By Alina Entelis
Yevgeni Monastyrskyi is a Ukrainian doctoral student who happened to travel to Kiev for a conference with fortuitous timing – he arrived on November 21, 2013, the day when the Euromaidan protests commenced. The name Euromaidan is a combination of the trigger for the protests – the failure of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to sign the European Union Association Agreement – and the initial location of the protests, Kiev’s Independence Square, often simply called the Square, “Maidan” in Ukrainian. The Euromaidan started as a peaceful student protest that later turned violent, culminating in the ouster of Yanukovych and the election of a new government.
The eastern region of Ukraine, including Monastyrskyi’s hometown, has since been embroiled in a bitter war fought between Russian-backed separatists and the Ukrainian army. An unlucky encounter with separatists forced Monastyrskyi to dispose of all the pictures he had of the Euromaidan protests.
Tell me about your background – did you feel that the idea of the West was prominent when you were growing up?
I was born in the Eastern city of Luhansk. I love Luhansk, I’m eighth generation living in the city and I consider myself a Ukrainian patriot. I completed my B.A. and M.A. in Ukrainian history in Ukraine and was later was accepted to a Ph.D. program at Yale.
When I was growing up the idea of the West wasn’t there, because it seemed so out of reach. I didn’t dream of going to school in the West because I thought to myself, “What do I have to offer to the West?” The highest aspiration I allowed myself to have growing up was to go to a university in Western Ukraine.
But you were able to go to Yale?
Yes, that’s something that was only available to me after the Euromaidan revolution and the change of the government. It became a lot easier to leave the country and go to the West after that.
Speaking of the Euromaidan – tell me why did you go to the protests?
I was in Kiev for a conference when my dad called me and said that president, Yanukovych, decided not to sign the Association Agreement with the EU. I just couldn’t believe it, I was furious. This agreement was negotiated for months and was supposed to make trading between Ukraine and the EU easier. We saw it as something that would improve our future.
Yanukovych’s regime was so corrupt, but we felt like we can endure everything as long as he signed the Association Agreement. You know that saying – “close your eyes and think of England”? So for Ukrainian citizens it was “close your eyes and think of the EU.”
When I saw a tweet by journalist Mustafa Nayyem on a Ukrainian news site calling on people to come to the Maidan I decided to join. I was inspired by the fact that it was a student protest. I also went to the Orange Revolution [protests that took place in Ukraine in 2004 following allegations of electoral fraud in the presidential elections by Yanukovych who ran against pro-Western Ukrainian politician Victor Yushchenko] when I was younger, so I said why not go?
That’s an interesting point, because the Orange Revolution failed in bringing positive change to Ukraine. It’s rather surprising that disillusioned Ukrainians came out to protest in 2014.
For me it was important to go to the Euromaidan because the Orange Revolution didn’t feel like my protest. It was the protest of my parents’ generation. It felt like this is the time of the younger generation to step forward. Because by not signing the EU Association Agreement, Yanukovych was robbing my generation of a better future.
How prominent was the goal of “growing closer to the West” during the Euromaidan protests?
I was in the protests in Kiev during the first week and then participated in smaller protests in Luhansk. In both these cases growing closer to the West was a very important theme – I even still have a pin we wore there with the flags of Ukraine and the EU together.
What do you think it means to “grow closer to the west”?
Back in the 2004 revolution there was more emphasis on joining Europe for the economic benefits. But the discourse changed in 2014. We knew that there are regulations that won’t allow Ukraine to join the EU unless corruption is alleviated. It was clear for us that we are fighting for our future because we didn’t want to grow closer to Russia and we wanted to embrace Western values.
There’s a popular narrative of Ukraine being torn between East and West and basically serving as a gateway to Europe. Why do you think such a narrative started?
Since the 90s, the most popular title for an academic paper about Ukraine is “Ukraine between East and West.” I think this trend started with Ukrainian émigré scholars who promoted a popular myth that in the 13th century the ancient Ukrainian state stopped the Mongol invasion from reaching Europe.
I believe the narrative about Ukraine protecting Europe is particularly relevant today. We are currently the only country that is fighting against Russian influences. We are Europe’s last line of defense. The West needs us just as much as we need them.
How do you feel about Western media portraying Ukraine as “torn between East and West”?
[Smiling sardonically]: It sounds silly, because Russia is the one which is torn between East and West. Russia has a long history of being between nomadic and European culture. But Ukraine has always been a European country with European culture. I think the West perceives Ukraine like that just because of the reasons that made it interesting – the war now and the 2004 Orange Revolution. Because 2004 was the first time we showed them that Ukraine is not just a corrupt oligarch country, but a country capable of making smart choices, and that there are people there who are willing to fight for these choices.