Foundations for Freedom Newsletter Issue ENG 2016

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Contents

03 Dialogues on social cohesion in Ukraine in the framework of the UNDP by Lena Kashkariova

05 Communicating with empathy by Pavel Kozeletskyi 06 Dialogues as a method for preventing violence and decreasing tension in conflict by Duke Duchscherer

08 Democracy’s front line – Ukraine by John Bond 10 Documentaries for building bridges by Olha Shevchuk

12 2016: The Week of International Community in Caux celebrates 30 years! By Liubou Pranevich

14 My dear rose by Olia Vasylets

15 Miners’ Stories from Eastern and Western Ukraine by Maria Voronchuk

16 Youth meets former political prisoners. The insider by Halyna Bunio

Editors: Liubou PranevichOleksa StasevychAngela Starovoytova

Proofreading:David Locke Elizabeth Locke

FoUNDaTIoNS For FrEEDoM NEWSlETTEr ISSUE # 52 We express our kind gratitude to the authors and photographers for

their contribution to the Newsletter.

Contacts: Foundations for FreedomInternational Non-Governmental Organization

Registered in Ukraine

e-mail: [email protected]: foundationsforfreedom

Dialogues on social cohesion in Ukraine in the framework of the UNDP

From october 2015 to March 2016 the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in the framework of the project rapid response to the Social and Economic Issues of Internally Displaced Persons in Ukraine real-ized a program on strengthening social cohesion. It was implemented with the engagement of the Network of Dialogue Facilitators, which emerged in 2014 due to the work of Foundations for Freedom INGo.

Why social cohesion and what is it?

When we talk about strengthening social cohesion – we talk about how to improve communication within one group. When we talk about reconciliation – it is about improvement of communication between different groups. At the moment there are no ‘stiff’ groups: groups are formed in a different way and according to chosen criteria (displaced – locals; holders of the pro-Ukrainian views – holders of the pro-Russian views; activists – rep-resentatives of the authorities; children – adults etc.). This is why the program was chosen to work with the com-munities on the strengthening of mutual understanding, searching of solutions to the current problems and com-mon development of future vision and plan.

What exactly was done?

The first stage of the realization of the program on social cohesion was eight workshops conducted in the ter-ritories with the highest number of displaced people: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Odesa, Poltava and Kyiv oblast. Formal and informal lead-ers of the hosting community and the displaced commu-nity were invited to participate in the workshops. During the four-day workshop there was a possibility to investi-gate the phenomenon of social cohesion and the existing tools to strengthen it. Each individual could suggest an initiative for their community.

The next stage was a selection of the participants’ pro-posals for the financial and expert support of the events

they wanted to initiate in their town. 50 events of very different format were selected and supported: dialogues, mediation, round tables, ‘living libraries’, theater perfor-mances, master classes, trainings, fairs, excursions, quests, strategic planning meetings, forum-theaters, children’s celebrations, exhibitions etc. Consideration was given that each community was at a different stage of mutual understanding and presence or absence of a conflict within. Thus the work was conducted differently for each community depending on the needs and demands.

What are the results of the project?

More than 3400 people altogether participated in the different events of the program. For some communities it was crucial to get assistance in solving specific situ-ations. In Haleshchyna village of Poltava oblast a conflict broke out about electricity bills in the building allocated to the displaced people. Due to the mediation process a mutually recognized decision was found. For the major-ity of the communities the activities realized became a first step towards a common search for a desirable solution. In Dobropillia, Donetsk Oblast, after a series of trainings on the children of the displaced people and the integration and general activization of young people, currently master classes on cartoon production by chil-dren take place. In Kryva Luka village of Donetsk oblast the community puts common effort into developing an attractive village for tourists. In Melitopol after a strategic planning session the first step of the action plan was to organize ‘Tom Sower Festival’ where the community pre-pared the city park for the summer.

lena Kashkariova, expert of the Network of Dialogue Facilitators, Specialist in Reconciliation of the UNDP project Rapid Response to the Social and Economic Issues of Internally Displaced Persons in Ukraine.

