Very soon, it will be a year since the start of Russia's war against Ukraine, which has already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. ElitExpert decided to sum up the results of this war year together with Sergey Shutov, a young Odesa politician and entrepreneur who became a volunteer from the first day of aggression, founding a successful charitable foundation "Noble Cause".
In an interview with Serhiy, we talked about the everyday life of a volunteer, the work of the government during the war, the influence of religion on society, and the problems that the current generation of young Ukrainians have for the first time.
Now the volunteer movement, in fact, has become the second front in the war. Numerous foundations, volunteers and philanthropists help not only the military, but also all residents of the country who need it - displaced persons, pensioners, the disabled... However, there is an opinion that it is time to protect the volunteers themselves - first of all, with the help of a law that regulates their activities and establishes Legal Status. Do you agree with this?
Of course, the volunteer movement plays a very important role in society today. Someone collects money and buys "Bayraktars", someone helps people who fled the war, someone, risking their lives, takes medicines, food, socks and basic necessities to the front - all this is needed and needed all the time.
At the same time, unfortunately, volunteers are not as protected by law as we would like. First, there is a problem with the financial component. Most of us are going to donate to our personal bank cards, and many detractors believe that volunteers are stealing this money... Therefore, it is important to regulate this point by law, so that fundraising is as open as possible, reporting is available in real time for everyone, and such funds are not were taxed
At the same time, it must be admitted that there are also dishonest people, and because of such pseudo-volunteers, under the guise of good deeds, people are deceived, and those who actually work and help suffer first of all.
The authorities should understand this and prescribe clear rules of work for volunteers and charitable foundations, given today's realities.
There were situations when a volunteer was given 15 hryvnias for a thermal imager, and then a criminal case was filed, allegedly for the theft of these funds. And this volunteer is a clergyman whom I know personally, and who would never do such a thing. And he had to spend time and money on these problems because of his flock and acquaintances, which were completely invented by dishonest law enforcement officers.
Because of the war, we will receive a whole generation, primarily men, who will have both physical and psychological injuries. They will be cut off from society and will need post-war rehabilitation. What should the state do now to avoid a social explosion after the war? How to prepare for solving these questions?
Our defenders are real heroes of Ukraine, heroes of the 21st century, who do the impossible.
Therefore, the state and the ministries responsible for the social, psychological and physical rehabilitation of the military are now simply obliged to work out these most important issues to help our military.
After all, it is clear that many soldiers, and especially young guys who at the age of 18-19 saw all the horrors of war, will first of all need help themselves. We will have to rebuild not only the country, the destroyed houses and businesses, bridges and roads, but also the society traumatized by the war. And this is many times more difficult.
In addition, professional retraining and rehabilitation of servicemen is needed. If a person was engaged in physical work before the war, but unfortunately became disabled because of the war, the state should help him learn a new profession and provide a workplace. This is extremely important, as it eases the burden on the social part of the budget, and most importantly, it allows a person to fully live, earn and not feel useless and abandoned.
The state should already deal with the issue of preparing a platform for this - prepare a career guidance system, develop and implement free training courses in all regions of the country, develop a support system with subsequent employment.
Now many countries are helping us financially, with weapons and humanitarian aid. I am sure that they will also share the experience of military rehabilitation in peaceful life, their programs and specialists.
The primary task for today is to develop programs and work out issues of socialization, retraining and rehabilitation in the shortest possible time.
For example, in Germany, our refugees are immediately forced to learn the language and master a profession, or to confirm their professional suitability according to their requirements. And if you do not do this or refuse the offered vacancies, you will be deprived of social benefits. I think we need to borrow this experience as well, necessarily taking into account the peculiarities of our people and mentality. Yes, maybe it is a bit harsh, but sometimes a person needs to be pushed so that he does not just sit on the neck of the state and depress, but develops and feels his need.
Due to the war, and before that due to the coronavirus, Ukrainian youth have not received a normal education for three years. In addition, it is still necessary to find out how young people psychologically react to war. What should we and the authorities do so as not to lose an entire generation?
Indeed, normal education stopped even when children switched to online education due to the coronavirus. And everyone understands that the quality of online education, when half of the class is not motivated, can be considered zero. But even when the schoolchildren were already used to it and entered the rut, the war began, and education in general practically stopped.
In addition, in adolescence, young people are characterized by "youthful maximalism" - it is difficult for them to find a common language with parents, teachers, and sometimes with their peers. Therefore, they need to be helped, supported and directed in the right direction.
On the other hand, we see a large number of schoolchildren and students helping volunteers in various organizations both in Odesa and in the region. In our organization, they also help pack food kits in warehouses, distribute them to pensioners and displaced persons. Ukrainian youth are different - complex, multifaceted, but most of them understand that it is necessary to develop, use all opportunities and move forward.
