[Aaus-list] war + language
Roman Solchanyk
roman at solchanyk.org
Tue Jan 26 21:22:56 EST 2016
It is well known that one of the dominant narratives, perhaps even *the*
dominant narrative coming out of Moscow in support of the separatists in
the Donbas was that the Maidan and the "junta" that staged a "coup" in Kyiv
in Feb. 2014 posed an existential threat to the Russian language in
Ukraine. Some spokespersons for Moscow, appearing on the BBC and elsewhere,
insisted that the neo-fascists in Kyiv were likely to perpetrate a
"genocide" of Russian speakers in Ukraine.
(Some things never change. Similar claims were made by Russian luminaries
in Dec. 1991 and Jan. 1992, when Russians finally figured out what had
happened in Ukraine on Dec. 1, 1991. Among other things, Ukr. nationalists
were going to cut open the bellies of pregnant Russian women in Ukraine,
etc., etc. But, as they say, this is a drugoi vopros.)
Yet, in surveys conducted in July and Nov. 2015 by the Ratings Group on
behalf of the Int'l Republican Institute and the government of Canada,
respectively, the status of the Russian language in Ukraine was thought to
be "most important" for Ukraine by 1% (July) or less than 1% (Nov.) of
respondents; it's importance for respondents *personally* in July 2015 was
0%.
In the Donbas, the figures in Nov. were: most important for Ukraine 1%,
most important personally 2%.
The survey was not conducted in Crimea and the occupied parts of the Donbas.
Conclusion? The vast majority of citizens of Ukraine, including Russian
speakers, don't give two sheeetz about the status of the Russian language
in the hierarchy of issues that concern them.
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