The forum “ADIEU, EMPIRE! How to break the imperial culture against the Dnipro rapids?”. The organizers were representatives of the Zaporizhzhia branch of the NGO “Ukrainian Students for Freedom”. Students from Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Ternopil, Odesa, Lviv, Chernihiv and other cities of Ukraine gathered at the meeting. Lectures were given by public figures, teachers, media professionals, poets, artists, musicians and other experts.

Illia Markov, deputy head of the Zaporizhzhia branch of the NGO “Ukrainian Students for Freedom” noted that:

“The main goal of the forum is to show that culture is an integral part of our identity, and, besides, it is a huge market, from the NON-development of which we lose a lot of money and potential profit. I think that if this forum is not held now, then it will be too late. This is the impetus for action. After the forum, people came up to me and said that they will now communicate in Ukrainian in everyday life. For me, this is the biggest indicator of success. People understand the importance of language better. People who are engaged in art locally and the newest authors are also popularized more, because we not only said that it is important, but also gave THEM the opportunity to express themselves, gave them a platform to perform, because in Zaporizhzhia this is very difficult.”

When asked what the name “ADIEU, EMPIRE!” means, Illia answers:

“The name is French, because we want to create our own “French Revolution” in Ukraine. That is, to show that the power is really in the hands of the people, and we must protect the values of Freedom and the power of society, not the dictatorship of Russian imperial narratives.”