1997: THE YEAR IN REVIEW: Ukrainian diaspora: forums and contacts (12/28/97)

1997: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Ukrainian diaspora: forums and contacts

Six hundred and fifty delegates of organizations representing the scattered Ukrainians of the diaspora were gathered with their compatriots in Kyiv on August 20-24 for the second World Forum of Ukrainians, the first having been held in 1992. Although those who attended were unanimous about the great opportunity this presented to mingle and attend concerts and parades with individuals of the same ethnic background, most also deemed it a fundamentally flawed exercise. Khristina Lew's report from our Kyiv Press Bureau described the organizational chaos and Soviet-style voting irregularities in plenary sessions.

The resolutions, more akin to a thematic essay on the use of the Ukrainian language, and vague calls on the diaspora to help improve the mother country's image worldwide, were later deemed "unusable" by officers of the Western-based Ukrainian World Congress.

However, the Forum did serve as a platform for a statesman-like address delivered by President Leonid Kuchma, in which he sought to make Ukrainians all over the world partners in an international effort to shore up Ukrainian culture and his country's economy. It also prompted Verkhovna Rada Chairman Oleksander Moroz to comment positively on "the Ukrainian National Association, which is 100 years old," and for UWCC President re-elect Ivan Drach to criticize Ukraine for being "an untransformed remnant of the Soviet Union."

The last 12 months brought varied tidings to the Ukrainian World Congress, as it marked its 30th anniversary with a banquet and a symposium. The fiscal austerity program conducted by the world diaspora body's chief financial officer, William Sametz, began to pay off, in the form of a revived Human Rights Commission (now known as the Commission on Human and Civil Rights) and the hiring of Christina Isajiw as UWC headquarters executive director. Stronger links of communication were established with the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian community in Russia, thanks in part to the recent arrival in Toronto of Volodymyr Kolomatskyi, a young and energetic Ukrainian-Russian expatriate.

However, the trench between the UWC and the Kyiv-based Ukrainian World Coordinating Council continued to widen, as participants in the UWCC's convention held in Kyiv immediately prior to the World Forum of Ukrainians returned home bedeviled by a variety of frustrations.

Issues of concern - such as UWCC officers' fundamental inability to communicate effectively, difficulties with accountability and reporting, and a failure to grasp the necessity of weaning a non-governmental organization off direct state involvement - were highlighted in an interview with UWC President Dr. Dmytro Cipywnyk prior to the forum and reports in the fall on the Western diaspora body's meetings. Prompted by Mr. Sametz, the UWC decided at a November Presidium meeting to suspend payment of dues until a "report card" on the UWCC is received.

While on duty at the Kyiv Press Bureau, Ms. Lew also provided a sketch of Ukrainian community life in Poland just prior to the World Forum and, via the words of Jurij Rejt and Miroslaw Czech, related the dim view the Association of Ukrainians in Poland also had of the UWCC, and of Ukrainian efforts to raise their status as a minority above that created during Soviet times. Also highlighted were commemorations of the 50th anniversary of Akcja Wisla, the ethnic-cleansing operation conducted by the Polish army and security forces begun in 1947.

Thanks to his attendance at the second congress of the Association of Ukrainians of Russia on October 24-25, Roman Woronowycz provided readers of The Weekly an in-depth look at community politics in the Eurasian country, as well as the Russian Federation government's nationalities policy (based on the concept of "national cultural autonomy"), which AUR President re-elect Oleksander Rudenko-Desniak described as "a social-political experiment on a grand scale that should show whether the government is able to deal with the new realities that exist in national life in the process of the restructuring of society on democratic principles." Mr. Rudenko-Desniak, a recent appointee to President Boris Yeltsin's government, expressed a hesitancy to politicize Ukrainian organizations in the federation.

The AUR also appealed to Mr. Yeltsin regarding the seizure of the Ukrainian Orthodox Epiphany Cathedral in Noginsk, as well as the landmark resumption of "Days of Ukrainian Culture" in Moscow sponsored jointly by the Ukrainian and Russian governments.

Other notes

1997 was another busy year for the World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations (WFUWO). On June 15-22 its delegates participated in the triennial International Council of Women (including representatives from Kyiv), relating concerns about health in Ukraine to their fellows, particularly as these were affected by the Chornobyl disaster of 1986. In its July 13 issue The Weekly reported that the Toronto-based coordinating body gained consultative status with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in order to provide coordination for assistance to Ukraine's needy children. On October 22-26 the confederation of 22 Ukrainian women's organizations from nine countries held its seventh congress, re-electing Oksana Bryzhun-Sokolyk as its president for another five-year term.
The Ukrainian Medical Association of North America (UMANA) held its convention at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, on June 18-22, awarding Lifetime Achievement awards to Drs. Bohdan Shebunchak and Oleh Wolansky, and electing Dr. Maria Hrycelak as president for a two-year term.
On August 23 the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations (AFUO) convened a special meeting of Ukrainian professional and businesspeople's organizations in Sydney to map out a strategy for their future role in the Ukrainian Australian community.
Ihor Lysyj took members of the "DP" (displaced persons) generation down memory lane with reports on the 50th anniversary of the first graduating class of the Ukrainian Gymnasium in Berchtesgaden which, Mr. Lysyj wrote, "provides a snapshot of [an] immigrant group," and of the reunion held at Soyuzivka in Kerhonkson, N.Y., on October 3-4.

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