bankrupt.
Ukrainian civil society wants a truly independent Ukrainian and European nation. And Ukrainians understand that, in order to achieve this independence, they need to completely overhaul the political system. Anton Shekhovtsov on Euromaidan and the rebooting of Ukraine.
Euromaidan is not just about failing to sign the Association Agreement, but Ukraine’s whole development as a country. For 22 years, it has been stuck in a grey zone between post-Soviet autocracies to the east and increasingly democratizing and prosperous neighbours to the west, writes Mykola Riabchuk.
Democratic transition in post-Communist east-central Europe was primarily facilitated by external developments including the fall of the Soviet Union and European integration. Today, in the absence of any such favourable exogenous factors, it remains to be seen whether democratic institutions have grown strong enough in the region to withstand undemocratic and illiberal currents induced by the economic crisis.
Social media extend the range of participatory acts open to citizens. The result can be unpredictable leaderless mobilizations involving massive numbers of small donations of time and effort. And although the vast majority fail absolutely, a few succeed dramatically.
Against the background of civil protest in Ukraine, the production of the public sphere was the subject of three days of debate at this year’s Eurozine conference, held in Oslo from 29 November to 2 December, and co-organized and hosted by the Norwegian Association of Journals and Eurozine partner journal Syn og Segn.