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A CONVERSATION WITH NADIA SVITLYCHNA THOUGHTS ABOUT FEMINISM, FREEDOM AND FAITH Q: Why did you leave Ukraine? A: I could not accept the political system which governs that society. Perhaps more importantly, having been a political prisoner, I could see no future for myself or my children. In the Soviet Union a political prisoner carries the stigma of his/her “crime” til his death. Even worse, the children also suffer the “sins” of the parents. I knew that if I stayed, there would come a time when my children would be faced with a dilemma: either to renounce me and all the principles I stand for, and thereby “succeed” in Soviet society, or to be punished for my actions, simply because they carried my name. This choice would inevitably have to be made. In the Soviet Union parents — and mothers in particular — are deprived of their maternal rights in the full sense of that word. A woman does not raise a child the way she would like, because the main educational institution of the society — but especially of the children to whom a great deal of attention is devoted — is the state. Once a child is of school age, many elements begin to influence the training of the child — the school, the environment, and the state in its many forms. Q: Do women have equal rights in the Soviet Union? Are they emancipated? A: There are very few rights for anyone in the Soviet Union, regardless of sex. I personally feel that emancipation should refer to a spiritual unshackling, and neither men nor women in the USSR have achieved that. Theoretically, Soviet policy is of course to guarantee equality of opportunity and rights. What does this look like in practice? It means that now women also do men’s work in addition to fulfilling the traditional functions of nurturer, cook, laundress, etc. A man regards cooking to be beneath his dignity. But that same man does not regard it beneath his dignity to pass by a woman wielding a pick-axe and breaking up asphalt on a main street of Kiev. Men who respect women and who take on women’s tasks in the home are a real rarity. I should add that to the extent that there is equality, it is more apparent in the upper levels of society, less so in the middle and lower levels. Q: What are your thoughts on religion? A: Religion must become an internal conviction before it can set a person free. And without a feeling of internal freedom — whether derived from religion or elsewhere — no religion can free an individual from external of internal oppression. For me religion is not a protest against society, but a form of emancipation. As to the relationship of religion to the churches, this relationship to me seems very vaguely defined, because to me the church is only an outer shell. This is why any disagreements, let’s say between the Ukrainian Catholic, Orthodox or Baptist churches, are totally incompre hensible to me. The important thing is that Christian moral and principles are practiced by all three churches. The rest are only superficial differences, differences of the church institutions, not of religion. Going to church, making obesiences, standing for the liturgy — all these are mistakenly associated with true faith. I think love for God is best expressed through love for one’s neighbor. Q: What is your view of the underground feminist/religious publications Maria and The Woman and Russia ? A: These journals had to appear when they did. There was a crying need for them. They raise a very important issue for all people in the Soviet Union regardless of national, religious or other differences: the absence of spiritual freedom. They see woman in the Soviet Union losing her essence, and man as having already lost his essence. Thus woman in the Soviet Union is doubly a slave: she is a slave of a slave. One issue not raised in the almanacs is the national question, as these publications come out in Leningrad where perhaps the complexities of this question have not yet penetrated. I believe that if these publications were allowed to evolve, the women would also begin to deal with the national question. I am not too optimistic about the longevity of these almanacs. They may soon be crushed by the authorities, but certainly they will reappear in another form. The movement can’t be stopped now. Q: What are the differences between feminism in the Soviet Union and the U. S.? How do you see Ukrainian women in the U. S.? A: In the Soviet Union, it is impossible to isolate or separate feminism in its pure form from the democratic movement and other related movements. In the U. S. it seems to have evolved from specific conditions in the society, such as a differential pay scale for men and women and other discrepancies of opportunity and equality. But in a free society such as this one, feminism can be analyzed in itself, apart from other issues. As regards my perception of male-female relationships within the family here, I feel there is no clear-cut dichotomy in purely male or female roles but that a man can fulfill a woman’s nurturing role without loss of his masculinity, much more so than in the USSR. Ukrainian women in the U. S. are outstanding in their strong community consciousness, selfless devotion to causes outside their own immediate needs.and their sense of solidarity with each other and with women in Ukraine. The most important thing is an internalized sense of freedom that comes from each individual. Without this one is not free, even in a free society, and that applies equally to men and women.
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