For six centuries, the Ukrainian language has been systematically targeted and deliberately destroyed. Today, we live in the 21st century, and yet Ukrainians still have to stand up for their language rights.
Ukrainians have been defending their native language since the 15th century, often suffering and dying for the right to speak, write and compose in Ukrainian. The chronology of Ukrainian language suppression is several pages long, and echoes with the sound of executions, suffering and torture.

“A people without a language of its own is only half a nation. A nation should guard its language more than its territories – ‘tis a surer barrier and more important frontier, than fortress or river... To lose your native tongue, and learn that of an alien, is the worst badge of conquest. To have lost entirely the national language is death... the fetter has worn through.”It’s important to be brought up on the same lullabies, verses and stories, on the same traditions, as it is done in most countries. Only then will we cease to exist as two streams running parallel to one another, but never intersecting. Once, I spoke jokingly with the classmates of my eldest son Taras (he was then in the first or second grade). But, only my son laughed at my jokes. The other children didn’t understand what I was talking about because they hadn’t read the Ukrainian translation of Astrid Lindgren’s Karlsson-on-the-Roof*, where there’s a character called “панна Цап” (Miss Goat). They were familiar with a figure called Freken Bock from the Russian cartoon of the same name. You see, even translated books should be read in our language…so that we might better understand each other. (*Karlsson-on-the-Roof is a character who figures in a series of children’s books by the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. A cartoon adaptation of the series became popular throughout the Soviet Union when it was released in the 1970s. These adaptations are still celebrated as an integral part of the Russian cartoon industry. Karlsson, together with Cheburashka and other such characters are recognized as national icons in Russia and the ex-soviet space-Ed.) However, I’m happy to say I hear more and more Ukrainian in Kyiv, and mostly from young people. That really makes me feel more optimistic because they’re our future. Ukrainians probably don’t read a lot in Ukrainian. Do you know where in Ukraine people read mostly in Ukrainian? Yes, it’s mostly in Kyiv and Lviv. Of course, all over Ukraine…from Ternopil to Odesa, from Kharkiv and Dnipro to Ivano-Frankivsk and Zhytomyr. Lviv is a fantastic city of bookstores. Donetsk and Luhansk regions aren’t big on reading, even in Russian. I assume that it’s namely due to this lack of culture that these regions are currently in this war situation. People also read quite a lot in Bukovyna, as well as in Mykolayiv and Kherson.


AFTERWORD
Ivan Malkovych, born on May 10, 1961 in Nyzhniy Bereziv (Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, is a noted Ukrainian writer, poet and publisher. He is the owner of the publishing house A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA, which specializes in high quality (often illustrated) editions of Ukrainian literature and poetry and has published Viktor Morozov’s wonderful translations of the Harry Potter series and books by Roald Dahl. His poems have been translated into English, German, Italian, Russian, Polish, Bengali, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Georgian, Slovak, and Slovenian.
Ivan Malkovych was awarded the National Taras Shevchenko Prize in March 9, 2017. In his speech, he spoke passionately on the pressing need for the government to support the law on the Ukrainian language as an important step on the way to national unity and state development of Ukraine.
In June, 2017, Ivan Malkovych and eighty other prominent political and cultural leaders signed an appeal to the Verkhovana Rada of Ukraine to pass draft law 5670-D designed to ensure full implementation of Article 10 of the Constitution of Ukraine on the state language of Ukraine.
On February 28, 2018, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine declared the Law “On Principles of State Language Policy” (the odious Kolesnichenko-Kivalov Law) unconstitutional due to the fact that the Verkhovna Rada has violated the procedure for its review and approval.
This decision was declared binding, final and cannot be appealed against.
Ukraine was in a language void since February although the Constitution provides for a language law.
On October 4, 2018, the Verkhovna Rada finally approved language law 5670-D with 261 Ayes, 26 Nays, 4 abstentions and 67 absentees.
Video of Ivan Malkovych’s speech at the Taras Shevchenko Awards ceremony, March 9, 2017 (in Ukrainian, 11 min)
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY5GmIBLlTw[/embedyt]