“The war is evil. From military viewpoint, the Republic of Moldova is a neutral country, but from moral viewpoint, I don’t think we can be neutral as, involuntarily, we will be supporters of evil,” expert Igor Boțan stated in IPN’s public debate “About state of spirit of nation during states of emergency and war”.
The standing expert of IPN’s project agreed with the opinion of another participating expert, that solidarity is developed primarily based on tolerance. “But it matters a lot what final impact this tolerance will have. We have propaganda, while propaganda should be combated because aggressive propaganda shapes the people’s attitude to this conflict,” said Igor Boțan. He noted polls show 20% of the Moldovans support Russia in this conflict and consider the intervention in Ukraine is justified. 40% do not have an opinion and are this way easy victims of this propaganda and only 40% consider there is a war and Russia is the aggressor in this war.
The expert said society does not have common interests and this is visible from the reactions of political players. Ukraine created this trend by asking to have its European integration rights recognized. Moldova also submitted an application for EU membership and the opposition said this was done in a hurry and a referendum should have been held on the issue. The Transnistrian leaders said they weren’t consulted about this, while Chisinau said such a step wasn’t considered when the Transnistrian region declares it is independent. This shows the Moldovans are rather divided than solidary. The first thing that should be done here is to fight propaganda.
Igor Boțan reminded that Moldova undertook international obligations by the 1951 Refugee Convention it ratified. The Moldovan citizens made common cause with Ukraine, but Moldova’s potential is very limited and the international community realizes this and helps. “This is international solidarity that overlaps national solidarity. Solidarity in the management of the refugee crisis is one thing, while social solidarity in the Republic of Moldova is another thing as, after this war, we will have to see the parameters of this society, if it can function further as until now or we should find other things that can contribute to uniting society,” stated the expert.
He called on the people to continue showing solidarity with the refugees now that Moldova also receives assistance from the international community. “But I think the fact that we weren’t solidary in condemning the war and the initiators of the war as a society is a big problem. This problem will yet manifest itself in society,” said the expert, noting the citizens should be transmitted clear signals and should be told about things that contribute to uniting society or everyone will be affected by social division.
The public debate entitled “About state of spirit of nation during states of emergency and war” was the 233th installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
