The first stage of voting for Inter TV Channel's large-scale "Great Ukrainians" project came to an end Dec. 21. Choosing the top 100 great Ukrainians, the TV show has already caught the public's eye, adding fuel to the flames of debates over Ukraine's contested history.
"Great Ukrainians," a homegrown version of the BBC-produced "Great Britons" project, has launched a nationwide social project while adding commercial value to the station, Inter-TV managers emphasized.
Ever since its inception in Great Britain in 2002, the project has enjoyed success in the USA, Germany, France, Canada, Spain and many other countries, generating public interest and fierce debates everywhere, and sometimes revealing chinks in a nation's identity.
In Belgium, for instance, two rival shows in Flemish and French-speaking regions of the country eventually resulted in two different top 10 lists of "Great Belgians."
In Ukraine, many observers noted, the project will only deepen discord within society and facilitate internal divides.
Vakhtang Kipiani, project chief editor, however, said that voting results show there are personalities, both from Ukraine's past and present, who in fact unite people.
Valeriy Khmelko, president of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KMIS), said Ukrainian society needs this kind of a project because different surveys (including one recently conducted by KMIS) show "there are personalities who are indisputably perceived as 'Great Ukrainians' across Ukraine."
He continued that "awareness of this fact in different corners of the country can contribute to understanding that we have common values and should seek compromise over issues dividing us."
The next stage - after polling for 100 of Ukraine's "greats," during which the public put forward more than 4,000 names - will see Inter broadcast a short series about each of the 100 most mentioned "Great Ukrainians" in reverse order. An episode about a collective hero, an unknown soldier, will also air, numbered as the 101st "great."
The top 10 personalities will be portrayed in documentary films narrated by notable Ukrainian figures, according to Kipiani. The special TV program will be televised in spring 2008.
"Voting results are still a secret, however, we can speak about trends," said Kipiani. "The public's historical memory extends back to the Kyivan-Rus era. It is perceived as Ukrainian history."
The Cossack period also evokes emotional reflection among Ukrainians. Next comes the second half of the 19th century, namely, Shevchenko's generation; intellectuals and public figures who contributed to the conceptual formation of the Ukrainian nation-state.
"There are indeed many representatives from this period in the top 100 list," noted Kipiani.
Activist for Nestor Makno blocked Inter's headquarters. Photogallery
Activists during Ukraine's short-lived statehood of 1917-1920 are also on the list. A quarter of the top 100 is composed of Ukrainians alive today.
Unexpectedly, there are relatively few public Soviet figures, who only comprise 10 percent of the list, according to preliminary data, Kipiani said.
"It is surprising because it is recent history," he said. "It looks like the Soviet period has been driven out of Ukraine's consciousness. There are many plausible explanations for this. It may be due to discomfort and lack of freedom that was dominant during the Soviet times."
However, Khmelko said that such results may be explained by the survey sample of those who voted.
"I presume that nationally oriented or anti-Soviet-oriented people were more active in voting during the project," he said.
Deputies voted for Greats in Ukrainian Parliament. Photogallery
According to preliminary data, the top 100 list will likely include 27 politicians (four of them presently in government), 19 scientists, 19 literary figures, 11 musicians, nine figures from cinema and theater arts, eight athletes and three religious figures. Preliminary findings show that 17 out of 100 "greats" will most likely be women.
Overall, "the top 100 will be composed of well-deserving people with the exclusion of some personalities, like Lenin, whose presence on the list seems strange to me, but people voted for them," said Kipiani.
Lenin's candidacy for a "Great Ukrainian," first perceived as a joke by Ukraine's chief communist, Petro Symonenko, who nominated Lenin during the first program-discussion, found support among Ukrainians, generating criticism among nationally oriented Ukrainian intellectuals.
Some said that Symonenko, as well as Ukraine's other politicians, should be suspended from public discussions of Ukraine's "greats" on television.
Kipiani said they try to keep a balanced board of experts and politicians, adding that Symonenko represents a segment of the population and thus cannot be ignored.
"It is a problem for the country, not television," he said.
"In this regard, we are a much poorer nation than Russians, because for them it's not a problem to name 20 respected people who enjoy great prestige all over Russia, while for Ukraine it is problematic."
Dariya Orlova,
Kyiv Post
Thursday, December 27, 18:10
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