1989: A LOOK BACK: Our community in diaspora (12/31/89)

1989: A LOOK BACK

Our community in diaspora

The World Congress of Free Ukrainians declared 1989 as the Year of the Ukrainian Language, with a special focus on retention of the Ukrainian language in diaspora.

Then, in April, the world body asked Ukrainian communities throughout the world to mark the third anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster by bringing to light the Soviet government's callous disregard for the welfare of the people and demanding a halt to the construction of nuclear power stations in Ukraine.

Following up, the WCFU's Chornobyl Commission issued a statement about nuclear power in Ukraine along with a petition that it asked Ukrainians to circulate. The petition sought a halt to expansion of nuclear energy, improved safety measures and abandonment of centralized decision-making in Moscow as regards siting of nuclear reactors.

Next the WCFU joined forces with Baltic organizations and the Inter-Religious Task Force for Human Rights and Religious Freedom in the Soviet Union to protest criminal code revisions in the USSR on "crimes against the state" which did not conform with international standards of justice and human rights. The April 24 statement also called on the Helsinki Accords signatories to hold off attendance at the 1991 Moscow Conference on the Human Dimension unless the law was amended.

The WCFU president, Yuri Shymko, and the executive director of its Human Rights Commission, Christina Isajiw, were among the contingent of Ukrainians active in promoting Ukrainian issues at the Paris Conference on the Human Dimension. Mr. Shymko held a press conference under the auspices of the Canadian delegation to this conference.

In October, the WCFU sent Dr. David Marples, author of two books on the Chornobyl nuclear accident, to the special meeting on the protection of the environment held within the framework of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in Sofia, Bulgaria. Dr. Marples, sent as a representative of the WCFU's Ecological Commission, distributed copies of his analysis of the ecological situation in Ukraine to delegations at the conference and met personally with delegates and environmentalists.

In the United States, the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council at the beginning of the year held more talks with the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and the Conference of Neutral Organizations on re-establishment of a single Ukrainian American central organization. These did not fare very well, and in March the UACCouncil issued a communique stating that negotiations had been suspended due to the intransigence of the UCCA on certain provisions and, most importantly, due to a UCCA resolution published in February in the press which stated that the UCCA was unilaterally halting further negotiations until the next UCCA congress in 1992.

The UACCouncil held its second convention on October 21-22, reelecting John O. Flis as president. The convention was noteworthy due to the appearance of guests from Ukraine, including Mykola Horbal of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union's executive committee, and Volodymyr Yavorivsky, a newly elected Ukrainian representative to the USSR Congress of People's Deputies.

In Canada, the Ukrainian Canadian Committee also held a congress, re-electing Dr. Dmytro Cipywnyk as president. The conclave focused on the upcoming centennial in 1991-1992 of the arrival of the first Ukrainians in Canada, the proposed Canadian consulate in Kiev, and increased immigration to Canada from Ukraine.

The UCC met with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and two senior Cabinet ministers on September 19 to discuss the centennial, as well as other issues, including the Kiev consulate, Ukrainian refugees and defamation of ethnic groups by the media in stories about alleged Nazi war criminals.

On November 10, a roundtable meeting on the issue of Canada-Ukraine relations was held among representatives of the UCC and the Department of External Affairs and International Trade Canada. The unprecedented meeting focused on four major areas of concern: the Kiev consulate, immigration and human rights issues, cultural exchanges, and cooperation in industry and trade.

In other community developments during 1989, a Shevchenko Jubilee Committee, comprising the Shevchenko Scientific Society, UACCouncil and UCCA, celebrated the 175th anniversary of the birth of Ukraine's greatest poet, Taras Shevchenko, in Washington on October 7. Some 2,000 persons attended the moleben, march and concert held that day. Among the speakers were Volodymyr Mokry of the Polish Parliament, and Mr. Horbal.

In March, the formation of the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian Language Society in the U.S. was announced. It followed on the heels of the formation in Kiev of a society by the same name, which held its founding conference in February. The U.S. body announced that it wanted to assist efforts to revitalize the Ukrainian language in Ukraine and that it would send T-shirts with the slogan "Do your children speak Ukrainian?" as well as postcards of Taras Shevchenko to Ukraine to help promote national identity.

In response to the establishment in September of the Popular Movement of Ukraine for Perebudova, community activists in the U.S. set up a Rukh Fund, in affiliation with the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian Language Society, to help support Ukraine's Rukh. Later the fund was incorporated under the name Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund, whose aim is to provide humanitarian, educational and charitable aid to Ukraine by working with volunteers from the Rukh organization in Ukraine. Thanks in large measure to the U.S. appearances of Mr. Yavorivsky, who is also head of the Kiev regional Rukh, the fund had more than $400,000 by mid-November.

The first shipment of medical supplies, worth approximately $100,000 was donated by Union Hospital on the initiative of its chief of surgery, Dr. Zenon Matkiwsky, as well as several pharmaceutical companies, and shipped at no charge to the USSR by Swissair at the end of October. In Moscow, however, Aeroflot airlines charged for transport of the packages from Vnukovo Airport to Kiev. According to Mr. Yavorivsky, who spoke at a press conference in Kiev, the fee charged was "exorbitant."

On December 10, a community meeting in New York resolved to extend the CCRF's organizational framework by including more representatives of community organizations in a parent organization to be called National Fund to Aid Ukraine. The actual fund, however, continues to be called the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund; its management and functions remain the same as before.

Meanwhile in Canada, a massive rally for Rukh was held in Toronto on December 10 to launch a fundraising drive through an initiative group called Canadian Friends of Rukh. The group aims to assist Rukh's charitable endeavors, help finance its administrative structure and projects, and inform the news media about Rukh activities.

Finally, a Toys for Children of Chornobyl drive was launched before Christmas by schools of Ukrainian studies in the United States in order to collect toys and money to purchase toys and books for ailing young victims of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster.