Russian colonialism: Should Ukraine remove monuments? Ukraine in Flames

Описание: 00:00 - Intro
01:49 - View on Catherine II from Odesa
06:26 - Ukrainian MP on decolonization
08:49 - Decolonization might take time
12:15 - High time for decolonization
14:33 - Outro

Like any former empire, Russia uses symbolic power to expand its sphere of influence. Monuments, museums, and street names have long ceased to be just a way to honor Russian culture and history and turned into another instrument of colonialism. Both during the Russian empire and the Soviet periods, Russia used its cultural and historical figures to assert the power of the empire. All the monuments to Pushkin, Peter I, and Catherine II in Ukraine were intended to mark the territories of the metropolis. While Ukrainian artists and public figures were marginalized and stigmatized as “bourgeois nationalists”, the culture of Russian personalities was prosperous. After years of Russian cultural expansionism, Ukrainians take their own path of decolonization and re-evaluate their past while the shadow of “great Russian culture” continues to hang over the country. Ukraine in Flames #203 sheds light on Russian cultural imperialism and its dangerous role in the Russian-Ukrainian war.




Speakers:

Viktor Brekhunenko, Ukrainian historian, professor at Hrushevsky Institute of Ukrainian Archeography and Source Studies of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Volodymyr Poltorak, senior lecturer, Odesa National University
Mariam Naiem, researcher of Ukrainian culture and history
Volodymyr Viatrovych, Ukrainian historian and MP

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