The new hero of the #Ukrainian_We_Will_Become project at NTA is the commander of the 68th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 37-year-old poet and musician Pavlo Vyshebaba.
Until the age of 30, Pavlo communicated in Russian. Now he says: nothing is more annoying than when you return from the front and hear how the rear is “inspired” by Russian-speaking “culture”.
He also emphasized that it is important to switch to the Ukrainian language.
“The Revolution of Dignity, which took place in 2013-14, was precisely about dignity. It seems to me that it is simply a component of dignity – not to communicate in the language of the occupier, the colonizer. We do not forget that this is an empire and we are currently experiencing such a post-colonial syndrome when we are trying to break free from the influence of the empire. It is very difficult, especially when we have had a “big measure” all our lives. At least in Donetsk region, it was to different extents in different regions. We’ve all read all their classics. For example, who reread all of Pushkin, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, and so on. That is, it was the norm: to live in the same cultural field. And when you realize that this is a colonial influence, and you have your own dignity, that our people must break free from this influence – this is a matter of freedom, inner freedom, your cultural freedom,” Pavlo Vyshebaba said.
The full version of the interview can be viewed in the video below.
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The new television project #УКРАІНСКОЙУ_ЗДОЛАЄМО was launched recently within the framework of the Comprehensive Program for Strengthening the State-Building Consolidation Role of the Ukrainian Language in the Lviv Region for 2023-2026, which was approved by the Lviv OVA in February this year.
The project is implemented by the Department of Communications and Internal Policy of LOVA and the TV channel “NTA”.
The format of the project involves 10 short interviews with famous people who switched to Ukrainian after the full-scale invasion or before; who can be an authority; whose story will be interesting and convincing for people who have not yet switched to the Ukrainian language of communication.
The guests of the previous interviews were candidate of philological sciences, publisher, blogger, author of books Yulia Slivka, travel blogger Iryna Zhuravel and popularizer of the Ukrainian language Andriy Shymanovsky.