Cultural Differences Among Immigrant Communities

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Clarissa

September 22, 2015

Last week in Montréal, people who identify as Russian organized a big alcohol-fueled, Putin’s portrait-waving bash. Everybody ate, drank, and toasted Putin for hours.

In the meanwhile, the city’s Ukrainian community under the leadership of my Jewish father held a conference on Ukrainian literature and culture at one of Montréal’s universities. There was no alcohol and no glorification of politicians.

And so it is. While some folks express their drunken Putinomania, others live the life of the mind.

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3 responses to “Cultural Differences Among Immigrant Communities”

Michael Blekhman

September 22, 2015

The conference was a big success. It was attended by approximately 100 English-speaking Canadians, there were discussions and questions about Ukrainian history and the Russian war against Ukraine.

Now I am planning a lecture dedicated to the history of the development of Ukrainian self-awareness and the way KGB as well as the present-day FSB have been trying to subdue it. I want to share my personal experience of studying at a Soviet school and my wife’s experience of teaching children in the USSR and, later, in the independent Ukraine.

Michael S. Blekhman,
organizer,
‘Here is Ukraine for You’

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1. Clarissa
  
  September 22, 2015
  
  Can you imagine Ukrainians waving around portraits of Poroshenko or any other politician, toasting and celebrating him? The very idea is bizarre. This worship of politicians is deeply alien to Ukrainians.
  
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  1. Michael Blekhman
    
    September 22, 2015
    
    Exactly! Instead of worshiping politicians, we criticize them. The idea of Ukrainians worshiping their politicians is as absurd as that of Russians not worshiping theirs. 🙂
    
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