The national Revolution of 2013-2014 definitely demonstrated that there isn’t any other alternative than national liberation struggle for the oppressed people. And at the forefront of this struggle against the regime of internal occupation the core of which was the criminal system of Yanukovych, there was and there is the Right sector – the civil formation which, upon the intiative of the All-Ukrainian organization "Tryzub" n.a. S. Bandera, united quite different social and political structures, as well as individual citizens of the right and nationalists’ movement. Therefore, the Right Sector has earned respect and affection of millions of Ukrainians whose national feelings were awakened.
The first revolutionary phase which ended with the escape of Yanukovich and change of power in February 2014, was naturally dominated by "fighting against" - against the anti-people, anti-Ukrainian and anti-state government. However, at this time there appeared the demand in the second stage of the revolution, which has to finish the whole process and lead to the qualitative change of the system of power for the benefit of the people. At this stage the "fight for" will prevail, because the freedom from the regime of Yanukovych does not mean freedom of Ukraine. And it is clear that a great chance to win will belong to the political and social movement, which will have a dictinct own philosophical basis and will be based on the eternal and fundamental ideological realities that have been for ages determining the fate of both the individual and entire nations.
To such great, fateful, traditional realities, known from the Bible or from the history of the ancient Greeks and Romans, belongs the ideology of nationalism as basic social philosophy (or system of ideas), and as a particular political ideology (or doctrine), which determines the activity of social movements and organizations.
What is in fact Ukrainian nationalism? This is a nation centric ideology. This is ideology of national freedom, the freedom of nations and individual. This is the idea and the act for the name of Ukraine. This is the ideology of protection, preservation and self-determination of the Ukrainian nation. Therefore, it is much wider and more effective than patriotism as love for motherland, though originally springing out of this feeling.
The system of Ukrainian nationalism is ancient, large and complicated, its latest images and definitions were poetically expressed by the genius of Taras Shevchenko in the middle of the nineteenth century, with powerful summarizing of historical experience and philosophical traditions of the Ukrainian people. Therefore, the basic elements of this system are very simple and organic for Ukrainian mindset, they are not artificial and not borrowed from another ideology. Let’s outline some of them.
First of all, the Ukrainian nationalism offers to everyone to step on the "Ukrainian way." Ukrainian way is a continuation of age-old ideological and political struggle for the Ukrainian idea of goal. It is a struggle for state self-determination of Ukrainians in all spheres of life. This is the Ukrainian way of life.
Therefore, the national idea is first of all the idea of winning, strengthening and developing of the national state - the state of the Ukrainian nation on the Ukrainian territory, which would guarantee the development for the Ukrainian nation, and full freedom, justice and prosperity to all citizens of Ukraine. Ingenious literary formulation of the Ukrainian national idea was given by Taras Shevchenko: "In his own house one has his own truth, and the power, and the freedom."
As a family wants to have their own house in order to be happy, so are the people eager to have their own state. Therefore, the national state is "a natural desire of every developed nation, is the culmination of its political self-determination, due to which it becomes a full and sole master of its fate in their own land" (V. Ivanyshyn). But the national state does not act only in the interests of ethnic Ukrainians, it also secures the rights and freedoms of all honest citizens of Ukraine, loyal to Ukrainian statehood.
The system of national democracy is dominant in a national state. Which is not only the legal system of prevailing role of indigenous people in state development and functioning, but also systematic control by its citizens over the power.
The nation thus is considered as something broader than the concept of nation (ethnos) and as something impossible to replace with the cosmopolitan notion of "political nation" (mechanical association of citizens). In fact, a nation is a conscious and effective unity of people, united by the idea of freedom, based on ethnic and social, spiritual and cultural factors.
An important part of the nation focused ideology is nation-existential, Shevchenko-like thinking. It's about thinking in terms of security, development and reproduction of the nation, based on the national categorical imperative or order. This order was very well articulated by Ivan Franko: "Everything that goes beyond the frame of the nation is either hypocrisy .. or fruitless sentimentalism of fantasts."
Having clear national ideological orientations, it’s easy to compete and to fight against unprincipled political entities, which are in a great number present in both current and past ruling parties; to expose the falseness of imperialism as the non-freedom mindset, enslavement of peoples and individuals which lays behind the ideology of liberalism or communism; to refuse from futureless demonstration of racism, xenophobia or pseudonationalism.
Moreover, the clear national ideological dominant allows to lead quite reasonable and flexible purely political and social activities. This relates to the development, on the base of the Right Sector, of the party and public formation of the right direction, which would be able to combine not only the nationalist forces, but also various conservative and even national-democratic structures, as well as hundreds of thousands of politically uncertain, but the patriotic citizens of Ukraine. And you can do it based on the national Shevchenko’s ideas, based on traditional Ukrainian philosophy, based on patriotic feeling, which has been awakened as a result of revolutionary events as well as due to the recent occupation by Moscow. Thus, the Right sector can unite on its nation centric state platform all patriotic and state-oriented people of different beliefs, areas of residence, language, age and sex groups, who are able to grow to the Ukrainian idea and who want the power of people in Ukraine, and not the power over the people.
The Right sector will forever remain in the history of Ukraine as the main driving force of the National Revolution of 2013-2014. However, the Right Sector can have even a large historical mission as a political party and civil organization. It is the completion of the National Revolution, change of the government system, the development of the Ukrainian National State - home for all citizens of Ukraine. I believe that a strong reliance of the Right Sector on Shevchenko’s national idea, on the Ukrainian nation-centrism, on state thinking and mechanisms for national democracy will allow to realize this age-old dream of the Ukrainian people.
