1982: a look back: The political scene (12/26/82)

1982: a look back

The political scene

1982 will perhaps be best remembered, in terms of Ukrainian influence on the political scene, as the year the Congress and the president honored the Ukrainian Public Group to Promote Implementation of the Helsinki Accords, a.k.a. the Ukrainian Helsinki Group, on the occasion of its sixth anniversary.

Thanks mostly to the lobbying efforts of Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine and groups working in concert with the organization, the House of Representatives, acting on May 4, and the Senate, following suit on June 21, passed House Concurrent Resolution 205 calling on the U.S. president to proclaim November 9, as a day in tribute to Ukrainian Helsinki monitors on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the establishment of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group.

President Ronald Reagan did so on September 21.

The resolution, sponsored in the House by Reps. Bernard J. Dwyer (D) and Christopher H. Smith (R), both of New Jersey, also called on the president to work for the release of imprisoned Ukrainian Helsinki monitors and to demand an end to Soviet persecution of Ukrainian national- and human-rights activists.

Ukrainian Helsinki Group Day was marked with special programs and demonstrations in New York City and Washington, as well as other cities throughout the country. State and municipal governments followed in the federal government's footsteps and issued resolutions or proclamations of their own. The New Jersey Senate on November 8 passed a resolution calling on Gov. Thomas Kean to proclaim November 9 Ukrainian Helsinki Group Day in the Garden State. The governor, however, did not act, according to his press office, because of the time factor involved. Sacramento Mayor Phillip L. Isenberg proclaimed November 9 Ukrainian Helsinki Monitoring Group Day in the California capital.

A Ukrainian Human-Rights Awareness Week was held in Washington beginning June 21 through the efforts of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Baltic States and Ukraine chaired by Reps. Charles Dougherty (R-Pa.) and Brian Donnelly (D-Mass.). The goal of the week was to call attention, through special programs and exhibits, to Soviet oppression of Ukraine and persecution of Ukrainian human- and national-rights activists.

Among other actions of the U.S. Congress on issues of concern to Ukrainians were the following.

On April 1, 104 U.S. senators and representatives sent a letter to Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev asking for the release of ailing Ukrainian political prisoner Ivan Svitlychny. The letter was initiated by Rep. Smith of New Jersey.
On June 21 the Senate passed Senate Resolution 326 urging the release of Ukrainian political prisoner Yuriy Badzio and an end to Soviet authorities' harassment of his wife Svitliana Kyrychenko. The resolution was sponsored by Sen. Paul E. Tsongas (D-Mass.)
Also on June 21, the Senate passed House Concurrent Resolution 111 calling for the release of veteran human- and national-rights activist Yuriy Shukhevych, the eternal political prisoner, and the granting of permission for the Shukhevych family to emigrate. The resolution had been passed by the House on September 21, 1981, and was sponsored by Rep. Joel Pritchard (R- Wash.).
On September 30 the House passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 18 which called for the resurrection of the Ukrainian Orthodox and Catholic Churches liquidated by the Soviets in Ukraine. The resolution had been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.) and in the House by Rep. Edward J. Derwinski (R-Ill.). It had been passed by the Senate on June 19, 1981.
In the autumn, Rep. Bill Green (R-N.Y.) initiated a letter to Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin, which called for the release of Ukrainian dissident Zinoviy Krasivsky from internal exile. The letter was signed by 55 members of the House.

In the executive branch of the U.S. government, the following were notable actions, as far as Ukrainians were concerned.

President Ronald Reagan proclaimed March 21 Afghanistan Day and called on the citizens of the United States and the world "not to forget the struggle of the Afghan patriots" fighting Soviet invaders. At an official White House ceremony that day, both President Reagan and Vice-President George Bush spoke. Mr. Bush told his audience that the United States will not forget the plight of captive nations in Eastern Europe, from the Baltic States to Ukraine to Uzbekistan.
On July 19 President Reagan signed the Captive Nations Week proclamation at a Rose Garden ceremony.
On May 28, at the Ukrainian National Association convention in Rochester, N.Y., Vice-President Bush delivered what the administration described as "a major policy address" on U.S.-Soviet relations.

Canadian government officials, too, expressed their concern about the fate of Ukrainian political prisoners.

In the beginning of the year, four Ontario federal and municipal officials joined Bishop Isidore Borecky of the Toronto Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy in announcing that they would sponsor Yuriy Shukhevych's immigration to Canada in an attempt to secure his release from Soviet prison. The four officials were: Federal MP Michael H. Wilson, Toronto Mayor Art Eggleton, Etobicoke Mayor Dennis Flynn and former Labor Minister Michael Starr.
On May 20 the House of Commons passed a resolution calling on the Soviet government to release Ivan Svitlychny and allow him to emigrate to the West for medical treatment.
On November 9 the Senate passed a resolution paying tribute to the Ukrainian Helsinki Group on the sixth anniversary of its establishment and calling for an end to Soviet persecution of all human-rights activists.

Back in the United States, on the state level, there was not much ado about anything.

However, New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, acting during the summer months, did announce the formation of an Office of Ethnic Affairs and the expansion of the New Jersey Ethnic Advisory Council from 16 members to 19 members plus six department heads from the state government. Two Ukrainians were named to the council: Zenon Onufryk as the Ukrainian representative and Andrew Keybida as a member at large.

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