In memoriam: Ihor Olshaniwsky (08/04/96)

NEWS AND VIEWS

In memoriam: Ihor Olshaniwsky

by Walter Bodnar

NEWARK, N.J. - This year marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Ihor Olshaniwsky and 16 years of work of Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine - AHRU. Mr. Olshaniwsky founded this organization in 1980 out of the necessity to act quickly and effectively on human rights and other pertinent Ukrainian issues. Being somewhat of an anomaly among Ukrainian American community organizations, AHRU was formed on the fringes and sailed forth into uncharted political waters.

AHRU faced the realities of the 1980s, which called for a pragmatic and comprehensive approach to the political establishment of the U.S. Because of the surge in priority given to the defense of human rights in the 1970s and 1980s in the U.S., Mr. Olshaniwsky, whose life straddled two continents, had the capacity to comprehend both the old realities of Ukraine and the new realities of the New World. This perspective allowed him to utilize the universal concept of human rights as an instrument to tackle current problems.

Historically, defense of human rights was not an entirely new approach, since it was declared and agreed upon in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. However, it was a new concept to Ukrainians in the diaspora. Initially, many believed that the rights of the state preceded the rights of the individual; therefore, it was held that demands the for Uk-rainian independence should be placed first and the human rights of individuals would be defended later. Such an approach was doomed to failure in the U.S., since it was the policy of the U.S. government to maintain the status quo of the USSR - which did not honor rights of any kind.

Demands for an independent Ukraine, therefore, fell on deaf ears, while concerns for defending the rights of individuals caused public officials to at least listen. The plight of the rights of Jews behind the Iron Curtain was brought to the forefront by Jewish organizations. Likewise, AHRU was successful in bringing to light the Soviet Union's violations of human rights in Ukraine.

AHRU activists differed from other Ukrainian organizations in the diaspora in the quality and thoroughness of their work; their good command of the English language, both oral and written; their knowledge and mastery of current interpretations of historical and current events, utilization of modern office technology (e.g., early use of computers, photocopier and fax machines); and active door-to-door lobbying in Congress. A major part in the success of Mr. Olshaniwsky, who was the moving and inspirational force for a crew of ardent supporters, was a personal presentation of the issues that was persuasive, consistent and perseverant.

In spite of a relatively small number of activists and meager funds, AHRU made significant strides where others failed. This did not sit right with some individuals in leadership positions in the community, because the latter insisted on "speaking with one voice." Mr. Olshaniwsky believed in a competitive field of ideas in order to stimulate activism and to strive for perfection, even if the goal was not fully met.

The basic work of AHRU was the defense of human rights of Soviet political prisoners - mainly Ukrainians. Because of their large numbers, it was impossible to defend them all. Therefore, AHRU chose significantly prominent dissidents such as Ivan Svitlychny, Mykola Rudenko, Oleksa Tykhy, Oksana Meshko, Levko Lukianen-ko, Mykola Horbal, Mykhailo Horyn, Myroslav Marynovych and others, and focused the defense actions on them, timed to coincide with events such as their arrests, persecutions and other inhuman acts of cruelty by the Soviet government.

In addition to zeroing in on prominent individuals and utilizing them symbolically as representative of others, AHRU publicized and disseminated their demands and memoranda, which were based on international treaties and convenants, and created the basis for defending their individual rights and the right of Ukraine to be independent.

The most significant group of political prisoners that merited AHRU's attention was the Ukrainian Helsinki Group, which was founded 20 years ago. This group, which monitored the Soviet government's compliance with the Helsinki Accords, was brutally dealt with soon after its inception. All of its members were arrested, exiled and severely persecuted. Nevertheless, the group never officially disbanded (as the Moscow Helsinki Group did), but continued its activity behind bars. The key figures in the group were Mykola Rudenko and Oleksa Tykhy.

Defending members of the Ukrainian and other Helsinki groups bore fruit, since the U.S. Congress was cognizant and supportive of their activities, and also since there was a U.S. government commission, the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), which did significant work to bring Soviet abuses out into the open. This activity followed the historic signing of the Helsinki Accords in 1975, which permitted, for the first time in history, the intrusion of monitoring groups from the outside world into the heretofore labeled "internal matters of the Soviet Union" and which exposed the lack of fundamental human rights of its citizens and non-adherence to the accords.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine, Mr. Olshaniwsky succeeded in convincing key Democratic legislators, namely, Sen. Bill Bradley and Rep. James Florio, both from New Jersey, to sponsor bills to establish a U.S. commission to study and analyze that genocidal famine in Ukraine. This commission was similar to the U.S. congressional Holocaust Commission in structure and was funded by the U.S. government in the amount of $500,000. The commission's study concluded that the famine did indeed happen (the Soviet Union kept denying it) and that it was caused deliberately by the Soviets in order to destroy the backbone of Ukraine, the village, and totally subjugate its people.

As in previous endeavors, the central Ukrainian organizations of the U.S. waited this one out and did not help, motivating their inactivity by arguments that a congressional resolution initiated by them was more important. A notable exception was the Ukrainian National Association, which used its prestige to aggressively lobby all the members of the U.S. Congress and other notable members of the U.S. government.

Some individuals in key positions in the Ukrainian community openly criticized Mr. Olshaniwsky and accused him of chasing a pipe dream and also misleading the Ukrainian public into false hopes of establishing a commission that was a "legislative impossibility."

The Ukrainian "political emigres" brought to American shores and later cultivated an overseas hybrid of their ideology of the 1930s and 1940s. Suffice it to say that they rejected human rights outright, choosing to perpetuate their supernationalism.

This clinging to an outmoded ideology did not fly in the pragmatic reality of the modern United States, where tolerance toward others has been developed to a high degree. In addition, U.S. foreign policy was formed under the tutelage of Russophiles and Sovietophiles, who tended to support the status quo together with the perpetuation of the Soviet Union and its empire. Therefore, on the one hand the question of an independent Ukraine did not fall on receptive ears, while on the other hand the defense of human rights proved to be very successful.

In addition to the defense of human rights, a strategy had to be developed to ward off attacks against Ukrainians in the press, such as the slanted reporting of the show trial of John Demjanjuk. UNCHAIN - the Ukrainian National Center: History and Information Network - came into being as a result of Mr. Olshaniwsky's creativity. The specific task of this group was to fight defamation and give aid to the accused who could not defend themselves.

In order to activate the Ukrainian American community to participate in political action, mainly elections, Mr. Olshaniwsky was instrumental in forming yet another group: the League of Ukrainian Voters (LUV). This non-partisan group was established to promote and support candidates and issues who were supportive to Ukrainian concerns.

Having established the basis and instruments for work and activism, Mr. Olshaniwsky did not get the chance to reach the pinnacle of his potential or to witness the fruits of his endeavors. The thread of his life was severed when he died on May 8, 1986, being only 56 years old.

We remember Ihor Olshaniwsky today, 10 years later, and mourn his passing. We have lost a wonderful human being, a friend and a leader who was a beacon in a turbulent political sea. We have followed his footsteps for the past 10 years but, without his leadership, it was not easy.

Walter Bodnar is vice-president of Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine.

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