The Past of Present Conflicts in Ukraine

Introduction:  

The Soviet Union famously prided itself on striding towards communism, but that was simply a facade. Ukrainians lived in a completely opposite reality under Stalin’s regime. This struggle of Ukrainian existence is not new; the tense history of the two nations, victims and perpetrators, Ukraine and Russia, stretches back to the Industrial Revolution. In the early years of industrialization, Ukraine was a minority which split from the Russian Empire to form its own nation. Ukraine is home to one of, if not the most fertile, farming land in  Europe (cite), making  it a valuable territory for Russia. Following Ukraine’s independence, the Russian government used many tactics and strategies to repress Ukrainian nationalism, culture, language and people. In the end, Stalin and the Soviet regime turned to extermination by starvation. The dynamic between the two nations has always been tense and turbulent. Russia’s hostility towards the young Ukrainian nation stretches back to the split between the two countries; however, the event that triggered Holodomor was different. In the late 1920s, Ukraine was struck by a famine which killed many people along with limiting farmers’ exports as they had to keep more grain to feed themselves. Farmers not being able to meet the quotas set by the Soviet government gave Stalin an opportunity to start exploiting Ukrainians. In summary, during the time between 1930 and 1933, a lethal man-made famine known as Holodomor occurred when the USSR starved Ukrainians through classification, preparation, and to this day, denial. 

How did the World Respond? : 

After Holodomor, the Soviet Union covered up evidence of exploitation and death and spread lies that Ukrainians lived and farmed in prosperity (Maydanuk). As a result of that cover-up, the world was very late to respond. Even though Russia continues to deny any wrongdoings, other countries have recognized the famine along with its weaponization as an act of genocide. Holodomor is recognized as a genocide in Canada and the USA along with thirty-six other major countries (“Global Holodomor Recognition - HREC”). Recognition and representation are one thing while pushing Russia to accountability is another. While Ukrainians continue to be targeted, recognizing the famines is the first step toward true justice. 

In most cases, the oppressors eventually reach out in efforts to reconcile and offer some kind of reparations. Russia on the other hand has simply ignored the damage they’ve inflicted.  Sure, the land collectivization may have ceased but the violence hasn’t. From the perpetrators' side, Russia’s, there hasn’t been any attempt at transitional justice. In spite of the existence of substantial evidence of the massive casualties caused by the Stalinist policies, blatant denial persists. Since the Soviets were still in power post-Holodomor, they silenced Ukrainian victims by banning media from covering the genocide, schools from teaching about it and most importantly, victims from speaking out about it. Due to all of those restrictions, the Ukrainian public was limited to just reviving their culture and language.

In recent years, the people of Ukraine have been speaking out more at international events about their repressed past and the lack of compensation for it. There’s been a great effort to bring back strictly Ukrainian traditions and language. Since Russia and Ukraine are neighboring countries, their languages and traditions have influenced one another therefore the effort to separate Ukrainian elements from the  Russian ones is a symbolic move done by the people to show their dissidence towards Russians. Furthermore, there has been intense legislative action such as the lustration bill in 2015. Whose purpose was to “clean up the government” (Olszański), effectively removing and banning anyone formerly associated with the Russian-backed Yanukovych regime or KGB. Along with that, many cities and streets were renamed and monuments from the USSR were taken down. 

 Over the years, Ukrainians have gone through vigorous efforts to restore their national identity and cultural pride.  

Tools of Transitional Justice: 

The actions such as the lustration bills, memorials and cultural revitalization serve as strong examples of transitional justice. Transitional justice are actions done by international communities, the victims, and perpetrators to try to right past wrongs. There are seven different tools: Educational, institutional, cultural, judicial, reconciliation, restitution and reparations and finally truth seeking. These are all measures taken to reckon with legacies of human rights abuse and violation. In the case of Holodomor, three tools stand out: education, institutional reform and cultural response. 

The most widely used tool out of the three happens to be educational. Educational justice was used only after the Soviet Union collapsed. Countries that used to be part of the Soviet Union, such as Estonia and Belarus, rewrote their textbooks and countries outside the Soviet ruins simply included the genocide in theirs. In addition, Ukrainian children were encouraged to ask their elders about their experiences (Maydanuk). Educational justice is not only the inclusion of material about an event violating human rights, it also ensures that future generations will remember the tragedy. In a way it poses as a prevention measure. 

Prevention measures can vary, but often they are in the form of institutional actions. The most effective of these institutional actions were the extensive de-communization laws (Nuzov) and the aforementioned lustration bill. Additionally in 2010, the Kyiv Court of Appeal found Stalin and his regime formally guilty for attempting “to destroy in part the Ukrainian national group as represented by the Ukrainian peasantry” (“Resolution of the Court”). These three instances display the institutional reform movement within Ukraine. 

Finally there is the cultural response from Ukrainians themselves and the world. The most common response all over the globe is the creation of memorials and statues to honor and represent the victims of a genocide. Examples such as the memorial and Washington DC (Holodomor Memorial (U.S. National Park Service) and the many statues in Canada (“Holodomor Monuments in Canada - HREC Education”) present the global effort to culturally embrace the people of Ukraine and the horrors they suffered. 

Conclusion: 

Genocides should not happen. There are no justifications for cruelly murdering a group of people simply on the basis of them believing in something different, looking a certain way, originating from a certain place or exercising their natural right to independence. Diplomatic or economic conflicts sometimes lead to wars which are also completely unnecessary. Violence truly should not have a place in our ‘civilized’ world yet it happens to be the common denominator between every single nation's history. Even major religions preach about peace only for their followers to do the opposite. The shame only deepens when the oppressors hide the evidence. That only signifies they know what they’ve done. It is important to learn about these genocides because nobody knows when the next one will happen. Holodomor never truly ended, the famines have stopped, but the killing only paused.