Understanding Ukraine’s identity. Plus, the Oscars

Life and Art from FT Weekend

Forhecz Topher

Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture

4.6 • 601 Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2022

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This weekend, we speak with Ukrainian journalist Olga Tokariuk, who is currently in western Ukraine. Olga reflects on how Ukrainians forged the resolve they are showing now in the fight against Russia. She shares how Ukraine’s identity has shifted and strengthened over the past 30 years since its independence, especially in the seven years since the Maidan revolution. Then, FT film critic Danny Leigh joins us to discuss this year's Oscars nominees, from ‘Power of the Dog’ to ‘Don't Look Up’. With a drop in viewership over the years, it seems the Academy is scrambling to make us care. But should we?

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Want to say hi? We love hearing from you. Email us at [email protected]. We’re on Twitter @ftweekendpod, and Lilah is on Instagram and Twitter @lilahrap.

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The first US FT Weekend Festival is on Saturday, May 7 in Washington, DC. To attend virtually or in person, buy tickets at http://ft.weekendfestival.com – use the discount code FTFriends2022 for 10% off.

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Links and mentions from the episode:

–Key coverage of the war in Ukraine is free to read: https://www.ft.com/content/77ab8dcf-cb02-4e57-aff0-85c8a84f5a1f

–Olga is on Twitter @olgatokariuk. You can also keep up with FT coverage by following @financialtimes on Instagram and Twitter.

–Mary Elise Sarotte on Ukraine’s history since 1991: https://www.ft.com/content/742f15fc-675a-4622-b022-cbec444651cf

–Danny’s roundup of this year’s Oscars nominees: https://www.ft.com/content/d9000eb2-11ec-40af-aa8f-2e5f654bde4e

–Danny’s review of Power of the Dog: https://www.ft.com/content/8f2af17e-cad5-4fc6-9ea7-68e5402dda5d

–Lilah made a Hark list of some of our favorite moments from the show so far, which you can listen to here https://short.harkaudio.com/3pwwAMH

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Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Hannis Brown.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	On February 24th, on the morning that Russia invaded Ukraine,
0:05.0	Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a now infamous speech.
0:09.0	As justification for the war, he said basically that Ukraine's statehood is a fiction,
0:16.0	that it doesn't have an identity separate from Russia. That it doesn't exist.
0:21.6	Ukraine has never had a consistent tradition of being a true nation.
0:26.6	By all accounts, those weren't just empty words.
0:29.6	Putin believed the speech.
0:31.6	He also thought that because Ukraine doesn't have its own identity,
0:35.6	it would welcome Russia with open arms. In his mind,
0:39.8	war would be over in a few days, if not a few hours. But instead, the Ukrainian people,
0:46.2	who, to be clear, are very real and do have an identity, have shown remarkable resolve.
0:53.3	And Putin is in a quagmire. He has entirely misunderstood how this
0:58.5	would go because he misunderstands what Ukraine is. This week, we speak with someone who called it.
1:06.0	Ukrainian journalist Olga Tokaryuk. Three weeks before the war started, Olga wrote an opinion piece for the
1:12.3	Washington Post. Its title was, My Generation has fought hard for Democracy. We stand ready once again.
1:20.2	And I also wish that the West and the world would, you know, believe in themselves as much as
1:25.9	Ukrainians believe in themselves, when they are
1:27.9	facing now this much stronger enemy kind of deviate against Kolai of struggle.
1:33.8	Olga says this question of Ukrainian identity actually isn't about centuries old history.
1:39.7	It's not about the east of the country that speaks Russian versus the west of the country
1:43.9	that speaks Ukrainian. It west of the country that
1:44.2	speaks Ukrainian. It's about modern history. And it's about a brand new identity that Ukraine
	...

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