At the half-way stage of the 2010 World Cup it is already fairly safe to say that the tournament’s South African hosts have excelled themselves. The much-anticipated crime wave has so far failed to materialise, stadiums have been largely full and facilities have generally been rated as excellent. Quite how big a boost this will prove for South Africa in the long run remains to be seen, but while it would be foolish to suppose that the successful hosting of an international sporting event could somehow heal the deeply entrenched intra-communal rifts facing the country, it would be equally unwise to downplay the World Cup as a factor in modern South Africa’s national identity politics. If the second half of the tournament passes off as successfully as the more logistically challenging early group stages of the competition, then the biggest winner is likely to end up being South Africa itself. Unlike the South African Rugby World Cup in 1995, which was widely regarded as a white man’s event, the 2010 World Cup has been embraced by every creed and colour in this famously rainbow nation. It has provided South Africans with a unifying sense of purpose and will likely become a source of enduring national pride. However temporarily, it has succeeded in uniting a divided nation. Could Ukraine now emulate this success in 2012 and use the European Championships to boost its own national cohesion and fragile sense of collective identity? 

 

 

An event capable of uniting a nation divided by history
Both Ukraine and South Africa have spent the past two decades experiencing radical political upheavals and struggling to replace dated concepts of national identity with a modern interpretation which succeeds in reflecting the huge changes occurring in their societies. It is no easy task building a national identity in the globalised 21st century, especially when your history is as troubling and divisive as Ukraine’s. Indeed, with no sovereign history of its own prior to 1991, Ukraine lacks many of the key ingredients, such as a broad social consensus, which are generally thought necessary for the formation of a durable national identity. For exactly this reason most modern Ukrainian politicians have sought to avoid dwelling on historic themes, with notable exceptions such as Viktor Yushchenko finding to their cost that such explosive issues can bog down entire presidencies.
The simple truth is that there is no single narrative dealing with the country’s patchwork past which could meet with majority approval. The solution to the problem must therefore be found in the future, and the co-hosting of Euro 2012 presents Ukraine with an unrivalled opportunity to write a page in the country’s modern history which will be a source of pride and patriotism for all Ukrainians.    

 

 

Moving beyond the memory wars of the post-Soviet period
While the national priority necessarily remains getting Ukraine’s stadiums, airports and hotels finished in time for kick-off, there is a danger at present that the broader opportunities to bolster modern Ukraine’s national unity may be missed. Getting the infrastructure right is a prerequisite for hosting any major modern tournament but it is vital the Ukrainian authorities recognise that this is only part of the task they are facing. Euro 2012 could play a definitive role in shaping modern Ukraine’s sense of self, bypassing the memory wars and historical squabbles of the post-Soviet period and offering an inclusive sense of national pride in their place. For this to happen there needs to be far more work done in the national media to promote the idea of Euro 2012 as a great Ukrainian endeavour in which every citizen has a stake. With less than two years before the opening of the championships, now is the time to begin advertising campaigns throughout the country backing Ukraine’s host nation preparations and calling on people to get involved. With cities on both sides of the great Ukrainian political divide set to play a role as hosts, this is a marvelously apolitical opportunity to bridge the gap.

 

 

Ukraine’s once in a lifetime Euro opportunity
There are signs that efforts are being made to improve links between the famously polarized east and west of the country. The recent opening of a twice-weekly flight linking Donetsk and Lviv is a welcome step, connecting the country’s two most emblematic regional capitals after 20 years of isolation and growing mutual suspicion. More now needs to be done to involve the general public in preparations. Public information campaigns designed to improve service standards and foster basic English language skills could also be used to bolster the idea that the entire country has a stake in Euro 2012 preparations. Billboards should be hyping up Ukraine’s role as co-hosts on street corners across the land. Ukrainians should be actively encouraged to feel that it is ‘their’ Euro 2012 in the same way that many South Africans appear to have taken very personal pride in ‘their’ World Cup.
The South African experience has demonstrated once more how major events of this kind can galvanize an entire nation. In this context Euro 2012 could prove a godsend for Ukraine, but only if the government is bold enough to take a lead and unashamedly bang the patriotic drum. Ukraine’s stadiums and facilities may well be ready in time for Euro 2012, but if the carnival mood and patriotic passions of South Africa are to be matched then the PR campaign needs to start now.  



British journalist Peter Dickinson is editor and publisher of Business Ukraine magazine. He has been resident in Kyiv since the late 1990s.