To mark the 135th anniversary of Pavlo Tychyna's birth, residents of the Mykolaiv and Chyhyryn communities read a poem that is not only poetry but also a manifesto as part of the Side by Side: United Communities project.
"I Affirm" is Pavlo Tychyna's original text from 1943, the same one that was distorted for decades by Soviet censorship, changing the meaning, words, and very spirit of the work. It is the first, authentic version of this poem that gives us back what is most important — the right to our own voice, memory, and truth.
This text was written during the war. And today it sounds as if it were written for us.
Tychyna's lines are read by residents of communities that are now separated by distance but united by a common history, culture, and sense of unity.
We affirm ourselves. We are asserting ourselves. Because we are one.
Based on materials from the Mykilskyi settlement military administration