Glossary of Terms

Svidomites and Svidomism

These two words, “Svidomite and Svidomism” come from the Ukrainian word “Svidomy”, which means “conscious”, that is nationally conscious. The Ukrainians are a nation that appeared rather recently, that is in twentieth century and was a result of anti-Russian policies of Austria-Hungary in Austrian Halychyna and Soviet nationality policies, which were equally anti-Russian in the Soviet Ukraine. Both the Habsburg and Soviet regimes are gone but the seeds of the nationalism they have sown remain. Ukraine is an independent state in search of its national identity. Svidomism is an expression of this search, which is marked by tremendous Russophobia. The issue here is that, as mentioned, the Ukrainians are a product of state policy conducted on people that called themselves Russians just 100 years ago. Kiev, the capital of Ukraine is the Mother of All Russian Cities. But nations require a glorious past. Unfortunately the facts, that is that the Ukrainians are a result of Austrian and Soviet propaganda campaign directed against Russia and the Russian people, are not glorious. The hatred of everything Russian is a coping mechanism birthed by a sense of a threat. Russia threatens Ukrainism most of all culturally. Russia (the country that includes Belarus and Ukraine not the state called Russian Federation) possesses the historical truth that the adepts of Ukrainism, the Svidomites detest.

My old blog, the Austere Insomniac has popularized the words Svidomite and Svidomism but I was not the first to use them in English, certain circles in Russia employed them long before me. Some people think the word Svidomite is inspired by the word “sodomite”, that may be true, and that makes it even better.

SUHS

An abbreviation of “Slava Ukrayini, Heroyim Slava”, a slogan of Ukrainian nationalists that means “Glory to Ukraine, Glory to Heroes”, and which was popularized on the Euromaidan. Back in 2013, I asked people on Facebook, “Glory to Heroes? What kind of heroes are those? Fascists and Nazis they are and the EU defends them with our tax money. But SUHS is a funny exclamation that I shall use in my articles.

Peremoha and Zrada

Permoha means “victory” in Ukrainian. However, the meaning “peremoha” is actually “victory over Russia” and often we find that it is not the Ukrainians, who score that victory. Also peremohas tend not to last and are eventually replaced by zrada (betrayl). A good example would be Western sanctions against Russia, that is a “peremoha” but should the Western nations ease the sanctions regime, that would be “zrada“. Ukrainian history is a constant cycle of peremoha and zrada.

Zapadnik, Demshiza and Democratic Journalist

A pro-Western person. Democracy fetishits, handshakeworthy agents of the press.