Photo: lena Kashkariova, Dialogues on social cohesion, Ukraine, 2015

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DIALOgUES ON SOCIAL COHESION

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2 • Вестник «Основ Свободы» • 2013 Вестник «Основ Свободы» • 2013 • 3 Newsletter of Foundations for Freedom • 2016 • 3 2 • Newsletter of Foundations for Freedom • 2016

In the summer of 2015 some of the Network of Dialogue Facilitators’ members visited Caux, Initiatives of Change International Center in Switzerland, to share Ukrainian experience and to learn international peace building methods.

‘As a response to the extreme demand of dialogue facilitators in Ukraine, Foundations for Freedom INgO (F4F) developed the Network of Dialogue Facilitators (NDF)’, says angela Starovoytova, F4F Executive Director and expert of the NDF (Ukraine). ‘In the frame-work of the F4F program ‘Ukrainian Action: Healing the past’ we con-ducted two levels of training for a group of facilitators from Ukraine in 2014. Duke Duchscherer from USA was invited as a trainer from the International Centre for Nonviolent Communication (ICNVC)’. ‘Last summer I joined several facilitators from the Network at the Initiatives of Change International (IofC) conference cen-ter in Caux, Switzerland’, says Duke Duchscherer, a certified trainer from the International Centre for Nonviolent Communication (USa), who works with the Network of Dialogue Facilitators in Ukraine. ‘Some attended the Peacebuilders Forum and some attended the con-ference on Addressing Europe’s Unfinished Business. In each case facilitators were able to both share their deep experiences and learning from Ukraine as well as to gain new knowledge and skills to further enhance their work in Ukraine. In addition we took three days to deepen our learning of Nonviolent Communication and Restorative Circles as well as to plan future activities for the Network. It was a rich and meaningful experi-ence for all’.‘Our experts were introduced to the approach to dialogue facilita-tion and practices of reconciliation in different countries, where IofC works’, describes Angela of the group’s visit to Caux.

LEARNINg TRUST BUILDINg PRACTICES FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD

‘When I ask a question with empathy, I make a suggestion about the feelings of an inter-locutor’, says the expert. ‘For example, ‘I suggest you felt anger that time?’, thus appeal-ing to what a person felt or what he or she feels now, leaving a dialogue participant space for expressing his or her feelings. The main aim of this question is to understand a person, learn their situation, and their perception of the situation.

A question with empathy dif-fers from a regular question that supports an idea of a facil-itator: ‘Did you feel anger? Was it because…’ making a sugges-tion about the situation and thus putting an interlocutor in the facilitator’s frame of per-ception. When building rela-tions within a group this appar-ently insignificant nuance is very important for the devel-opment of a dialogue’.

‘Acting at the level of empathy is a characteristic of the work of a dialogue facilitator,’ says Pavel Kozeletskyi, Expert from the Network of Dialogue Facilitators, Ukraine. Series of dialogues in the East of Ukraine, 30 kilometers from the ATO zone, as well as dialogues on social cohesion were held by the team of experts of the Network from Dialogue Facilitators.

‘I am very impressed by the peo-ple I met in Caux’, says Pavel Kozeletskyi, an expert from the NDF (Ukraine). ‘There I learnt how many people and organizations in the world dedicate their time and energy to maintain peace. The great example is a ‘Sorry Day’ in Australia.

People like John Bond had been working over decades to reach the result – when finally the reconcilia-tion between aboriginal communi-ties and Australians took place and the government also publicly said ‘sorry’ for the years of mistreatment of the ‘Stolen generation’.

CommUNiCatiNg with EmPathy

INTERNATIONAL ExPERIENCE IN RESOLVINg CONFLICTS INTERNATIONAL ExPERIENCE IN RESOLVINg CONFLICTS

Dialogues on social cohesion, Ukraine, 2015

Dialogue in the East of Ukraine, 2015


DialogUE as a mEthoD For PrEvENtiNg violENCE aND DECrEasiNg tENsioN iN CoNFliCtDuke Duchscherer, a certified trainer from the International Centre for Nonviolent Communication (USA), works with the Network of Dialogue Facilitators in Ukraine using meth-ods of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and Restorative Circles (RC).

How did you become involved in the work of the Network of Dialogue Facilitators (NDF) in Ukraine?

