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Tangible changes Glamorous Gabriella Masanga is probably one of the most recognizable faces among the Afro-Ukrainian community. A former catwalk model, she currently works as a TV presenter and is best known for hosting the daily weather forecast on 5 Kanal. “The changes in society are tangible,” she says. “The revolution has ushered in a new understanding of what it means to be Ukrainian. People are now much more actively engaged in the nation-building process and there is more openness in society. I can still remember the communist-style rigidity and passiveness that was common when I was growing up. This lingered on after the fall of the Soviet Union, but we are now seeing a major transformation.” Ms. Masanga claims she does not personally encounter racism in her everyday life, but says there is still a novelty factor associated with being AfroUkrainian and admits this can often generate unwanted and unflattering attention. “When I am out in public, I often get the sense that am I am an object of fascination because I stand out. Strangers will ask me where I come from, while people are regularly amazed to hear me speaking perfect Ukrainian!” This sense of otherness is perhaps understandable. While exact statistics are not available, the Afro-Ukrainian community ranks among Ukraine’s smaller minority groups. It traces its roots back to the Soviet Union’s courtship of post-colonial Africa, which saw tens of thousands of young Africans invited to study in towns and cities across the USSR from the late 1950s onwards. Kyiv-based Nigerian Dr. Johnson Aniki is the Head of the African Community in Ukraine. He has been living in the Ukrainian capital for more than two decades after first arriving in the country during the twilight years of the Soviet era. “We have no official figures, but I would estimate the size of the Afro-Ukrainian community at more than 10,000 nationally,” he says. Dr. Aniki has noted a significant improvement in race relations within Ukrainian society over the past few years. However, he attributes this process to a combination of government efforts and greater social awareness in the run-up to the Euro 2012 football championship, rather than the unifying effects of more recent upheavals. During the buildup to Euro 2012, international media coverage focused on an alleged far-right threat to ethnic minority fans visiting Ukraine. The negative attention even led to some calls for a boycott, but the championship was a huge success, with no major incidents of racial of xenophobic violence. He believes the negative coverage forced Ukrainians to confront the issue of racism and helped foster greater tolerance. Dr. Aniki sees a positive contrast between the relatively accepting attitudes he encounters in today’s Ukraine with the rising tensions of the earlier post-independence years. “In Soviet times, racial abuse was a major taboo due to the dominant political philosophy of internationalism, but after the collapse of the USSR, attitudes changed. The poverty of the early post-Soviet years was a major factor fuelling hostility towards foreigners.” He identifies the mid-2000s as the lowest point in Ukrainian race relations. Skinhead movements were on the rise in much of Ukraine at the time, and escalating violence against ethnic minorities eventually led to a number of deaths. “Racial hatred was a deadly threat – not just to Africans and Afro-Ukrainians, but also to other ethnic minorities including Arabs, Chinese, Indians, and Vietnamese.” This wave of violence led many embassies to issue specific security warnings advising members of ethnic minorities to exercise extreme caution and avoid many public places. The deteriorating
situation sparked considerable international condemnation but many felt Ukraine’s reaction was inadequate. Dr. Aniki remains highly critical of the government’s failure to respond sufficiently to the challenges posed by skinhead violence, but says relations with law enforcement organs have improved considerably over the intervening decade. Incidents like the attacks on black supporters during a 2015 Dynamo Kyiv Champions League match serve as reminders of the challenges Ukrainian society continues to face in confronting racial hatred, but Dr. Aniki classifies the current situation as more or less “peaceful coexistence”.
Ukraine must seize post-revolutionary opportunities
Twenty five year old Kharkiv-born Afro-Ukrainian musician Victoria Olize shares Dr. Aniki’s broadly optimistic prognosis for Ukrainian race relations, but feels the government could be doing much more to confront negative attitudes and damaging stereotypes in society. “There should be no sacred cows. Social and racial prejudice of any kind cannot be taken lightly. The government needs to work with the mainstream media proactively to promote ideas of inclusiveness throughout society,” she offers. Ms. Olize says she has noticed signs of significant shifts in Ukrainian society since Euromaidan, but is cautious of reading too much into the situation at this relatively early stage in the process. “The changes taking place in Ukraine need to be handled with care. Change is good in any society as long as it is sincere and brings people of different backgrounds together. The revolution has created an opportunity for all Ukrainians to come together, which is obviously a good thing, but we cannot take positive change for granted.” Fellow Kharkiv native Kristina Agu is part of the new generation of postSoviet Afro-Ukrainians. The seventeen year old has come of age at a time when many of her fellow Ukrainians are also discovering their sense of identity against a backdrop of political turmoil and conflict. Like many of the younger generation of Ukrainians, she embraced the Euromaidan movement. She speaks of the protests as the birth of political consciousness among many of her peers, and remains enthusiastic about the evolving identity debate currently taking place in the country. Ms. Agu singles out the formation of the Patrol Police service as the most striking street-level change in post-Maidan Ukrainian society. This is partly due to her own negative encounters with racial harassment involving members of the pre-revolutionary Ukrainian police force. “The reform of the police has been a particularly welcome development since Euromaidan. The police now play a more constructive role in society. As a little girl, I can remember witnessing the police brutally harassing African market traders in Kharkiv without any apparent concerns for due process. Today’s police are much friendlier and more positive.” Kyiv restaurant guest manager Helen Sanogo spends her working days mixing with a wealthy international clientele that includes many of Ukraine’s high rollers. She says her Afro-Ukrainian background has helped her to feel comfortable in any company, and argues that Euromaidan has helped Ukrainian society to become similarly inclusive. “The revolution has led to new attitudes towards Ukrainian identity,” she says. “Ukrainians now have a greater sense of unity and solidarity, irrespective of ethnic background.” Ms. Sanogo believes this shift in thinking is partly down to the recognition that in these turbulent and historic times, all Ukrainians share a common fate, no matter what their ethnic or religious backgrounds may be. “We all realized that we have no other country.”
About the author: Cosmos Ojukwu is a Kyiv-based Nigerian journalist who has been covering Ukrainian affairs for more than a decade
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