Roundtable XXIII: Forging A Strong Yet Forbearing National Identity – Present Efforts
DATE
October 20, 2022
EVENT
UA Quest for Mature Nation Statehood Roundtable XXIII: took place on October 20, 2022 in Washington DC at the University Club as a regular event (with lingering hybrid elements). It was the second of a new Quest RT Series trilogy dedicated to exploring the Ukrainian nation’s efforts to establish a strong yet broadminded identity – past, present, future. The event focused on the present, examining Ukraine’s attempt to define itself – in the midst of a war that constitutes an existential threat to its very existence – across four vectors: a sense of ‘common history’, a sense of ‘common culture’, an ability to embrace/assimilate the ‘other,’ and a sense of ‘a common future.’ The proceedings, in the context of the said examination, also explored the various DEZINFORM projects that have surfaced to deform the process, including Putin’s recent ‘Memory Wars’ campaign.
SPEAKERS
Janusz Bugajski .
Orest Deychakiwsky
Andrij Dobriansky
Robin Dunnigan
HE Borys Gudziak .
Lubomyr Hajda
Melinda Haring
Hanna Hopko
Adrian Karmazyn
Serhiy Kvit
Paul Robert Magocsi
Robert McConnell
Nadia McConnell
Kyle Parker
Herman Pirchner
Serhii Plokhii
Mykola Posivnich
Michael Sawkiw, Jr.
Amb. William Taylor
Volodymyr Vyatrovych
Yaryna Yasynevych
Josef Zissels
SPONSORS
American Foreign Policy Council
Center for US-Ukrainian Relations
International Republican Institute
National Democratic Institute
Open World Leadership Center
Ukrainian Congress Committee of America
Ukrainian National Information Service
US-Ukraine Foundation
PATRONS
Heritage Foundation of the First Security Federal Savings Bank
Illinois Division of the UCCA
Jurkiw Family Foundation
Self Reliance New York Federal Credit Union
Selfreliance Ukrainian American Federal Credit Union
SUMA (Yonkers) Federal Credit Union
STEERING COMMITTEE
Ilan Berman
Motryia Chaban
Andrij Dobriansky
Katie Fox
Andrew Futey
Tamara Gallo-Olexy
Mykola Hryckowian
Laura Jewett
Lewis Madanick
Steven Nix
Herman Pirchner
Mykhailo Sawkiw
Walter Zaryckyj
PRESENTATIONS/PROCEEDINGS
PRESS/PRESS RELEASES
PROGRAMS
Venue: University Club
8:15 AM – 9:00 AM Registration
9:00 AM – 9:20 AM Word of Welcome – Deputy Chief of Mission of Ukraine to the US Yaroslav Brisiuck
9:20 AM – 9:50 AM First Highlight Focus Session
Secure Place for Ukraine in the Euro-Atlantic Community – UA Perspective
• Herman Pirchner [President/American Foreign Policy Council]
Featured Speaker:
• Andrij Levus [Chair/Ukrainian Strategic Initiative/SBU Dep Head 2014]
9:50 AM – 11:10 AM Roundtable Panel Discussion I
Theme: Working to Frame a Common ‘Sense of the Past and Present’
Moderator:
• Adrian Karmazyn [Former Chief/Voice of America Ukrainian Service]
Panelists:
• Mykola Posivnych [Senior Research Fellow/Academy of Sciences of Ukraine]
• Paul Robert Magosci [Prof. of History/Chair of Ukrainian Studies/University of Toronto]
• Yaryna Yasynevych [Chair/All-Ukrainian Forum for Democracy (DEMFORUM)]
Suggested Topics: Merging the Eras Into a Coherent Whole – Era of Princes; Hetmanate; 20th c. National
Liberation Struggles; Contemporary Nation Statehood & the Russo-Ukrainian War
11:10 AM – 11:20 AM Coffee Break
11:20 AM – 12:40 PM Roundtable Panel Discussion II
Theme: Working to Embrace ‘All Who Live on Ukrainian Soil’
Moderator:
• Orest Deychakiwsky [Co-Chair/Transatlantic Task Force for Ukraine]
Panelists:
• Most Reverend Borys Gudziak [Metropolitan Archbishop/UGC Archeparchy of Philadelphia]
• Josef Zissels [Chair/Association of Jewish Organizations & Communities of Ukraine]
• Kyle Parker [Chief of Staff/U.S. Helsinki Commission 2017-2019]
Suggested Topics: E Pluribus Unum – Out of Diverse Ethnic & Religious Communities in Ukraine, Forging
One Nation
12:40 PM – 1:00 PM Lunch Break [Press Interviews]
1:00 PM – 2:20 PM Roundtable Panel Discussion III
Theme: Working to Mold a Common ‘Cultural Sensibility’
Moderator:
• Robert McConnell [Co-Principal/U.S.-Ukraine Foundation]
Panelists:
• Serhii Kvit [President/National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy]
• Lubomyr Hajda [Scholar/Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute]
• Nadia McConnell [Co-Principal/U.S.-Ukraine Foundation]
Suggested Topics: ‘UA Worldview’ in its Aesthetic, Intellectual, Moral and Socio-Political Dimensions
2:20 PM – 3:40 PM Special Highlight Focus Session
Theme: Examining Ways to Blunt Distortions of Ukrainian National Identity (DEZINFORM OPS)
Chair:
• Janusz Bugajski [Senior Fellow/Jamestown Foundation]
Featured Speaker:
• Lubomyr Luciuk [Professor of Political Geography/Royal Military College of Canada]
• Volodymyr Vyatrovych, MP [Rada Member – Director/Institute of National Memory 2014-2019]
3:40 PM – 3:50 PM Coffee Break
3:50 PM – 5:00 PM Roundtable Panel Discussion IV
Theme: Working to Build a ‘Common Future’
Moderator:
• Melinda Haring [Deputy Director/Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center]
Panelists:
• Serhii Plokhii [Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard University]
• Hanna Hopko [Chair/Rada Foreign Affairs Committee 2014-2019; Chair/ANTS]
• Amb. William Taylor [Vice President for Europe and Russia/US Institute of Peace]
Suggested Topics: Overcoming Any Lingering Tensions Based on Regional & Linguistic Differences
5:00 PM – 5:25 PM Final Highlight Session Focus Session/Closing Remarks
Theme: What An Established Yet Tolerant UA National Identity Might Encompass: Contemplating a
Secure Place for Ukraine in the Euro-Atlantic Community – US Perspective
Chair:
• Michael Sawkiw, Jr. [Director/Ukrainian National Information Service]
Featured Speaker:
• Robin Dunnigan [Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central and Eastern Europe/US State Department]
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM Patrons’ Reception
Venue: American Foreign Policy Council/509 C Street NE
Master of Ceremonies:
• Andrij Dobriansky [Communications Director/Ukrainian Congress Comm. of America]