On May 13, the
Ukrainian internet newspaper Ukrainska Pravda published a
text I wrote on what models of democracy we show our children. Here you can
read an English versjon of the text.
Not so long ago,
the Norwegian state broadcaster (NRK) started making a news program for child
viewers. The hostess of the program explains the latest domestic and world news
to children in simple words, and the concept of child news might be regarded as
a result of the new politics of childhood in the last three or four decades. In
the Western world children are more and more regarded as independent and
competent individuals, who are not merely passive recipients or onlookers to
the actions of adults, but rather actively creating their own social worlds. So
in this setting of taking children seriously, what do competent Norwegian and Ukrainian
children learn about politics and democracy today?
On Wednesday 28
April, the NRK news program for children reported on two major events (http://www1.nrk.no/nett-tv/klipp/632329 ). First, there
was the historical signing of an agreement for a new Barents Sea border between
Norway and Russia, and thus the end of a 40 year long dispute. An expert
commentator praised the agreement as a wise compromise that will serve Norway’s
interests. Second, there was footage of Ukrainian deputies throwing eggs and
smoke bombs during a session in the Ukrainian Parliament, with the program
hostess explaining that the reason for the quarrelling was a disagreement
between deputies over a deal with Russia.
Even though the incomparable contexts
for the Norwegian-Russian and the Ukraininan-Russian deals were not explained
in greater detail, Norwegian children were presented with at least two
important lessons about politics in democratic countries. First, that stable
and friendly relations with neighbouring countries are both an important and
desired goal in (Norwegian) geopolitics. Second, that fistfights and throwing
eggs and smoke bombs are not the normal or viable way to solve controversial or
difficult political issues. Being a Norwegian childhood researcher (of
Ukrainian descent), I am indeed biased when I claim that the model of
democratic processes disseminated to Norwegian children through this news
program is a healthy model for the future politicians and voters of Norway.
Now, what do
competent Ukrainian children learn about politics today? What kind of morality
of politics and models of democratic processes are disseminated to future
politicians and voters of Ukraine? My answer would be a model in which
political controversies are solved by unconstitutional bargains and
undemocratic means of protest; basically, that democracy in Ukraine does not
work. Thus, I do not agree with Lincoln E. Mitchell in his claim that as long
as ‘violence is restricted to parliament, it is a good sign for Ukrainian
democracy” (The Faster Times, April 29). Violence is a symptom of a
society moving away from democracy, whether it is violence in parliament or on
the streets, whether as controlled by those in power or as a weapon of the
weak.
Comparing the level
of democracy in Norway and Ukraine is of course difficult, since the historical
and geopolitical
realities in which the political systems have evolved are incommensurable.
Throwing eggs and smoke bombs in the Ukrainian Parliament might well be
regarded as a justified act of resistance to an unconstitutional rule in a
Ukrainian context. But if Robert Coles is right when he in his book ‘The
Political Life of Children’ claims that a nation’s politics becomes a child’s everyday
psychology, then there is reason to worry. Then the acts of politicians in
parliament have significance far beyond the present political realm. And if we
assume that children most easily capture the form of discussions, and only
partly understand their complex content, the situation is even more serious.
In order to get a picture of what impressions
Ukrainian children do have of contemporary politics in Ukraine, we should of
course listen to what they themselves have to say. As part of my research on
children of Ukrainian labor migrants, I initiated in 2008 a literary contest
for Ukrainian school children together with the International Institute of
Education, Culture and Connections to the Diaspora (MIOK), at the Lviv
Polytechnic University. All the 156 texts and drawings that we received were
published in two separate books, and these books should be obligatory reading
for the country’s political and financial elites.
There is a
Norwegian proverb saying that you will hear the truth from children and drunken
men. I do not know what
drunken men have to say about political life in Ukraine, but the truth
Ukrainian children tell about the democratic processes in Ukraine is alarming.
The most evident feature that we can extract from the children’s texts in
general is a total distrust in politicians and the authorities.
The authorities is
basically seen as a corrupt gang of self-interested deputies, who do not serve
the country, but themselves and their own pockets. As Andrij, 14 years old,
writes:
I watch TV to see
what is going on in the parliament. The deputies’ actions and behavior do not
coincide with their reelection promises. Nobody of them thinks. They do not
care about Ukraine, nor about its nation. … In school we are taught how to
live, and not to manipulate the truth. But by what laws do our deputies live?
Who taught them?
A timely question, when we think about last week’s events.
A timely question, when we think about last week’s events.
Interestingly, in the texts the children do not
separate between different fractions nor between opposition and parties in
power. The distrust is towards politicians in general. The reasons for this
distrust, whether a legacy of Soviet times, a national characteristic or
whatever, is of secondary importance. What is important is that the current
state of affairs in Ukrainian politics makes a 17-year old girl named Iryna
ask: “Does the state need us, the children?” Let the Constitution-breakers and
the egg-throwers alike answer that question!
Does it matter what
models and moralities you teach children about politics and democracy? Of
course it does, because they are the future politicians and voters. Because
eggs and smoke bombs are not part of the inventory when building democracy,
whatever the stakes. Unconstitutional agreements and laws must be fought with
votes in parliamentary sessions and elections, in courts and by mass
demonstrations. But never with fists, eggs or smoke. Why? Because your
children, the future generation of Ukraine, need a healthy model of democratic
processes, which will be a healthy model for democratic processes when it is
their turn to govern. Alternatively, chickens and their eggs will have a
prominent place in a politically divided country like Ukraine for generations
to come. The children understand that. They actually understand more than we
think. As Iryna asks: “If we, the children, understand, then what does it take
for adults to come to the same conclusion?”And maybe Ukrainian children should
also have their own news program, in which the host or hostess would make an
effort to explain the stupidness of adults.