239. Olha Mukha - Put Ukrainians first: Ukraine is not Just a Footnote to the Imperial History of Russian

100 years ago, nobody cared about Ukraine – or its disappearance as an independent state – swallowed up as the newly born tyranny of the USSR flexed its imperial muscles; but that has now changed. Putin’s Russian World revanchism and violence have accelerated the evolution of Ukrainian identity and increased the pressure for social, political, and economic change. Perhaps the most perverse Russian invasion narrative, is that Ukraine is not old, and is not distinct from Russia in any case. But Ukraine is not just a footnote to Russian imperial history. As a nation, it is old, different, and diverse. And at the end of this war, Ukraine could prove to be the rock upon which the decrepit, brittle hull of the Russian imperial ship tears itself apart and sinks from history. ---------- Olha Mukha is a culturologist, academic editor and compiler, project manager and curator in the sphere of culture and education, civil rights and freedoms activist. She was born on 31 March 1981 in Lviv. Olha has been the curator of congresses, committees and new centres of PEN International (London, UK) since 2018. Chairwoman of the Lviv: UNESCO’s City of Literature Office (2014–2017), co-founder of Ukrainian Association of Culturologists in Lviv (Program Director since 2019) and Academic Religious Studies Workshop (since 2004). Member of the British Society of Aesthetics. She taught at the Franko National University (2003–2011) in Lviv and Drahomanov National Pedagogical University (2011–2018) in Kyiv. Since 2008 she has been curator of a number of academic and cultural projects (i.a.,Religious Scholar’s Handbook, Human in Contemporary World, Narrative War, Tolerance in Theory and Practice, Kitsch Angels, History of Ukrainian Culture in Achievements and Victories, Basia in the City of Literature multiplication series, and others). She is expert counseling at Territory of Terror Museum (since 2017) and member of editorial board at Religious Essays Journal. Olha Mukha is the author of over 80 academic publications, numerous articles and columns. Compiler and co-author of the illustrated literary encyclopedic guide "Lviv: An Inspirational City. Literature" (Old Lion Publishing, 2017). ---------- LINKS: https://pen.org.ua/en/members/muha-olga https://www.linkedin.com/in/olha-mukha-67a443211/ https://twitter.com/OlhaMukha https://twitter.com/pen_int ----------