Should we protect Ukraine from the enemy's propaganda, at the risk of plunging into the amalgam between
"culture and fascism"
?
Adopted on June 19 by the Ukrainian Parliament, several texts aimed at
“protecting (Ukrainian) culture from Russian propaganda”
are only waiting for the signature of President Volodymyr Zelensky to be promulgated.
In the alleys of Petrivka, kyiv's big book market, this initiative divides booksellers and buyers.
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“
This is going too far
,” bookseller Olexandre Drobine told AFP this week.
Some probably wanted to put themselves forward, to show that they were true patriots, but this is not a way to show that we are patriotic because about
half of our population is Russian-speaking
, and Russian culture interests us. too.
There are many good things in
the
history of Russia
.
A little further on the market, another bookseller, Anatoli Gounko, whose almost all books are in Ukrainian, considers the law
“necessary”
.
He nevertheless judges
"a little severe to say that one should only speak Ukrainian and not Russian",
and gets carried away:
“Why should Russian belong only to Russia?
300 million people in the world speak Russian
”.
It's not a way to show that we are patriotic because about half of our population is Russian-speaking.
Olexandre Drobine, bookseller
The laws voted last week by the Parliament will in particular prohibit the importation of all the books published in Russia and Belarus, allied country of Moscow in the war against Ukraine, whatever their author.
Fines are provided for violators of these laws.
But their application looks complicated.
Books in Russian published in Ukraine or in other countries remain theoretically authorized, provided that Russian is the original language of the author and that the latter is not considered hostile to Ukraine.
The great classics of Russian literature such as Pushkin or Tolstoy are notably spared, but not more contemporary artists.
The texts indeed also prohibit the broadcasting of Russian music composed after 1991 on television, radio and in public places.
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Four months after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, these texts will reinforce the legislative arsenal adopted in recent years aimed at
"decommunizing"
and "derussifying
" this former Soviet republic in order to promote the Ukrainian language.
But for Olexandre Drobine,
"there should be no confusion between Russian fascism and Russian culture"
.
For the bookseller, the deputies simply did not take into consideration the practical application of the texts voted.
“They made this law but nobody knows how to apply it.
Should we take these books, pile them up in the street and burn them, or make toilet paper out of them?
”
“We have enough excellent authors”
In favor of the text, Anatoli Gounko bends philosophically to the lawyers, citing the famous adage:
"as the Romans said, the law is hard, but it is the law"
.
Nadia, another bookseller who only wants to give her first name, also defends the new law.
“When the war started, people started reading books in Ukrainian.
We have enough excellent authors”
in Ukraine, she says.
However,
"it concerns more those who sell recent books, we are a little booksellers, it's something else,"
she also observes.
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Readers also seem divided.
"To adopt such a law today is really not topical, there are more serious problems
", estimates Natacha Sikorska, a purchaser on the market.
"Ban Russian literature, I don't agree, because Russian literature is history, it's not Russian propaganda, it's just education
," she continues. .
One of her friends, a lawyer who refuses to disclose her identity, is of the opposite opinion.
"I read a lot of Russian literature, I loved it and I still love it, but I'm telling you honestly, since February 24
(the day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, editor's note.)
, for me , she is quite simply dead
, ”she says.
Like Natacha Sikorska, the bookseller Drobin believes that the Ukrainian government has better things to do than legislate on these matters of detail, and should focus on
“the defense of our country”
.
And to conclude:
“everyone makes mistakes, even our government”
.