Record:
In early August, two seminars were held in Kyiv as part of the Conservative Christian Platform project, organized by the Foundation for the Promotion of Democracy with the support of FICDD (Foundation for International Christian Democratic Development).
The first part of the program included the following presentations:
Yuriy Mindyuk, director of the Foundation for Promoting Democracy, with a report on “The idea of the Conservative Christian Platform – the right-wing world of life.”
Josef Zissels, member of the First of December Initiative Group, co-president of Vaad Ukraine, executive vice president of the Congress of National Communities of Ukraine, member of the Strategic Council of the Surrender Movement – report on “The Right-Conservative Shift ” – part one.
Oleh Pokalchuk is a well-known Ukrainian social psychologist, writer, publicist, and long-time adviser to leading Ukrainian politicians. He is an expert of the Estonian-Ukrainian program “Resilience Ukraine”, which develops models for increasing national resilience and psychological resistance to Russian aggression. The topic of the report is “New Conservatism for Modern Ukraine”.
Vladyslav Prytula, author of the Hardcore Concervative telegram channel, discusses the prospects of the conservative idea in Ukraine.
Each presentation was followed by an exchange of views and answers to participants’ questions.
The participants also presented their own projects:
The program of the second part included the following presentations:
Josef Zissels, member of the First of December Initiative Group, co-president of Vaad Ukraine, executive vice president of the Congress of National Communities of Ukraine, member of the Strategic Council of the Surrender Movement, continued his presentation on “The Right-Wing Conservative Shift.“
The presentation was followed by a discussion among the participants.
The next presentation was made by Serhiy Kvit, a public figure, professor at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, former Minister of Education and Science, member of the Strategic Council of the Surrender Movement. The topic of the report was “Formation of the Ukrainian National Idea in the Current Context”.
The speeches were followed by a discussion among the participants about the prospects for creating a conservative Christian movement in Ukraine.
In November 2020, the Foundation for the Promotion of Democracy and FICDD (Foundation for Christian Democratic Development) held a series of three seminars united by the general idea of building a Conservative Christian Platform in Ukraine.
The first event of the series entitled “Media Activity. Blogging. Media campaigns” was held at the First Congress Hall on Khreshchatyk and gathered 21 participants. The participants discussed practical issues of working with the media in modern conditions and examples of successful conservative media projects.
The main topics of the reports:
Among the lecturers were:
Yuriy Mindyuk, Director of the Foundation for the Promotion of Democracy, spoke on behalf of the Foundation.
The next event was dedicated to the topic “Advocacy campaigns. Lobbying campaigns. Conducting large actions” and gathered a total of 23 participants. Speakers shared their experience of successful advocacy campaigns, in particular, Taras Shamaida, “Language Unites” initiative and co-coordinator of the “Freedom Space” movement, spoke about the successful experience of the campaign to protect the Ukrainian language, which ended with the adoption of the relevant law. Serhiy Ryabenko, Head of the Legal Department of the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language, spoke about the decommunization campaign, and Adrian Bukovynskyi, President of the All-Ukrainian Charitable Foundation “Family”, about the campaign to protect family values. Eduard Kurgansky, Deputy Chairman of the Committee of Entrepreneurs of Ukraine, also spoke about the history and undercurrents of the “Save the Individual Entrepreneur!” campaign, and Yaroslav Bozhko, Director of the Center for Political Studies “Doktryna”, about conservative messages in the media.
The seminar participants also attended a “Project Fair” where projects were presented by the Youth Nationalist Congress, the Statehood League, the World Leadership Forum, the National Alliance, the Ukrainian Strategic Studies, the Christian Rescue Service, the Reformation NGO, and the Last Capitalist public.
The last event was dedicated to the topic “Cooperation between parties, NGOs and churches. Conservative Christian Platform” and gathered 26 participants. It featured presentations on the following topics:
The speakers were:
It is worth noting that the events were held in compliance with the current standards for holding events, including compliance with the mask regime, the use of antiseptics, and social distancing. The program was also planned in such a way that no more than 20 people were in the room at a time. Modern methods of online communication were used to disseminate information and attract more participants. All events were broadcast live on social media pages.
