A. Kurkov, "Ukrainian Diary" Summary and Comments - Recommended to learn about the turmoil of the 2014 Maidan Revolution and how it led to the invasion of Crimea and the conflict in the east.
We are pleased to present "Ukrainian Diary," written by Andrei Kurkov and translated by Yuki Yoshioka, published by Home in 2015.
Let's take a quick look at this book. In the translator's afterword, there is an explanation of the book and the Ukrainian Maidan Revolution of 2014, which is a bit long, but I will quote from it.
In the fall of 2001, Andrei Kurkov, a writer living in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev and writing in Russian, was working on a collection of essays "to help Europeans understand Ukraine" at the request of an Austrian publisher. However, on November 21, the Ukrainian government announced the postponement of the signing of the Association Agreement with the European Union, which drastically changed the daily life of Kurkov and his family, as well as the content of his book.
Outraged at the government for "closing the road to Europe," citizens contacted each other on social networking sites, and later that evening, in the heart of Kiev'sIndependence SquareThe number was estimated to be as many as 300 people, but about 900 stayed up all night in the plaza. The largest estimate is said to be 30000 people, but about 200 stayed up all night in the plaza.
The next day, a spot appeared offering them free hot tea and sandwiches, and 100s of people spent the night in Independence Square.
Two days later on Sunday, tens of thousands of citizens protesting the government took to Kresichak, Kiev's main street. The first clashes with police occurred when some protesters attempted to storm the Cabinet building. Police used tear gas and noise grenades, and the crowd threw eggs and stones at the police riot police.
Three months later, during the three days from February 18 to 20, 2004, there was bloodshed in the center of Kiev, with nearly 100 people killed, and President Yanukovych fled the country on February 22, which was widely reported in Japan with shocking images.
In March 2004, the Crimean Peninsula declared its independence from Ukraine "as a result of a referendum," and the following day, Russia and Crimea concluded the "Treaty of Incorporation of the Republic of Crimea into the Russian Federation. In parallel with this, a series of incidents, including the occupation of government and security authority buildings by forces opposed to the new government in Kiev, mainly in Lugansk and Donetsk Oblasts in eastern Ukraine.
On April 15, Acting President Turchynov declared that the occupation of government buildings by armed forces would be dealt with by an anti-terrorist armed operation. Since then, eastern Ukraine has been in a situation that should be called war, and thousands of people have been killed.
On February 12, 2003, the leaders of Ukraine, Germany, France, and Russia agreed to a ceasefire, which took effect on February 15. However, implementation of the agreement, which was intended to defuse the armed conflict, has not progressed, and localized fighting has not ceased. The Ukrainian government's war expenditures continue to balloon, and the country's economic woes are deepening.
This book is the diary of the first six months of the "Ukrainian crisis" of a writer who lives with his wife and teenage daughter and sons in the heart of Kiev and believes that Ukraine should become part of Europe.
Home, Andrei Kurkov, translated by Yuki Yoshioka, Ukrainian Diary, p. 292-293
Some line breaks have been made.
Author Andrei Kurkov is best known for his novels "The Melancholy of the Penguin" and "The President's Last Love," both international bestsellers.
Kurkov lived very close to the square where the Maidan Revolution took place and was one of the closest observers of this revolutionary process. This work is a record of those days of turmoil by such an artist.
This work is written in diary style, so the situation at that time feels quite real.
What started out as a peaceful protest gradually turned dangerous as armed militants emerged.
We have seen the political unrest in Ukraine in various books.
The Maidan Revolution took place in Ukraine, and Russia took advantage of the chaos to annex Crimea, but this did not happen suddenly. It was not a simple matter of Ukraine, which had been peaceful and prosperous, being quickly turned into a misery by Russia.
In the translator's afterword, he explained about Ukraine as follows.
Ukraine has an area of approximately 600,000 square kilometers (less than 580,000 square kilometers if Crimea is excluded) and a population of just over 450,000,000 (less than 430,000,000 if Crimea is excluded). Its land area rivals that of France (630,000 square kilometers), the largest country in Europe, and its population follows that of Spain (460 million), the fifth largest in Europe. Although Ukraine is thus one of the largest countries in Europe in terms of area and population, its nominal GDP per capita is $3929 (IMF, 2001), almost double that of Bulgaria ($7328), the lowest among EU countries. It is also far below Russia ($14591) and Kazakhstan ($135008) among the former Soviet Union countries, and almost double that of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan (the above four countries are oil and natural gas exporters), and Belarus.