I originally became involved in Ukraine during Maidan when many of the participants had increasing concern that the con-flict would turn violent. Some people involved in Maidan contacted me and one of my colleagues asking for support around preventing the violence. This began my work in Ukraine and eventually led to connec-tion with the Network.I have been a part of a num-ber of events in Ukraine joining my colleagues in the Network. These events began when I facilitated two 4-day NVC work-shops held over a two-month period where approximately 25 facilitators and mediators from all over Ukraine partici-pated. Following up this train-ing I joined a number of the Network’s facilitators in hosting a series of dialogues in Donetsk oblast. This included very pow-erful dialogues between the Ukrainian Army and commu-nity leaders in Novohorodivska (15km from the ATO), and dialogue between communi-ty leaders and a paramilitary

What is Nonviolent Communication and what are Restorative Circles? Nonviolent Communication (NVC): is a language of compassion, a spiritual practice, and a tool for social change. NVC strengthens our ability to respond com-passionately to others and ourselves, and to inspire compassion from others. It guides us in transforming old, habitual patterns of relating with ourselves and oth-ers with new, compassionate ways of acting, expressing ourselves, and hearing others. www.cnvc.orgThe restorative Circle (rC): this process offers ways for groups/ organizations, and communities to create com-munity spaces for conflict that are safe and construc-tive. Developed by Dominic Barter RC enables people to choose a nonviolent response to conflict that involves the whole community in discovering their own sus-tainable strategies to learn from conflict by addressing immediate as well as underlying long-term causes. In other words the people who are most affected and have the most at stake are the ones who come up with the solutions to their problems; thus giving the Circle and its results validity and shared meaning. www.restorativecircles.org

group, and within a group of people supporting Ukrainian choice for Eastern Ukraine.Since these experiences the network of facilitators has gone on to facilitate dialogue all over the East as part of an OSCE Dialogue Initiative; and to support dialogue and social cohesion between Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and the local communities into which they have dispersed as part of a UNDP program in eight regions of Ukraine. I am very amazed and proud of all work the Network of Facilitators has done in Ukraine to bring

together people in conflict for very meaningful and substan-tial dialogues.

Which methods were used while working with the groups in conflict?

Ukrainian facilitators and medi-ators already had a high level of skill and experience; but with Maidan and the subsequent violent conflict in the East the intensity of dialogues between the various groups in conflict was greatly increased. The Network of Dialogue Facilitators was seeking support in the form of skills and experience in work-ing with conflicts and creating spaces for dialogue that were powerful enough to hold the level of emotional intensity that war and violent conflict brings.Thus two main processes or approaches (and their accom-panying skills) were shared

NONVIOLENT COMMUNICATION AS A TOOL FOR DIALOgUE NONVIOLENT COMMUNICATION AS A TOOL FOR DIALOgUE

with the Network of Facilitators: Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and Restorative Circles (RC).

Why are NVC and rC impor-tant to present-day Ukraine?

Imagine being a soldier posted to and then walking through a town where when you pass someone you are not sure if they would like to shake your hand or shoot you. Conversely imagine living in that town all your life and now suddenly you have tanks rumbling through the town and heavily-armed, masked gunmen walking every-where. Can you imagine the fear and misperceptions that would be present on both sides? Now imagine a dialogue taking place, and at the end of that dia-logue the relationships are so transformed that armored vehi-cles no longer move through the town, soldiers do not carry weapons in the town, and all town events include special invitations to all the soldiers. This is what NVC and RC have done, and can do in Ukraine.

Dialogue in the East of Ukraine, 2015 Group of facilitators, dialogues on social cohesion, Ukraine, 2015


UkraiNE Ukraine is in the midst of a struggle which is crucial for Europe.

The course helped many Eastern Europeans to discover how they could help develop just and democratic gov-ernance. In all about 3,000 participated. Many then came to IofC conferences at Caux in Switzerland, Asia Plateau in India and elsewhere. They have encouraged the next generation to discover what Initiatives of Change has to offer, and today East Europeans are playing a promi-nent role in its work across the world.In November 2013, hundreds of thousands of

