ALL-UKRAINIAN SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL CONFERENCE “SOCIAL-CULTURAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN UKRAINE IN THE XX-XXI CENTURIES AND OVERCOMING THE SOVIET HERITAGE IN EDUCATION, CULTURE, MENTALITY”

On May 17, 2023, the All-Ukrainian scientific and practical conference “Socio-cultural transformations in Ukraine in the 20th-21st centuries and overcoming the Soviet heritage in education, culture, mentality” was held on the basis of Hryhorii Skovoroda University in Pereiaslav.  Head of the Department of Political Culture and Ideology, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Yuriy Nikolaiets took part in the work of the conference and gave a speech “Communication of coercion in the conditions of a full-scale Russian invasion in Ukraine”. In his report, the scientist defined “coercive communication” as one of the forms of imposing certain ideas and forming value orientations of the population with the large-scale use of modern information and communication technologies. Among the methods of ensuring communicative control over the mind, the researcher identified the dissemination of the most interesting messages, the publication of messages by influential narrators; dissemination of messages using modern delivery channels.

Yuriy Nikolaiets during the report

Yuriy Nikolaiets noted that although modern Ukrainian society has demonstrated sufficient resilience against the influence of Russian propaganda, comprehensive measures are needed to counter the implementation of enemy special information operations related to the influence on historical memory. It is important not only to have in the legislator’s arsenal the ability to stop anti-Ukrainian activity in the information space, but also effective mechanisms to counter such activity with effective punishment of guilty persons. Valuing democratic freedoms (in particular, freedom of speech), it is worth inviting Ukrainian scientists and political figures who express certain views beneficial to Russian propaganda outside the country, to a public discussion in academic institutions of Ukraine. This will contribute to providing an opportunity for them to defend their position in the circle of professionals who are well versed in historical and historiographical analysis. Such an approach will allow countering the use of certain concepts by some Ukrainian researchers in the interests of the Russian Federation. In the same way, it is also worth organizing meetings with rating “experts” who often impose their opinion on the general public, but avoid participating in professional scientific discussions, as well as with influencers, whose influence on the formation of citizens’ opinion has significantly increased in the conditions of the information society. Ukraine, whose citizens stopped the “second army of the world”, should not emphasize the victimization of its own history in the future, but should focus its efforts on the formation of modern historical memory, focused on the perpetuation of achievements in the way of state building and protection of the unity and territorial integrity of the state.