-Anton Chekov (1860-1904)
Natalia is one of the program directors for a mediation/restorative justice agency in Odessa, called the Odessa Academy of Mediation, where she consults and advises for staff there who are attempting to employ more restorative justice practices there. Natalia is also a professor with a doctorate degree in law, and chair of the Maritime Law Department at the Odessa Maritime Academy in Odessa. Originally from Belarus, she has lived in Odessa for the past 35 years or so. I can see why, it's beautiful here!
Tetyana, Oleg and I sat down with her over lunch, outside on the patio on a beautiful Summer day where we asked her questions about mediation/restorative justice in Ukraine, how it’s done, the obstacles Ukraine faces in employing this form of justice, and how it could be done better. It was an enlightening conversation where we learned, for instance, that (no big surprise here) the Ukrainian criminal justice system, it’s police, courts and judges have not fully integrated restorative justice approaches (RJ) into their legal system and base most of their policies and practices on retributive, punitive approaches to crime (e.g.,prisons, fines, probation). So, not unlike mediation/restorative justice programming in the U.S., Natalia’s agency works largely to educate in the ways of restorative justice, and it’s advantages over traditional, retributive approaches.
One of my main goals during my time in Ukraine, then, is to learn from other international actors who work and/or educate in the field of criminal justice and, specifically, to learn how other countries employ principles of restorative justice in various settings, and in the particular context of where they live and work. And, interestingly, I can see from my observations in Ukraine that the that various forms of RJ that are employed outside the U.S. are still centered on the same basic principles that we all adhere to. For example, for juvenile delinquents, whereas Natalia might use a one-on-one, mediation meeting between two boys who have a conflict over a stolen bike (story told by Natalia at our meeting), in America we would send them to “teen court” or something like a “teen justice” program like the one Keyria Rodgers has developed at Millikin University where I teach.
More broadly, these commonalities across countries – not just in approaches to justice - are more evident to me as I travel abroad, something I know many of you have come to realize as well. For example, many Americans think countries like Ukraine are a bit “backwater”, or underdeveloped, (or even “shitholes” according to our last U.S. President whose name will not be uttered here) because they do not appear to live by the same standards and values as America. Sociologists themselves even used to refer to countries like Ukraine as “third world” countries for this reason which, of course, was so wrong-headed and biased that it barely deserves mention here. Of course, our countries have differences, but to consider them as beneath us, or as culturally inferior, only highlights our own arrogance and ignorance as Americans – a charge often levied upon us by some citizens of other countries in similar fashion! Indeed, there are differences between countries that we can all see and be critical of, and some of those criticism have merit; but the prejudicial assumptions about the people living in those countries, whether they be U.S. citizens or citizens of Ukraine, too often become stereotypical caricatures of an entire group of people, which only leads to profoundly incomplete and false beliefs about that country as a whole, often leading to widespread racism and/or bigotry against that group. And the last thing we need in this world is more divisiveness and conflict, whether cultural or physical! Isn’t it better to be open-minded, and to learn from each other, taking the best bits of each others’ countries, their lifestyles, attitudes, values and behaviors, rather than rejecting everything that doesn’t resemble our own familiar lands?
So, is America really the best place to be? It certainly is NOT! America may be the wealthiest country in the world but it definitely isn’t the happiest place in the world. Or the healthiest. Or the wisest or best educated. Ukraine has helped me to realize that the best place to be is right here, right now, wherever you are, provided you understand who you really are in relation to where you are - and among all those around you all over the world.
And yet, this is exactly the kind of negative bias I came to Ukraine with my first time here back in 2010, and even the second time I came here in 2013. Fortunately, including throughout this more immersive 3 month sabbatical, I have had my wife and her Ukrainian relatives to keep such biases in check. For it is here in Ukraine where I have evolved as a global human being with a clearer, more picturesque and enlightened worldview. I’ve dropped most of my first-impression stereotypes of the stoic, cold-hearted Russkis that I’ve seen all my life on American television (think, “I must break you!” from Rocky IV :), and I’ve been able to peek past the veiled curtain of such prejudices. And what I can see now is people. Just people trying to survive and to cope with the daily challenges of life that we all must face. I can see them more as brothers and sisters in “the struggle”.
This place. This place where I look out my apartment window and see an old lady picking through trash for items she can repurpose, and see a man on his balcony hanging wet clothes on a makeshift clothesline (remember, no dryers in Ukraine!), where feral dogs and cats roam the city streets, where there are no suburbs or white picket fences, and where I live in cramped quarters with no air conditioning (the average apartment where the majority of people live is about 300-400 sq. ft), and where nobody gets their meals from a drive-thru, and where your electricity and hot water might be shut off for days on end, and where you are likely not to have a television or a microwave. This place is where I see myself best, and where I am my best self.
And that’s
because I’m not by myself. I’m with this amazing family, my
Ukrainian relatives, who know hardship much better than me, but who will
give me the shirt off their back if they feel it will make me - this relative
stranger - more comfortable. These are the same people who smile more often
than I ever have in my life, and who simply appreciate life as it comes, in
good times and bad. These are the people that feed me homemade varenyky,
or grill shashlik
or make tea from a soviet-era
samovar, or who play
joyous music with a old-school bandura during Ukrainian Independence Day.
And these people and its thousands year old culture , with such a deep history of conquest and oppression, remain steadfastly stoic, but also upbeat and positive about their country’s future even amidst relative poverty and an ongoing simmering war with neighboring Russia where hundreds have died and where they lost the Crimea region (on the Black Sea) to Putin’s annexation of it. So, although Ukraine appears to first-time foreigners as a cold, gray and bleak place, where nobody smiles at you on the city streets (in fact, you’ll be regarded as mentally challenged if you do, no joke!), in close quarters, with family and friends, Ukraine’s true personality emerges and they expose themselves as a genuinely caring people. Not that they don’t have some of the same problems as any other urban locale. They have corruption. They have street crime. But you won’t see gangs, drugs or mass shootings here in any noticeable way. Very few people own guns and, if they do, they aren’t used for these nefarious purposes, almost never. Just check out some of the graffiti on the streets of Kyiv, it’s rather cute by American standards. No gang symbols or territory marking, just innocent tagging by kids who are bored and looking to express themselves. I haven’t yet see any Banksy-esque art, but some of it is pretty artistic and well drawn. I’ll keep searching for such oddities.
Kyiv, by the way, is an absolutely beautiful and modern European city, rivaling Rome or London in its historic architecture, traditions and culture. I’ll have more to say about this city after I spend more quality time downtown, this time not just photographing architecture but meeting the people and experiencing the downtown culture and all these fantastic "Kyivites", hopefully using more of my newly-acquired Russian language skills, still a work in progress 😊
And this is just one more reason for you to get off your couch, turn off your screens, and go out an immerse yourself in a different culture. The epiphanies that are revealed can only be realized through cultural immersion, in my humble opinion. So immerse yourself! Dive into the deep end of the cultural pool and surprise yourself by overcoming your panicked need to surface more quickly than you need to. It is here, gasping for familiar air, where you will find your true self.
