{"id":12213,"date":"2014-05-19T13:34:01","date_gmt":"2014-05-19T13:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uacrisis.org\/?p=2756"},"modified":"2014-08-11T12:11:02","modified_gmt":"2014-08-11T10:11:02","slug":"2756-bernar-anri-levi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/2756-bernar-anri-levi","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine crisis poses challenges for Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kyiv, 19 May 2014 \u2013 In its passion for democratic values and dignity, the Ukrainian revolution has revealed a need for Europe to revisit and to reaffirm the values on which it is built. Both the European and world order will be at risk if Europe refuses to challenge Russian propaganda. Intellectual elites throughout Europe need to consider what is at stake. These were among the key observations voiced by French, American, and Ukrainian experts at the conference “Ukraine: Thinking Together” in Kyiv.<\/span><\/p>\n

Public intellectual Bernard-Henri L\u00e9vy,<\/b> speaking at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy on Friday, May 16, urged Europe to stop those trying to disrupt the Ukrainian presidential elections. He also called on Europeans to resist Putin\u2019s propaganda; failure to do so would be a moral defeat. \u201cThe new style of fascism coming from Putin\u2019s ideologists is very dangerous for Europe,\u201d he said. Sanctions are not working, because \u201cthey are insufficient and can be circumvented. \u2026 Putin is not a chess player; he is a political gangster. His regime feeds on European weaknesses. So, my humble advice is to strengthen sanctions and not to fall into the Kremlin trap.\u201d<\/p>\n

The experts shared the view that the West must respond more vigorously to what Russia is doing in Ukraine. Professor Timothy Snyder<\/b> of Yale University noted: \u201cThis revolution is definitely European, and the reaction should be European as well. The problem is that the revolution happened, but a lack of analysis produced a lack of political reactions. What is important is that the Maidan itself, with its dignity and inspiration, opens opportunities for the future. In the West, things like this are taken for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Leon Wieseltier<\/b>, literary editor of The New Republic, \u201cPutin has violated all international norms, international law in a variety of ways. It annexed – rather stole – Crimea, and it has just destabilized Ukraine by means of an unconventional invasion. This is by any meaning of the word an assault of the world order, on the postwar world. Such an attack has enormous implications not only for Ukraine, but for the world. It raises fundamental questions of the responsibility of states towards other states. It is what we might call a moral emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ukrainian philosopher and essayist Volodymyr Yermolenko<\/b> said Ukraine had made a real contribution to Europe by showing its passion and faith on the Maidan: \u201cThere is a part of Europe that I call the Europe of rules. It lacks faith, but conventionally follows the rules. The Ukrainians who were on the Maidan are ready to follow the rules, but Europe has yet to recognize that rules cannot exist without passion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, Putin acted out of a feeling of weakness and an awareness of Russia\u2019s instability,\u201d said journalist Paul Berman<\/b>.\u00a0 \u201dHe is afraid that Ukraine\u2019s success will lead to the end of his system. Our goal is to demonstrate that society can be built on democratic rights and freedoms. Western countries have to ensure Ukrainian success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carmen Claudin<\/b>, a senior research fellow at the Centre for International Affairs in Barcelona, said that Ukraine enjoys public support in Europe. \u201cBut we also need political and institutional responses. Ukraine faces an enormous task. Real revolution and real change will come through reform. Moreover, if Ukraine succeeds, it will be the answer to Putin\u2019s victory in Crimea, and the day will come when Crimea will regret being annexed by Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, speakers underscored that the West\u2019s reaction so far has been insufficient and weak. Former French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Bernard Kouchner<\/b> called Europe\u2019s reaction almost non-existent.<\/p>\n

Speakers also agreed that in the current political and social situation, federalization of the country would be dangerous. Noted Claudin: \u201cFederalization is a proposal from Putin. He wants to centralize his own country this way. Ukrainians have to choose decentralization, especially taking into account that democratization and decentralization are two things that always go together, and one is impossible without the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crisis in Ukraine is not dividing the country, it is reinforcing solidarity among Ukrainians,\u201d summarized Konstantin Sigov, director of the European Humanities Research Centre at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.<\/p>\n

Key speakers:<\/p>\n

Timothy Snyder<\/b> is the Bird White Housum Professor of History at Yale University and a permanent fellow of the Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna.<\/p>\n

Leon Wieseltier<\/b> has been the literary editor of The New Republic since 1983 and is the author of Kaddish. His writings on culture and politics, foreign policy and human rights, Israel and Jewish history have appeared in numerous journals.<\/p>\n

Paul Berman<\/b> is a journalist who has written extensively about totalitarianism, liberalism, and interventionism. He is a member of the editorial board of Dissent.<\/p>\n

