The decades following the revolutions of 1989 represent one of the greatest eras of opportunity that the Rusyn people have ever seen. There were times when we had been more autonomous and demanding in our ambitions, but to claim another era has been freer or more supportive of the rights of minorities would be foolish. Our trusted elite with its tremendous intellectual capability, tendency for delusion, and the courage of a fawn at the sound of a snapping branch, would have accomplished far less if this were not the case.
Author: Starik Pollock
This article is an amalgamation of a series of posts that were published in 2023 outlining the three major historical traumas of the Rusyn people. Each of these events occurred within the last 150 years, and all three aimed at eradicating either a part, or the entirety of our people.
Уд зачатка 1990-х году, Світовый конґрес русину служив головнов політичнов інституційов межинародної русинської комуніты (май офіційно —«авторитетным представитильством інтересу русину»). […]
Ukrainianism has long revealed itself to be one of the greatest existential threats that the Carpatho-Rusyn people have ever known. At its core is the idea of a nation stretching from Galicia to the Kuban—a people and homeland between the European West and a Russian East that represents the “true” Rus civilization. While the history of this national project is far more complex than what can be elaborated on here, its goals have not been especially well hidden.
Since the early 1990s, the World Congress of Rusyns has served as the premier political institution of the international Rusyn community (referred to more officially as the “authoritative representative of Rusyn interests”). In practice, the combined project between a handful of leading regional organizations from the homeland and diaspora is more of a symbolic display of unity than a pillar of international leadership.
Before you is a declaration of ambition for the Rusyn nation. A vision for an evolution of our people that transcends all that has come before it. An outline for the construction of a national foundation so monumental and sovereign, that in the years after our passing monuments will be built in our name. I desire for their inscriptions to read that this nation is the Rus of the Carpathians, the descendants of a civilization that began over a millennium ago. We are the entanglement of Latin and Rus, the border between the steppe of Eastern Europe and Mitteleuropa, between the foothills of the Tatras and Mount Hoverla. Our people will not be lost to history, for we have taken our place as a nation among others.
Starik Pollock, the author of Sovereignty and Between Morality and Greatness, returns with another work on the subject of Rusyn intellectual development. Instead of commenting on why the creation of a national vision should occur like before, Starik went further and outlined a possible next decade of progress.
Проблем з русиньскым языком не лежыт в його сути, але в його статусі. Єст він постеріганый як штоси, што треба лишыти до контактів в хыжы ци селі, ні як язык, што може быти схоснуваный в літературі ци мейнстримі.
Is Rusynness in decline around the world? Starik Pollock thinks the situation is much worse than many realize. He also believes the only way to start correcting the problem of decline is in the collapse of decayed organizations like the Carpatho-Rusyn Society.
In part three of Starik Pollock’s travels throughout Carpathian Rus, he describes his surreal experience of traveling to Volovets, the only place in Transcarpathia hit by Russian missiles.
In part two of Starik Pollock’s travels in Carpathian Rus, he writes about his experiences in Uzhhorod and Rusyn identity.
When I look back on a trip that took place halfway across the world and made me visit more Rusyns in 10 days than I had in the previous 22 years, what I often think about are the moments that helped me better understand our situation. It was a journey that began in the inner highlands of the Tokaj wine-making region of Hungary, progressed to the great peaks of central Transcarpathia, and ended in the rolling mountains of Prešov Rus. Not everything made me optimistic, but not a single day of it was unenlightening.
A prevailing thought within Rusyn intellectual discussion is the desire to proclaim the uniqueness of our identity and culture. Given our recent history and the outcome from the previous century, it is an entirely understandable goal, and to have this thought at the forefront of one’s mind is vital for the continued existence of our national consciousness. However, one must not take this into absurdity unless they wish to abandon their connection with the reality of our history.
Starik Pollock writes on what it’s like to find belonging in a society that continues to destroy the tools that help create it.
Starik Pollock writes on the Americanization of identity and how it affects Rusyns within the diaspora.