Ukrainians took over the centre of Kiev and stayed there through the winter. Their rallying cry was, ‘We want European values’. By this they meant they want-ed elections which reflected the will of the people rather than of oligarchs, courts which made their deci-sions on the basis of law rather than bribery, schools which educated rather than propagandised.For four months they withstood everything the regime threw at them, until the President accepted defeat and fled to Russia. Russia then invaded Crimea and sup-ported rebellion in Eastern Ukraine, igniting a conflict from which 1.6 million people have fled, and which is still killing people every day.Despite the immense demands of defending their country, Ukraine is making progress towards estab-lishing ‘European values’. But as Hanna Hopko told me and my colleague Ashley Muller last month, hard

though it is to overthrow a bad regime, it is harder to build a better one.Hanna is the Chair of the Ukrainian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee. She and her fellow reformers have developed numerous laws to fight corruption, and per-suaded the Parliament to approve them. Thanks to this, and to the commitment of many people and organisa-tions in and beyond Ukraine, new ways are being imple-mented. But entrenched interests are fighting back, and there is still far to go.Hanna devotes much of her time to helping communi-ties discover effective ways to support reform. She was one of those who inspired the Switch On community movement which is now tackling corruption in a number of cities.Also supporting reform is the Foundations for Freedom network, which grew out of a course developed by a British architect, Eric Andren, and colleagues from

Initiatives of Change (IofC) at the time when Eastern Europe opened its doors to the world after the fall of the Berlin wall. The 10-day course explored the moral and spiritual roots of democracy, and the role of individual responsibility.In Ukraine they are contributing to the well-being of the country in many ways. Some are developing par-liamentary legislation. Others have held seminars on ethical governance, and a ‘school of good governance’ has just been launched in Kiev. Others are caring for the refugees that have fled Eastern Ukraine and Crimea.Many are taking part in a widespread program of dia-logue between Ukrainians of differing backgrounds, which started when two young women, one from -Southern Ukraine, the other from Western Ukraine, met in an IofC program in India. Each understood their national history differently, which led to conflict between them, then gradually to understanding and apology.When they returned home, they launched ‘Ukrainian Action: Healing the Past’, which over the last six years has enlisted several hundred Ukrainians in building understanding across the deep divisions of their coun-try, particularly through dialogue. In recent months, dialogues have been held in many regions, some of them close to the separation border in Eastern Ukraine.This is crucial work, and not just for Ukraine. Throughout Europe, thanks to economic crisis and large-scale migra-tion, democracy is under strain. And this is especially true of Eastern Europe, where democracy is a tender plant. If democracy fails in Ukraine, other countries will follow suit. Divisions between East Ukrainians and the rest of the country destabilize Ukraine. The more this

division is healed, the more able will Ukraine be to defend itself. The more corruption is overcome, the more justice and democracy will thrive.Initiatives of Change offers its international support in this task. Each year many Ukrainians contribute to confer-ences at Caux and Asia Plateau; and speakers from Caux and Asia Plateau contribute to forums in Ukraine. This results in much cross-fertilisation of ideas and experience. This needs to continue and grow, for the sake of Europe as a whole.

John Bond, a co-convenor of the Caux conference on Just governance for Human Security.

Photo: by John Bond ‘anton Iemelianov, a journalist who reported from the front line during Ukraine’s Maidan revolution, shows ashley Muller a memorial to one of the 67 people killed by snipers in February 2014.’

OPINION OPINION

Photo: by ashley Muller ‘Members of the Foundations for Freedom network with John Bond in Kiev, (l to r) oleksa Stasevych, John Bond, Kostiantyn Ploskyi, Vladyslava Kanevska, angela Starovoytova.’


‘WHy DO PEOPLE START WARS,

I have always been interested in dialogue. As a child I asked my mother: ‘Why do people start wars, why is it that they cannot agree? ’ My fate brought me to the Foundations for Freedom that helped me to discover the answer to the question. Over last year I participated in the three projects that were connected to the dialogue in its different shapes. My task was to shoot video material at different stages, to interview participants and to compose short videos about each project. Over a year we have created seven videos about the activities of Ukrainian Action: Healing the Past Program.

WHy IS IT THAT THEy CANNOT AgREE? ’

The first trip was to the East of Ukraine. I remember how scary it was to go there, because the place where the meeting took place was 30 km from the com-bat zone (ATO). On arrival all fears dispelled, and this enabled me to show then in the produced video, what happened during the dia-

logue. I heard there such sincere words, such simple desires: peace and harmony. There are ordinary people who live there, who want to feel safe. My stereotypes were broken and a wish to understand them appeared instead. And there, in the East, I saw how the method of nonviolent communica-

tion works addressing really important issues in the sit-uation where the conflict shifted over the line of a peaceful settlement. It was obvious that the partici-pants’ fears slowly subsided and a vision emerged that all conflicts have a solution. Eventually, I also learned how to use this method

of dialogue in the family, at work; and it helped a lot because the time previously spent for conflict, I could use to solve it.