The program was attended by about 30 scholars from various universities. The main speakers were:
Rector of KKIBiP Prof. Tatiana Kaminsk and delivered a welcoming speech as the host of the event. The rector emphasized that the search for a fair human-centered economic model based on Christian values is an important task for Ukraine today. From her own experience, the professor shared with the roundtable participants her impressions of the philosophy of economics in China, expressing the opinion that Ukraine needs a civilizational value concept that will set a coordinate system for the Ukrainian person in the world.
Professor Olesia Vashchuk focused her attention on the philosophy of economics, understanding economics as an act of creation, ethical responsibility, and social partnership.
Professor Leonid Kistersky outlined the ethical dimension of the book Postcapitalism. The speaker analyzed the approach and style of writing the book by the authors, who had experience in international financial organizations. Prof. Kistersky expressed the opinion that Ukraine desperately needs a value paradigm, which is Christianity. Values will help to organize the ethical space of our society, which will contribute to the establishment of fair relations and prosperity.
Yuriy Mindyuk, Director of the Foundation for Support of Democratic Initiatives, gave a brief analysis of the book Postcapitalism. The speaker focused on three problems raised by the authors, namely the problem of interest-bearing lending and debt obligations, the problem of migration and loss of roots, and the problem of limited liability. The representative of the FPIF outlined the proposals made by the authors of the book to solve these problems.
Olga Romanenko, PhD in Economics, emphasized the value dimension of the issues raised in the book Postcapitalism. Values are essential for modern Ukrainian society. Post-Soviet Ukraine has not yet built its own value and civilization paradigm, trying to either borrow something from someone else or build multi-vector and multivariate in this matter. Christian values are an essential element of the Ukrainian national tradition, which the Soviet totalitarian system tried to destroy. Returning to Christian roots, building a value-based society with its own vision of its role and place in the world is an important task for Ukrainians today.
The presentations sparked lively discussions among the roundtable participants. Many of them were close to the ideas expressed in the book and reinterpreted by the speakers. Some criticized these approaches. However, the vast majority of those present agreed that the economy is not just a struggle for profit, it is also about creation, social partnership and responsibility.
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Relational economics is a theory developed by economists at the University of Cambridge.
Researchers Paul Mills and Michael Schlueter analyze the theory of relational economics in their book Postcapitalism: Rethinking Economics. The ideas of this book have been discussed by Ukrainian scholars in various fields of economic and legal sciences.
The scientists noted that more and more researchers have recently drawn attention to the fact that all economic structures and financial transactions reflect and, in turn, affect the QUALITY of human relations, and the main interest of business activity should be relational, not just the financial result of economic activity.
Without strong and stable families and communities, the responsibility for welfare falls to national governments, and taxation contributes to the economy’s competitiveness in global markets. In addition, family separation causes great environmental damage, as family members have to travel far to spend time with their families.
Fundamentals of Relational Economics
The foundations of an economic system have a variety of implications. “Institutions” or rules of “behavior” reflect what society considers right and wrong, and what people with power can change. They determine how resources such as land and capital are allocated, as well as the further development and redistribution of these resources.
They shape the role of central and local government in education, criminal justice and the economy. They play an important role in identifying and providing for vulnerable and excluded people, and identifying those who feel the need to care for them.
In addition, they affect the spread of corruption and its impact on the economy, employment, social security and public services.
Institutions can change over time, rather slowly, so the ground rules are often written into a country’s constitution and can have a significant impact on long-term cultural and social change.
Various Cambridge studies have shown that modern economic and business models of European countries are in line with the principles of the Bible’s teaching on economics, as Christian civilization has influenced the economic culture of Western countries.
One important factor in development is the need for economic activity to operate outside the direct control of politicians and bureaucrats, so that economic and political forces are separated as far as possible. This need is explained by the realization that the bitter consequences of the decline of human nature are best limited by the wide spread of power, i.e., the test for tyranny.
The vision of English scholars of relational economics, and in the future, the construction of a relational society, aims to restore Europe to its spiritual roots and provide a Christian foundation for the diverse peoples of Europe, which again gives hope for economic prosperity, financial stability, and social cohesion.
Реалізується ГО Фонд сприяння демократії за підтримки Фонду Ганнса Зайделя в Україні