Bernard-Henri L\u00e9vy<\/b> is a philosopher and public intellectual. He has written extensively about democracy and liberalism.<\/p>\n

Carmen Claudin<\/b> is senior research fellow at Centre for International Affairs in Barcelona, where she was the director of research from 1998 to 2012.<\/p>\n

Bernard Kouchner<\/b> is former French minister of foreign and European affairs and a co-founder of M\u00e9decins sans Fronti\u00e8res and M\u00e9decins du Monde.<\/p>\n

Volodymyr Yermolenko is a philosopher and essayist and a senior lecturer at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.<\/p>\n

Konstantin Sigov<\/b> is a philosopher and civil rights activist. He is the director of the European Humanities Research Centre at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and founding director of publishing house Dukh i Litera.<\/p>\n

\n\t\n\t\t\"\"\t\t\n\t\t\tView Gallery<\/span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t8 images\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/a>\n<\/figure>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kyiv, 19 May 2014 \u2013 In its passion for democratic values and dignity, the Ukrainian revolution has revealed a need for Europe to revisit and to reaffirm the values on which it is built. Both the European and world order will be at risk if Europe refuses to challenge Russian propaganda. Intellectual elites throughout Europe […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[705],"tags":[803],"section":[648],"form":[],"yoast_head":"\nUkraine crisis poses challenges for Europe | UACRISIS.ORG<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kyiv, 19 May 2014 \u2013 In its passion for democratic values and dignity, the Ukrainian revolution has revealed a need for Europe to revisit and to reaffirm | Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/2756-bernar-anri-levi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ukraine crisis poses challenges for Europe | UACRISIS.ORG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kyiv, 19 May 2014 \u2013 In its passion for democratic values and dignity, the Ukrainian revolution has revealed a need for Europe to revisit and to reaffirm | Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/2756-bernar-anri-levi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uacrisis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-19T13:34:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-08-11T10:11:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/1misliti.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uacrisis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uacrisis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u0417\u0430\u0445\u0430\u0440 \u0411\u0443\u0442\u043a\u043e\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ukraine crisis poses challenges for Europe | UACRISIS.ORG","description":"Kyiv, 19 May 2014 \u2013 In its passion for democratic values and dignity, the Ukrainian revolution has revealed a need for Europe to revisit and to reaffirm | Uacrisis.org","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/2756-bernar-anri-levi","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ukraine crisis poses challenges for Europe | UACRISIS.ORG","og_description":"Kyiv, 19 May 2014 \u2013 In its passion for democratic values and dignity, the Ukrainian revolution has revealed a need for Europe to revisit and to reaffirm | Uacrisis.org","og_url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/2756-bernar-anri-levi","og_site_name":"Uacrisis.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uacrisis\/","article_published_time":"2014-05-19T13:34:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-08-11T10:11:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/1misliti.jpg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@uacrisis","twitter_site":"@uacrisis","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"\u0417\u0430\u0445\u0430\u0440 \u0411\u0443\u0442\u043a\u043e","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#organization","name":"Ukraine crisis media center","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uacrisis\/","http:\/\/youtube.com\/UACrisisMediaCenter","https:\/\/twitter.com\/uacrisis"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#logo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/header_logo-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/header_logo-1.png","width":250,"height":90,"caption":"Ukraine crisis media center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#logo"}},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/","name":"Uacrisis.org","description":"Ukraine crisis media center","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/2756-bernar-anri-levi#webpage","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/2756-bernar-anri-levi","name":"Ukraine crisis poses challenges for Europe | UACRISIS.ORG","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-05-19T13:34:01+00:00","dateModified":"2014-08-11T10:11:02+00:00","description":"Kyiv, 19 May 2014 \u2013 In its passion for democratic values and dignity, the Ukrainian revolution has revealed a need for Europe to revisit and to reaffirm | Uacrisis.org","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/2756-bernar-anri-levi#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/2756-bernar-anri-levi"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/2756-bernar-anri-levi#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0430","item":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ukraine crisis poses challenges for Europe"}]},{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/2756-bernar-anri-levi#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/2756-bernar-anri-levi#webpage"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/31691010a01129c86dc9dc11eebe8df9"},"headline":"Ukraine crisis poses challenges for Europe","datePublished":"2014-05-19T13:34:01+00:00","dateModified":"2014-08-11T10:11:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/2756-bernar-anri-levi#webpage"},"wordCount":904,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#organization"},"keywords":["Photo"],"articleSection":["Press release"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/2756-bernar-anri-levi#respond"]}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/31691010a01129c86dc9dc11eebe8df9","name":"\u0417\u0430\u0445\u0430\u0440 \u0411\u0443\u0442\u043a\u043e"}]}},"wps_subtitle":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12213"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12213\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12213"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=12213"},{"taxonomy":"form","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/form?post=12213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}