The project ‘Future needs memories: Ukrainian dialogue on history and memories’ lasted for three months dur-ing which the par-ticipants realized 13 initiatives. At first it was unusual for me, as I have always sep-arated topics of his-tory and dialogue, and then suddenly

they united. Suddenly it became clear that there is a lot to talk about! History turns out to be a powerful tool for dialogue ... I had not even realized this. Our german colleagues, who have been working on the topic for a long time, shared their experience. Historical memory is a very subtle subject, but it is possible to work with it to avoid such mistakes and con-flicts in the future.

In autumn 2015 I visited the memorial in Auschwitz, Poland together with the participants of the youth project ‘History Begins in the Family’. It was the most shocking tour in my life: so much information including the extent of the tragedy – I could not find an answer in myself, why it had happened ... It was very hard. Observing the par-ticipants – young people from Ukraine, Poland and germany, it was evident that they were confused and probably scared. World War II was a terrible hap-pening. Some participants told us that their grandpar-ents or one of their relatives was also there. At last they saw how it was there and how strong a person could be to survive all that. I was watching them and discov-ering how they were grow-ing. I was very glad to wit-ness such changes in their lives.

During the interview some of them shared such things that tears appeared in my eyes; others talked about their plans and inspiration

All the projects that I joined to assist with videos showed me that improvements occur every day, but it is important here to learn how to act in dif-ficult situations in the present or in the past. There were a lot of techniques, exercises and presentations of experience. To my mind, it is important for society to have someone who can help, who can teach dia-logue and push for change; it is important that they care. And this people exist.

DOCUMENTARIES FOR BUILDINg BRIDgES DOCUMENTARIES FOR BUILDINg BRIDgES

from the project. The title of the project was rightly chosen. It enabled the par-ticipants to understand who they were, where they came from and why they perceived the world in a certain way. They got acquainted with the culture of other countries where they integrated and neither borders nor language bar-riers prevented them from being in tune with the dia-

logue. Dialogue took place here between participants and their families, between history and modern times.

I express my gratitude to everyone who was with me during these projects, as well as to the Fritz Phillips Fund – without its support I would not be engaged in the program. you are doing noble work, and I am very inspired. Cooperation with the Ukrainian Action: Healing the Past program gave me a lot of new knowl-edge, expertise, experience, and impressions; I improved my skills in working with video reports and I want to continue this activity fur-ther showing people what happens at projects like this.

olha Shevchuk, filmmaker of the

projects of the Ukrainian Action:

Healing the Past Program,

Foundations for Freedom INgO

The videos related to the projects of the Ukrainian action:

Healing the Past Program: https://www.youtube.com/channel/

UCiJeWTg8115B_1iNuxegeOA olha Shevchuk, meeting in Poland, 2015

Meeting former prisoners in Poland, oświęcim (auschwitz), october 2015


Since the beginning the international center has positioned itself as ‘Home for the World’. Processes of reconciliation, dialogue and peace building between individuals and such countries as Germany and France took place here. Those attending WIC also gave their indirect input into building peace in Europe and in the world.

COMMUNITy BUILDINg THROUgH PRACTICAL SERVICE COMMUNITy BUILDINg THROUgH PRACTICAL SERVICE

2016: thE wEEk oF iNtErNatioNal CommUNity iN

CaUx CElEbratEs 30 yEars!In 1986 the first Week of International Community (WIC) in Caux was held to prepare Mountain House for the upcoming conferences and to connect people through service. Since 1946 Caux, a conference center of the Initiatives of Change International (IofC), gathers over 1300 participants from all over the world for the international conferences held during the summer. With a new program designed by Foundations for Freedom (F4F) in 2013 the WIC got a new form.

Today about 40 people with connections to IofC and F4F are invited with their parents or families for the WIC. They are intro-duced to IofC with a focus on community service. Apart from this there is organized space for shar-ing personal stories, trust building exercises as well as cultural variety evening, sightseeing, screenings of IofC films etc.

‘In the beginning the pur-pose was to bring young Europeans to Caux, who would not necessarily come for a conference but find it easier to come for a working time,’ says Ulrike Keller, a co-organizer of the WIC in Caux. ‘young people could meet people from the other countries dur-ing practical work. Many of them aged 18 - 22 came from germany. They were

mostly school pupils and university students’. Thus young people also learnt about IofC. In 1986 Eliane Stallybrass had the idea and the first WIC was held. It took place during Easter holidays. ‘At that time there was an international community of about 30 people living in Villa Maria all year round. The following years people started coming from the Netherlands, Britain, Germany, France,

Belgium, Sweden, Italy,’ says Ulrike. ‘at one point we were 180 people and it has always been interna-tional’. Over 30 years now Ulrike’s husband Christoph has been responsible for the practical part of the work – repairing, paint-ing, gardening etc. Ulrike attended the WIC every year since then. ‘I myself have never missed one, taking on this or that’, she says. In 1996 the WIC shift-ed to June, with a short time for preparation before the summer conferences.

‘The shape of WIC changed over the years acting in ways that go with the times’, describes Ulrike of the progress. ‘After the fall of the Berlin Wall people from Eastern European countries could join.

Over several years I have heard from young people that it is difficult to explain to their parents what they are doing with F4F and why they are going to Caux. In 2011 I introduced the idea: ‘How would it be if your parents could

come to Caux and find out in a very pratical way, what IofC and Caux are all about?’ Angela Starovoytova (Ukraine), Diana Damsa (Romania) and later Anastasiya

Maksimova (Ukraine) took on the idea and worked out a program. Next year, in 2013, it started in a new form’.

liubou Pranevich

The Week of International Community, participants from Eastern Europe

visit Fribourg during cultural program, June 2015

The Week of International Community, Caux, June 2014


HISTORy BEgINS IN THE FAMILy… HEALINg THE PAST

my DEar rosEFoundations for Freedom INGO, the International Youth Meeting Centre in Oświęcim/Auschwitz and Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation/Bergen-Belsen Memorial in co-operation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation realized the international project ‘History begins in the family…’

occasionally there are some special evenings, when your granny wants to have just a small talk with you, which turn out to last the whole eve-ning. Then she asks you to open old photograph albums. Granny also wants you to pick her favorite flower even if it is still the middle of autumn. ‘My sister loved these roses,’ she reminds me again.Having heard something inter-esting, 10-year-old granny’s great grandson decided to join us. Although he did not fully understand everything, he was looking at pictures with great interest. He could recognize only a few people, and my gran-

‘The end of mine is not the end:The end is someone’s beginning.’

Volodymyr Vysotskyi

ny couldn’t identify everyone. I had to help both of them. That evening we saw several photo-graph albums.When my granny was looking at photos of her children (when they were small), and she sud-denly saw the portrait of herself being young, or found some photos of her husband, sister or friends, her hands started shaking and there were tears in her eyes. But at the same time a slow bright smile spread across her face. Exactly the same as she wore in the photos, which had been taken 50 years ago.granny was keeping silent. She was just looking at pho-tos. It seemed she was doing it mechanically, not even look-ing at them. She was think-ing of something. Being afraid of interrupting this process, I was looking at every picture. On the reverse of the majority of them there were different inscriptions: ‘for darling sister’,

‘for a friend’... It would definitely be possible to make a map from them. The photo-wishes had been sent from every corner of the world.All the photos were special. The majority of them had been posed, while the tiny minor-ity were taken spontaneously. Nevertheless, every photo was full of power, fondness and respect. Some of them were carefully framed with lace.There were not any coloured photos. But the colour was hardly needed to express all feelings. It was enough to look at the faces. In spite of anything that might have happened in their lives, the people in the photos were smiling. Maybe they had known something deep inside… And now in a way they support us, making us never give up and always go ahead.Three different generations were sitting around the table with loads of photos. They meant different things to everyone. For me they were part of reality. For little Mykhas they were an imagi-nary story, for Granny – her entire life.

olia Vasylets, a participant of

the History begins in the fam-

ily project, Pishchanka settlement,

Dnipropetrovsk oblast, Ukraine.

