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«He who is doomed to crawl will not take away even the Snake Island from those who are destined to fly.»
No story is complete without a villain – a force or being the main character opposes. This antagonist has a purpose: he harms the main character (protagonist), pursues him, fights with him or engages in other forms of struggle.
The Ukrainian people and President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, as the main hero in Ukrainian history, are fighting the villain Russia. The latter causes harm and persecutes the protagonist’s desire to «just live freely on his land.» In his speeches, Zelenskyi uses the following names to address the antagonist: Russia, Moscow, the Russian president, and Russian invaders:
- The Russian leadership wants to reject all the achievements of human history, including the system of international law that we have today, and return to life as in the XIX century or even earlier. (Speech of President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Asian Security Summit «Shangri-La Dialogue», June 11, 2022);
- and when you hear about blackmail from Moscow, please know that this is their deliberate attack on your societies. To ensure this blow, Russia is simply using the peoples of Africa and Asia as hostages, deliberately pushing them to starvation. So that people from there flee en masse to you [Europe] (Address of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi to the European Council, May 30, 2022);
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the blame for everything that’s happening lies only on the Russian state (Address of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi to the European Council, May 30, 2022);
Read also: Whose side will the world take? Analysis of Putin’s and Zelenskyi’s speeches during the big war
- the Russian army has already killed tens of thousands of our people, deported hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to its territory. Russia has already used 2,595 cruise missiles against us alone – and this during 108 days! (Speech of President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Asian Security Summit «Shangri-La Dialogue», June 11, 2022).
- Evil is the most categorical designation for the enemy as a complete stranger to the world to which the hero aspires. It’s this impersonal force that appears as the enemy of Ukraine:
- Evil is back. Again! In a different form, under different slogans, but with the same goal (Address of the President of Ukraine on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation, May 8, 2022);
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● We have not withstood even a century. Our Never again was enough for 77 years. We missed the evil. It was reborn. Again and now! (Address of the President of Ukraine on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation, May 8, 2022).
To denote the methods by which the villain fights, the Ukrainian President uses shortcut words: «barbarism», «Nazi», «terrorism». The antagonist appears «maniacal» and «fanatical»
- The nature of the Russian army’s combat operations is frankly barbaric. They simply destroy absolutely everything (President of Ukraine at the GLOBSEC International Security Forum in Bratislava, June 2, 2022);
- This day once again proved that Russia should be officially recognized as a terrorist state. No other state in the world poses such a terrorist threat as Russia. No other country in the world allows itself to destroy peaceful cities and ordinary human life with cruise missiles and rocket artillery every day (Address of the President of Ukraine, July 14, 2022);
- And I want to emphasize: all this is needed not only by Ukraine, not only by our citizens, whose lives are threatened by Russian terror... Terror is a virus. And if one of the terrorists remains unpunished, it only encourages others (Address of the President of Ukraine, July 14, 2022);
- a bloody reconstruction of Nazis was staged in Ukraine. Fanatic imitation of this regime. Its ideas, actions, words and symbols. Manic – down to the details – reproduction of his atrocities and «alibis», which seem to give evil a sacred purpose... (Address of the President of Ukraine on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation, May 8, 2022).
In Zelenskyi’s speeches, the concept of «terrorism» is accompanied by the label «invasion»:
- hundreds of thousands of our soldiers hold back the Russian onslaught every day and every night. Ukrainians make one of the most significant contributions in history to the fight against terrorism (Address of the President of Ukraine, July 14, 2022);
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A really tough road is ahead. Unfortunately, There’s no possible alternative when you are protecting your home from a terrorist invasion (Address of President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, July 12, 2022).
«Terrorist invasion» is a combination of two concepts denoting a threat, but rarely used side by side due to differences in combat methods: terrorists usually act in groups or alone, covertly, an invasion – a massive, open attack. Terrorism is a global problem of our time, invasion is a concept that in the history of Ukraine is most often associated with the Mongol-Tatar invasion.
A combination of words with a negative connotation was also used by W. Churchill to denote the enemy. In the «War Speech», he used «the pestilence of Nazi tyranny», juxtaposing a deadly disease, a hostile ideology and the form of an undemocratic form of government. Such a rhetorical technique strengthens the emotional response to the image of the antagonist, preventing the listener from remaining indifferent.
Distinguish yourself from the villain
Every hero is afraid to turn into the one he opposes. He is afraid that at some point, he may seem like his opponent. One of the functions of markings is to create a boundary between «us» and «them».
The Ukrainian narrative emphasizes the differences between Ukraine and Russia, between the hero and the antagonist, and between the worlds for which each of them is fighting.
- He who is doomed to crawl will not take away even the Snake Island from those who are destined to fly (7/7/2022, Instagram, Zelenskiy official);
- Can you imagine, for example, the President of Russia… who would just see a letter of appeal to the Embassy in Singapore to support the idea of a girl unknown to him and wear a T-shirt sent to him? I think this is impossible at all. (Speech of President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Asian Security Summit «Shangri-La Dialogue», June 11, 2022);
- This is the confrontation between «possible», which we and many others in the world need, and «impossible», for which Russia is desperately fighting. Russia wants to make it impossible for a neighboring country, which it sees solely as its colony, to be able to exist freely, to exist independently. (Speech of President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Asian Security Summit «Shangri-La Dialogue», June 11, 2022);
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Russia has been proving this «otherness» for 88 days. 88 days of madness: their missiles, bombs, projectiles fly into houses, schools, hospitals, museums, theaters, temples, even cemeteries. (Speech of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi during the joint participation with the President of Poland Andrzej Duda in the plenary session of the Verkhovna Rada).
Instead, Russian «history» tries to blur these differences, and with them – the boundaries between the main hero and the villain in Ukrainian history. Russia seeks to show that the opposition of Ukrainians and Russians is a misunderstanding. Ukraine, they say, became a product of Russian politics, and only «nationalist» politicians deny this. The story about brotherhood, cultural and historical unity of Ukraine and Russia creates the impression that what is happening is not a «terrorist invasion», but a «family dispute». In a speech on February 21, 2022, Putin said:
- For us, Ukraine is not just a neighboring country. It is an integral part of our own history, culture, and spiritual space. These are our comrades, relatives, among whom are not only colleagues, friends, former colleagues, but also relatives, people connected with us by blood family ties.
- From the very beginning, I want to emphasize this, the Ukrainian authorities began to build their statehood on the denial of everything that unites us. They tried to distort the consciousness of the historical memory of millions, entire generations living in Ukraine. Not surprisingly, Ukrainian society faced the rise of extreme nationalism, which quickly took the form of aggressive Russophobia.
- Politicians... verbally advocated relations with Russia, for cultural and linguistic diversity. They came to power with the help of the voices of citizens who sincerely supported such aspirations, including millions of residents of the southeast. But having received the positions, they immediately betrayed their voters.
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Weak government, which itself was infected with the virus of nationalism and corruption, skillfully replaced the true cultural, economic and social interests of the people.
To draw a clear border between Ukraine and Russia, not only as between two states, but also as between cultures, traditions, and narratives, and then to approve this border at the highest official level – is one of the main tasks that not only Ukrainian politicians, but Ukrainian society in general is facing.
By Solomiya Kryvenko, translated by Vitalii Holich
The author’s column is a reflection of the author’s subjective position. The editors of Tvoe Misto do not always share the opinions expressed in the columns, and are ready to give those who disagree the opportunity for a reasoned answer.
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