Interviewer Chrystia Freeland: You’ve been working on helping to build civil society, trying to build it, often frustrated in the former Soviet Union, in the Soviet Union. I know you started, I first met you in Ukraine in 1990 when you began those efforts. There were many years, I think, when it seemed it was all useless. Does it say something to you, teach you something about open society, civil society building?
Jewish Zionist George Soros Talks About Ukraine 1990
George Soros – Foundation in Ukraine: Well, yes, because basically, in many ways, I set up the foundation in Ukraine in 1990, which is two years before the independence of Ukraine. It was an offshoot of the foundation in Russia.
I set up a Cultural Initiative Foundation in the Soviet Union in 1987. Then we built this branch in Ukraine in 1990. The foundation, one of the things that the foundation did, gave a lot of scholarships and supported civil society. The maturity of civil society, 25 years later, is to a large extent the work of the foundation.
Interviewer Chrystia Freeland: Yeah. I will just offer my own personal testimony here. It’s actually amazing in Ukraine, the new Ukraine government, the new Ukraine leadership, everyone who I know in that group has been touched somehow by open society and by Georgia, like literally, either people personally got a scholarship or someone, you know, their wife got a scholarship.
George Soros – Foundation in Ukraine: It’s a really remarkable thing. This is, for me, quite an experience to see this. I didn’t realize, actually, uh, uh, how much, uh, how big an effect it has had over a 25 year period, because those were students, uh, 25 years later, they were leaders.