More about the project http://www.iofc.org/uahtp-history-

begins-in-the-family-project-en

We have chosen the topic Miners’ Stories because it is very important in our country, par-ticularly in the East – most of the residents in the east region are employed in heavy and coal industries. Ukrainian society has not been well informed about miners’ lives, and through this proj-ect we want to draw people’s attention to their labor and the industrial culture as it is; to debunk the stereotypic attitude towards them. By this we want to compare and to cre-ate a possibility for dialogue between East and West Ukraine, as there are also mines in the Lviv and Volyn regions, though not as many as at Donbas; but the miners that are working there are similar. They have the same problems as the ones in the East. We also aim at inquiring into the miners’ identity and the influence of the surrounding population in the life of the coal towns.

Closure of the mines and the impact this has on the community is anoth-er problem that we want to emphasize, because in the majority of the miners’ towns and villages there is no alternative. The towns are built around mines and for mines. Is there a future here? We want to ask the miners and others around there how they see the future of their cities, con-sidering the difficult situa-tion in the country and the current conflict in the East.

Our project has a more cul-tural and social meaning. Collecting stories of the

miners’ families will help to capture their real life and spread knowledge of this amongst the Ukrainians. The project can be divided into two stages – collection of the oral stories by volun-teers from the miners’ regions and the second stage is shooting a documentary based on sev-eral stories. The film will be screened for a wider audience both in the West and East regions aiming at building dialogue. The topic is very broad and we would like to continue working in this direction after the project is finished, prob-ably through research and with engagement of international experience.

The project is implemented by the Foundations for Freedom INgO in partnership with Our Future NgO and the Independent Trade Union of Coal Miners of Ukraine within the framework of Ukrainian Action: Healing the Past Program under the support of the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine and Irene Prestwich Trust (UK).

Maria Voronchuk, co-coordinator of the project the Miners’

Stories from Eastern and Western Ukraine, Our Future NgO

The Miners’ Stories from Eastern and Western Ukraine project: http://www.iofc.org/uk/shakhtarski-istoriyi-zi-skho-

du-ta-zakhodu-ukrayiny_ukr

The History begins in the family project, Ukraine, March 2016 The Miners’ Stories from Eastern and Western Ukraine project, May 2016

Foundations for Freedom INGO and Our Future NGO launched the Miners’ Stories from Eastern and Western Ukraine project.

MINERS` STORIES FROM EASTERN AND WESTERN UKRAINE


For our program it was the first experience of the intergenerational dialogue with such a huge gap in the age of the participants. It was a kind of experiment, because it was hard to predict the dynamics of the group. I think it totally paid off, because we have seen the goals we set being achieved. Transferring life experience across the century-long generation gap is possible in this format provided certain levels of flexibility and sensitivity are secured.

FUTURE NEEDS MEMORIES FUTURE NEEDS MEMORIES

Is a dialogue possible when you have two genera-tions with almost a century setting them apart? What do they have in common? What is different? Are they able to hear and understand each other? In search for answers to these questions I decided to host this event.

yoUth mEEts FormEr PolitiCal PrisoNErs. thE iNsiDEr

On Monday, November 23, 2015, Lviv welcomed students and for-mer political prisoners of the Soviet and Nazi totalitarian regimes. The event called ‘Memories of the Totalitarian Past: Youth Meets Political Prisoners’ was co-orga-nized by the Foundations for Freedom INGo / the Ukrainian action: Healing the Past pro-gram and the Territory of Terror Memorial Museum as part of the ‘Future needs memories: Ukrainian dialogue on history and memories’ project. Ten stu-dents from different Ukrainian aca-demic institutions and five former political prisoners residing in Lviv, namely yaroslava Melnychuk (born in 1929), Stepan Horechyi (born in 1929), Hanna Ivanytska (born in 1925), Onufriy Dudok (born in 1926), and Iryna Shul (born in

1918) took part in the meeting.The meeting was truly unique as we managed to gather people of different age groups, the gap sometimes going up to 80 years. Another highlight of the event was its format: in a setup of a meeting both older and young-er participants had the chance to try out the roles of the nar-rator and the listener. It allowed for two-way exchange of experi-ences, while working in small groups pro-vided feedback as well as more personal, profound, and immedi-ate communication with the wit-nesses of the times. The idea of this event dawned on

me and Liudmyla Levcheniuk at the ‘Different Memories – Common Future!’ workshop, hosted by our german friends from OWEN in Lviv in late September 2015. We decid-ed to create a space for mutual understanding between youth and people who lived through the times when an attempt to fulfill your dreams for a decent future, a simple desire to be true to yourself and live with dignity, could lead to imprisonment and torture. We aimed at creating a

