Do we need to reopen Odesa region?

The head of the regional state administration and the head of the regional council are not answering the journalist's uncomfortable questions, but a good two hundred people are listening and responding to the answers. It sounds fantastic in Odesa, but this is exactly the kind of hardtalk I saw at the Re:Open Zakarpattia forum. Thanks to my friends from Varosh and the Institute for Central European Strategy, I saw a forum of healthy people.

Here, in Zakarpattia, there is not just a formal event with a typical set of participants. It was a conversation. A real, lively, sometimes uncomfortable conversation, one that rarely happens in public space. A format where officials listen not only to greetings, but also to direct, sharp, reasoned questions. And they answer them not on social media, but here and now.

The audience was not silent. People are not just present - they are in a dialog, reacting, criticizing, supporting. It was an example of an active society that is not afraid and is not tired of asking questions. And what is important, it was not an internal forum for "our own". The forum's program included topics that concern everyone: security, ecology, inclusion, mental health, interethnic interaction, economy, infrastructure, and safety. All of this sounded substantive, not like a "big vision," but like practical steps, cases, and proposals.

I especially remember the hardtalk, when the public directly addresses government officials. It was clear that this was not a prepared speech. When the answers are not in the form of an "explanatory campaign" but in the tone of a normal conversation with people, it changes the atmosphere.

Re:Open Zakarpattia is not an event of one region. It is a model. A model where the community is not a statistic. Where politicians are not actors. Where people discuss things that are not presented in glossy presentations. A model that we would like to see in other regions.

I want to believe that after such events, there is not just a hashtag or a photo report. Because if we have managed to gather such different people for the sixth time and start a real dialog, it would be a sin not to turn it into action.

And one more thing. I dream of seeing a similar forum in Odesa. And even more so, to help organize it. Because the city we love deserves not glossy speeches, but honest conversations. Perhaps this is the conversation that will start it all.

Валерій Болган