Home, Andrei Kurkov, translated by Yuki Yoshioka, Ukrainian Diary, p. 293-294
I was shocked again when I read this.
Ukraine's economy was about half that of Bulgaria, the poorest country in the EU. Incidentally, Japan's nominal GDP per capita at this time was approximately $4,000.
Even within the former Soviet bloc, there was a considerable difference in economic power between the two countries, even with Russia and Kazakhstan, and they could no longer be compared to countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic.
This suggests that Ukraine was in a very difficult economic situation to begin with.
If you think about it, you might suddenly find yourself saying, "Starting today, the Soviet system is finished. From now on, we will be a competitive capitalist society. Good luck." It is difficult to suddenly change the business system. People who only know the Soviet style of working are naturally confused.
Moreover, the Western production system, which has been built up over a vast amount of time and corporate effort, does not stand a chance.
With only the Donetsk coal fields as its only resource, Ukraine's means of obtaining foreign currency are also limited. It is no wonder that the economy is collapsing.
What is more, the same thing that happened during the transition from the collapse of the Soviet Union to Russia will occur here in Ukraine.
Yes, it is. It is a question of the creation of oligarchs (emerging conglomerates) and corruption in public power.
M. I. Goldman, whose process has been described on this blog in the past.The Russian Economy Robbed."It is quite detailed in the
Ukraine, like Russia, had become a society where injustice and violence by public authorities were rampant.
Against this background, dissatisfaction with economic recession and corruption is accumulating in Ukraine, and nationalism is heating up there. Furthermore, the western and eastern parts of Ukraine have different historical backgrounds and economic bases. This background also made it easy for conflicts to erupt between the western and eastern parts of the country.
The author, Andrei Kurkov, is a world-renowned writer. He is a professional wordsmith, so to speak.
He was one of the first to recognize the propaganda propaganda being put forth by the Russians as the Maidan Revolution and the annexation of Crimea progressed. As a professional in the field of language, he feels the whiteness of the propaganda. In this book, you will feel the heated confrontation caused by such propaganda.
As mentioned in the book's introduction, Kurkov is a writer who "believes that Ukraine should be part of Europe," so he is a Ukrainian on the anti-Russian side. Kulkov is not neutral, but is writing this work as a party to this very conflict.
Therefore, the book is not written from a completely neutral perspective, and the reader should be aware of this.
But even discounting that, I think this is the best work to get an idea of what was going on in Kiev at the time.
To be honest, it was a really painful piece to read. The situation is getting worse day by day. At first it was supposed to be a peaceful protest, but before you know it, a militant organization appears. Uncontrollable riots and repression. Repeated Russian intervention and propaganda. It is just tragic.
Ukraine's economy had collapsed and corruption was rampant. How did this happen when the country was supposed to be standing up for the betterment of the country...
The book helped me to see that a country that was peaceful, prosperous, and safe did not suddenly find itself in a state of civil war.
We can learn that the complex background to the collapse of the Soviet Union still cast a large shadow over the situation in Ukraine.
And reading this book I couldn't help but be saddened by Japan.
This peace and affluence that Japan thinks it enjoys could collapse at any moment.
Once the economic collapse, rampant corruption, and conflicts among the people occur, the forces that want to take advantage of the chaos and destroy Japan will engage in a variety of maneuvers. In the case of Ukraine, if the economy had been solid and the political system had been stable, it is doubtful that the situation would have reached this point. I think it is precisely because of the political and economic instability that the conflict has been fueled to this point.
As I have said many times, reading this book made it really hard for me. My health got so bad for a while. That's how harsh the reality is depicted in this book. Perhaps it was the "diary" style of writing down one's thoughts and feelings that really stirred my emotions. You might say that this book is much more "emotional" than a commentary-style book.
The events described in this book are directly connected to the current Russian-Ukrainian war. I highly recommend this work to learn more about this war.
The above is "A. Kurkov, "Ukraine Diary," recommended for a background on the 2014 Maidan Revolution, the annexation of Crimea, and the conflict in the east.
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