The fundamental essence of Rusyn erasure is held within two concepts interconnected with each other. At one level of analysis you have the reality of Rusyn erasure itself. These can be policies enacted by governments, the appropriation of our national figures, and the de-legitimizing belief that the Rusyn language is a mere dialect. The reality of these has been discussed plenty enough in previous chapters.

A level above this is the concept of social and institutional oppression. Social oppression relates to the resulting disadvantages manifested through beliefs and actions negative to Rusyns at the level of social interaction. An example of this could be the inability to speak Rusyn at work because the environment developed and reinforced the notion that speaking the language is a lower-class thing to do. Systems like this are created by Rusyn erasure and reproduce it at increasing degrees the longer they remain functional.

Institutional oppression in contrast develops from actions or policies put in place at the institutional level. We see this in Rusyns being unable to have their issues represented in national politics because they are not officially recognized as a national minority and are consistently subjected to forms of erasure. When combined this is called structural oppression, the interaction and accumulation of these policies and practices between institutions and social environments. This is what you or I mean when we talk about the broad picture regarding the situation of Rusyns within Ukraine.

Referring back to the connection between Rusyn erasure, it is important to distinguish between these two as we go forward in our work. The need to tackle Rusyn erasure is not to deal with the act itself necessarily because the true goal is to break down systemic issues that we face. Our most ample way of doing that is aggressively calling out the main things that reinforce it in society. By making it exceedingly difficult to get away with what have been common actions we move toward a place where the level of current oppression is unsustainable.

Analyzing if something is Rusyn erasure is a fairly simple process structurally in that if something discounts our agency as a nation, delegitimizes our status as a people, or results in us being misrepresented then that is by definition erasure. You will notice that this previous sentence did not take into account the purpose behind something as a validation of whether it is or not. Just because someone does not mean to partake in Rusyn erasure does not mean that it can’t happen, especially in the case of personal attitudes or beliefs. These incidents should be treated differently when you go to confront them, but they fundamentally share the same category of upholding the structures that work against Rusyns.

What is a simple process can become one that is incredibly difficult if you do not have the background knowledge to understand the situation. In cases like this we would recommend extensive research, especially if you are partaking in activist activities, however the path of modern Rusyn erasure usually follows a set of particular avenues. These are listed as bullet points below to give a structured view.

• Propaganda that defines Rusyns as something other than an autonomous people (ex: Rusyns are agents of Russia or Hungary).

• Producing fake statistics to back up delegitimization of Rusyns in some way.

• Claiming ethnic Rusyns and their work are actually the product of a different people.

• Biased research driven by money or ideology.

• Cultural attitudes manifested in things like Rusyns are unable to “speak right” or are speaking a bad dialect of Ukrainian.

One of the greatest showcases of modern Rusyn erasure came on Twitter when a government official in a series of tweets promoting the Ukrainianization of street signs in Kiev stated that a specific street would be changed to honor Andy Warhol, implying he was Ukrainian. In a follow-up tweet he then incorrectly claimed that Warhol’s family was from Western Ukraine, when in reality they were from Pryashiv Rus in Slovakia.

Suffice to say he never apologized for this action, and most attempts of erasure won’t be so brazen as the one shown here; however it illustrates that we are not just dealing with crackpots on the internet when it comes to these issues. The threats against us range from the individual up to the highest levels of government in certain countries. Things like this will continue as long as we do nothing about it, which brings us to the point of what can be done.

Other examples can be found through anonymous accounts that purposely blur the lines of truth and falsehood to push a nationalist agenda. One particularly interesting case is the attempt to make the term Subcarpathian Rus synonymous with Carpatho-Ukraine, as can be seen here:

At the bare minimum there must be effort in educating the Rusyn populace on what these terms of Rusyn erasure and structural oppression in a Rusyn context mean. These will be accomplished through both centralized and decentralized modes of activism. In lockstep with education is purposeful confrontation with the erasure and those that do it. It can be as simple as merely posting the two-word phrase in response to a social media post all the way up to physical confrontation. The point of our work on this matter is to induce a sense of uncomfortableness regarding their actions. Consequences are required when these things occur otherwise there will be no reason to stop them.

If you’re in Europe, inform them on how this is in direct contradiction to the European values that their own nations claim to uphold. This will shift the conversation into a place where they will be on the defensive and working to prove that they are aligned with those values rather than attempting to substantiate their false claims. We are not inherently looking for dialog unless it is cases of unintended erasure, where a gentler informative approach is the key to success. The attempts to be gentle with the carrot over the past thirty years have proven that there has been no substantive difference. Now is the time of the stick and even the Rusyn leaders of years past need to understand that their methods are obsolete.

Once you have begun to accomplish this on a personal level think of how you can do this on a greater scale. Creating groups and organizations focused on systemic issues will do a great deal more over the long term than individual cases. If you are not willing or up to the task, it can also be beneficial to develop guides or teach others how to do the same things you are doing. There is a vast collection of choices to choose from that can each contribute value to our mission.