Mustafa Nayyem

Mustafa Nayyem Мустафа Найєм نعیم مصطفى
Member of Parliament for Petro Poroshenko Bloc
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 November 2014[1]
Personal details
Born	June 28, 1981 Kabul, Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
Political party	Petro Poroshenko Bloc
Alma mater	Kyiv Polytechnic Institute
Occupation	publicist; journalist of Kommersant, Ukrayinska Pravda and Hromadske.TV

Mustafa Masi Nayyem (Ukrainian: Мустафа Найєм, Pashto: مصطفی نعیم‎) is a Ukrainian journalist, MP and public figure of Afghan origin. Formerly he was a reporter for the newspaper "Kommersant Ukraine", the TVi channel, and the internet newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda. He also participates in Ukrainian journalists' anti-censorship movement, "Stop the censorship!" (Ukrainian: Стоп цензурі!, Stop tsenzuri!), and Hromadske.TV. On the parliamentary elections on October 26, 2014 he was elected to the Ukrainian parliament on the list of Petro Poroshenko Bloc.^[2]

Personal life and education

Nayyem was born in Kabul in 1981. He has stated that he is a Pashtun and "Muslim by birth", though not fully observant.^[3] His former partner and son, Mark-Mikhei,^[4] are Jewish.^[3]

Nayyem graduated from the Technical Lyceum in Kiev in 1998 and the Aerospace Systems Department of Kyiv Polytechnic Institute in 2004. He speaks fluent Ukrainian, Pashto,^[5] Russian, and English.

Career

Journalism

Nayyem worked as a reporter for the "Kommersant-Ukrainy" newspaper from 2005 to 2007 and then for Shuster LIVE, a political talk show on Ukrainian television, from 2007 to 2011.

In 2009, Nayyem received national attention following Ukrayina TV channel's live discussion with then-presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych. During the discussion, he questioned Yanukovych about the latter's acquisition of the Mezhyhirya Residence. In 2010, Nayem was briefly detained by police officers, reportedly as a result of racial profiling for "persons of Caucasian appearance" (a common local term for people from the Caucasus). The following day, Nayem wrote an article in which described the events that led to his detention. He stated, "Xenophobia should not become the face of Ukrainian nationality" and requested the firing of one of the officers responsible.

Nayyem frequently contributes news and articles to Ukrayinska Pravda. From September 2011 to late April 2013, he worked for the Ukrainian television channel TVi. After resigning due to a conflict with the channel's new management, he started a web project together with colleagues who also left the channel.^[6] Their project was named Hromadske.TV.^[7]

Activism

Using Facebook, Nayem was one of the first activists to urge Ukrainians to gather on Independence Square in Kiev to protest Viktor Yanukovych's decision to “pause” preparations for signing an association agreement with the European Union.^[8] His summons to rally on Facebook on November 21, 2013 were the start of the Euromaidan protests which led to the overthrow of the Yanukovych government.^[9]

Politics

Nayyem was included in the electoral list of Petro Poroshenko Bloc and elected to the Verkhovna Rada on the parliamentary elections of October 26, 2014. He is one of dozens of Euromaidan activists who are trying to pivot from street politics into politics, where they hope to spearhead reform and turn Ukraine into a prosperous European state.^[10] Nayyem is a member of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada on issues of European integration in the 8th convocation of parliament.^[11] At the Rada session on 2 December 2014 he was the only deputy who voted against the cabinet of Arseniy Yatsenyuk.^[12]

References

1. CEC registers 357 newly elected deputies of 422, National Radio Company of Ukraine (25 November 2014)
   Parliament to form leadership and coalition on November 27, UNIAN (26 November 2014)
2. A crazy 36 hours with the man who started Ukraine's revolution, Kyiv Post (Oct. 28, 2014)
3. "Мустафа Найем: Мой сын - еврей" [Mustafa Nayyem: My son is Jewish]. From-UA.com (in Russian). 17 December 2009. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015.
4. Nayyem, Mustafa (2014). "автобіографія" [Autobiography] (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 6 December 2014.
5. "Interview with Mustafa Nayem by Michael Schur".
6. (Ukrainian) Найєм оголосив про старт нового проекту колишніх журналістів ТВі Nayem announced the launch of a new project of former journalists TBi, Ukrayinska Pravda (30 April 2013)
7. (Ukrainian) «Громадське ТБ»: «Все гірше, ніж ви думаєте, але надія є» "Public TV": "It is worse than you think, but there is hope", Телекритика (14/06/2013)
8. "Ukraine's Battle for Europe". 2013-11-29. Retrieved 2014-03-03.
9. Uprising in Ukraine: How It All Began, Open Society Foundations, voices, April 4, 2014.
10. The Streets To The Rada: Euromaidan Activists Enter Politics, October 29, 2014
11. "Committee on issues of European integration". Official portal (in Ukrainian). Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
12. Поіменне голосування про проект Постанови про формування складу Кабінету Міністрів України (№1008) "Roll-call vote on the draft Resolution on the formation of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine"

External links

• Mustafa Nayem at LiveJournal
• Nayem's blog at Ukrayinska Pravda
• Mustafa Nayem: "For a journalist it is silly to be proud of one's honesty; it is included in a set of his professional values". Interview to the Telekritika portal.