On November 10, at 15:00, the Lviv Regional Youth Center will host a presentation of the book “Christian Democracy. Solutions for Ukraine and Europe”. The book, authored by civic activist Yuriy Mindyuk, journalist Kostyantyn Kanishev, and political scientist Valeriy Maidaniuk, was published by the NGO Foundation for Promoting Democracy.
There will also be a presentation of the InfoLight.UA educational initiative, implemented by the NGO Foundation for Promotion of Democracy with the support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation in Ukraine. The initiative includes online trainings on information hygiene and security, fact-checking, and countering disinformation.
Speakers:
– Valeriy Maidaniuk, PhD in Political Science, co-author of the book “Christian Democracy. Solutions for Ukraine and Europe”.
– Valentyn Balahura, political scientist, public figure, NGO “Great State”.
– Yuriy Goncharenko, information security expert, vice president of the NGO Foundation for Promotion of Democracy, InfoLight.UA educational initiative
– Maksym Koliba, PhD, Deputy Director of the International Institute of Ethics and Contemporary Issues of the Ukrainian Catholic University, Senior Lecturer at the School of Law of the Ukrainian Catholic University.
Address: Lviv, 12 Vynnychenka St., 2nd floor
Book synopsis:
Christian democracy became the ideology of reconciliation and integration for European countries after World War II. Christian democratic leaders Konrad Adenauer, Robert Schuman, and Alcide de Gasperi not only laid the foundations for the economic prosperity of Germany, France, and Italy, but also became the founding fathers of the European Union. The universal values of Christian democracy raised post-war Europe from the ruins and became the foundation of a welfare state based on freedom, solidarity, and responsibility.
About the InfoLight.UA:
The low level of information literacy of Ukrainian citizens, especially after the start of Russia’s full-scale aggression, is strikingly visible and has a negative impact. In particular, for this reason, fakes, disinformation, and propaganda are widely spread. The state does not always have enough resources to counter this and needs partnerships from civil society organizations and volunteers.
The situation with information work in the temporarily occupied territories is very difficult, where Ukrainian citizens do not have access to objective sources of information and are in a state of constant stress and despondency. Similarly, due to the lack of knowledge about secure means of communication, there is no information about the course of events in these territories, which means that Ukrainian society and the international community do not receive objective information and are often influenced by disinformation and manipulation.
Martial law, the need to involve the entire society in the defense of the country, creates conditions for distrust and even certain conflicts in the interaction between society and the army. Due to a lack of time and resources, government agencies do not always respond to these situations in a timely manner, which gives room for manipulation and influence by special information operations of the Russian special services.
In view of the above, the InfoLight.UA project implements training programs to improve media literacy and combat fake news and propaganda.
A special emphasis is placed on creating an information product for Ukrainians in the occupied territories and on cooperation between civil society and the army. The implementation of these programs is aimed, among other things, at the interaction between society and the army.
The project is implemented by the Democracy Promotion Foundation (Ukraine) with the support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation in Ukraine (Germany).