In addition to education, it is very important what teenagers do in their free time. After all, due to the fast pace of cities and the constant employment of parents, they are often left to themselves. During the war, this issue was further complicated by many restrictions. But at the same time, no one canceled sports sections and competitions, which are relevant even now.
Unfortunately, even in peacetime, the state dealt with issues of youth leisure according to the residual principle. It is remembered that at the beginning of his term of office, Zelenskyi presented a program for the development of youth, which included many directions, including sports. We studied it, everything was written competently and intelligently. We even wanted to work on joint projects with the state within the framework of this program, but, unfortunately, everything stopped at the presentation stage.
I hope that after the end of the war, they will return to this issue. By now, everyone understands that the phrase "youth is our future" is not just words.
In addition, in a few years today's teenagers will become full members of society, vote in elections or even run for office themselves. Eventually, they will come to power and begin to rule our country. But will they be prepared and developed to express their citizenship?
For this, the authorities now simply need to engage in social and political education of teenagers and young people, create discussion clubs, involve them in work in organizations where issues of state-level policy, principles of work of authorities and state institutions will be clarified and discussed. Involve the same deputies, experts and specialists from different fields in the discussions. In this way, we will help our young generation to be aware of the country's political events, to understand the diversity of parties, to understand what the authorities at all levels are doing and not to allow themselves to be deceived in the elections by good slogans.
If we recall the presidential elections of 2019, when 73% of citizens elected Volodymyr Zelenskyi as the head of state, then the majority of those who voted for him were young people, but did they understand politics. Most likely, they voted for a popular person they liked and his team. Therefore, there were many people in the Verkhovna Rada who did not have sufficient political and professional experience.
Then people were disappointed in many of them, seeing the results of the government's work reflected in their quality of life. For two years, the ruling party's rating has been constantly falling and was at its lowest level before the war - this is the result of the disappointment of those who voted for the president and his party. Good slogans will not feed your family, you need a result.
Therefore, socio-political education of society is very important, and our team is already engaged in this.
As part of our political activities, as the head of the Odesa regional public organization "Batkivshchyna Moloda" under the "Batkivshchyna" party, we are already working in this direction both in the city and in the districts and communities of the Odesa region. For young boys and girls, this is a good school and a start for their political career.
In my opinion, the work of youth political organizations should be carried out in all major parties of the country. It does not require a large amount of funds, but is highly effective. For example, you live in a small city or town and you want to become a member of your community, but you don't know where to start. We have a party organization and a youth organization in every community, you come there and we start working. If you are active enough and your eyes are burning, then everything will work out for you. You, for example, can become an assistant to our local deputy, understand how to work with documents, attend sessions, prepare appeals, work with citizens in the deputy's waiting room and try yourself as a candidate in the next elections, having some experience and understanding.
At the last local elections in our region, more than 30% of the elected deputies from "Batkivshchyna" were people under 35 years old, most of whom started their political career that way.
If we return to the deputies who passed from the party in power, then "Servants of the People" surpassed their "predecessors" in many respects.
The importance of moral values and religious organizations in the development of the country is difficult to overestimate. But it is already clear that the state is practically not engaged in this field and is not interested. Will we not continue to face the problem of complete nihilism of the youth and the lack of any principles and morals in the future generation?
This is a very complex issue, and to illustrate it, I will give an example of the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada in 2022 of the so-called "Istanbul Convention", which was opposed by the Council of Churches of Ukraine, which sent an appeal to the president and the government regarding its cancellation. This convention imposes on our society the concept of "gender diversity" and moral values that are not characteristic of Ukrainian society, which confuses our young generation even more. This is simply unacceptable, but the problem is simply ignored by the authorities, and the convention has not been canceled to this day. The authorities justify the adoption of this document as one of the requirements for Ukraine's accession to the EU, but this is not true. After all, even among the current members of the European Union there are countries that have not adopted the Istanbul Convention or those that are going to cancel it.
The second problem concerns the work of religious organizations during the war. All of them united for the sake of their country and help both the Armed Forces and all those who need it - displaced people, people who were left without a roof over their heads, lost relatives, etc.
Therefore, in response, I would like the government to listen to the opinion of religious organizations. Ukrainians are mostly religious people, our country is multi-confessional, with a multi-faceted history and culture, and this should be taken into account by the authorities when adopting laws and decisions.
Despite the fact that the church is separated from the state, now we see the unity of priests and parishioners of different denominations in the fight for Ukraine against our enemy. And the state should take into account the important factor of religion, since it is an important component of the moral education of our society, which depends on the level of crime in particular.
Summing up, I will say that there are many problems in the country today, but our volunteer activities do not stop for a minute, our "Noble Cause" foundation continues to work fruitfully and help thousands of people, including soldiers who defend our state.
You can look for the guilty, or you can do something yourself. We chose the second path, working in the humanitarian direction and in the political direction: wherever we can be useful to our fellow citizens and Ukraine. And I am sure that we will definitely win and build a successful state. All this is in our hands and within our power.