safe space in which former politi-cal prisoners could be heard and could get rid of the burden of their difficult pasts as well as the stereo-types and needless generalizations of today’s youth and regions they come from. Students who joined the event came from different regions of Ukraine: Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Donetsk; and even Zabaykalsky Krai, Russian Federation. We wanted to give young people the opportunity to either confirm or get rid of the ideas about people of this respected age, to see the past through the eyes of the witness-es’ memories, to understand what motivated them, their footholds in tough times, and to

come up with new conclusions.While waiting for the former political prisoners, students had the opportunity to help prepare the dialogue room. This is how they started learning about the methodology of conducting dia-logues. We used a couple of dia-logue techniques including the Maps and History Timeline. Maps illustrated participants’ life paths, while history timelines showed a wide range of historical events pre-served in the communicative and individual memories of the dia-logue participants. The following events were mentioned by the par-ticipants: the Ukrainian-Polish war in galicia 1918-1919, Holodomor in Ukraine 1921-1923, Ukrainian Secret University in Lviv 1921-1925, the events of World War II, the ‘Barrel’ Provocative Action in 1948, the Norilsk Uprising in 1953, Lviv town’s meeting in 1988, the Orange Revolution (Maidan 2004), Revolution of Dignity (Maidan 2014), namely in Zaporizhzhia, and war in the East of Ukraine, namely, occupation of Sloviansk, etc.Our younger participants shared that they managed to draw par-allels between the past and the present. Former political prisoners surprised them by inner youthful-ness, optimism, and good sense of humor, by talents in reciting and creative writing, by their stories of love in the time of persecu-tions and imprisonments, by their own rare family memories about the inter-war period, about inhu-man abuse in prisons, concentra-tion camps, and madhouses, and about what helped them to sur-vive. Dialogue participants had the opportunity to reflect again on the values of life and inner freedom, taking responsibil-ity for themselves and others, the importance of empathy and seemingly easy ability to listen and hear.At the same time, our older par-ticipants were so touched by the students’ attentiveness, curiosity, alertness, desire and willingness to learn and share their own experi-ence, that some of them invited

Olha Shevchuk (camerawoman of the Foundations for Freedom INgO), our german partners Andrea Zemskov-Züge and Dana Jirous from OWEN e.V. – Mobile Academy for gender Democracy and Peace Development, as well as Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (germany) for their sup-port.

Halyna Bunio, dialogue’s coordi-

nator on behalf of the Ukrainian

Action: Healing the Past program /

Foundation for Freedom INgO.

Pictures and video: http://www.iofc.

org/youth-meets-former-political-

prisoners-the-insider_eng

the younger participants home for coffee in order to continue com-munication.Of course, there were moments when some of our younger and older participants disagreed, par-ticularly, concerning the issue of inter-ethnic marriages and word-ing for the names of some his-torical events. However, eventu-ally this served as an opportunity to test and practice their abil-ity to listen in order to understand instead of to agree or disagree.I would like to express my grati-tude to the Territory of Terror Memorial Museum, namely Liudmyla Levcheniuk, for coopera-tion, as well as Oleksa Stasevych (the Ukrainian Action: Healing the Past program manager),


FUTURE NEEDS MEMORIES FUTURE NEEDS MEMORIES


Foundations for Freedominternational Non-governmental organization registered in Ukraine

visionThere is an interesting theory: when 10% of population change, the remaining 90% become different as well. Should we wait until a leader changes things for the better or should we start with ourselves?

‘Be the change you want to see in the world!’ Mahatma Gandhi

missionFoundations for Freedom aims to foster the development of truly free, democratic and just society, where people live in commitment to the values where freedom thrives, in particular honesty and personal responsibility.

areas of activity- Supporting the development of responsible leadership. - Enhancing social involvement of youth. - Initiating and supporting public dialogues. - Developing mutual understanding and cooperation between various ethnic and social groups.- Establishing honest and transparent relations between citizens and governmental structures.

what we do- Reconciliation projects, public dialogues, trust-building activities. - Offering access to international networks and experience exchange programs. - Leading round-tables, forums and conferences. - Leading various training and educational programs.

www.f-4-f.org

Documents

Foundations for Freedom Newsletter Issue ENG 2016