Ukrainian World Congress holds its seventh conclave

Elects UCCA leader Lozynskyj as president

by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj
Toronto Press Bureau

TORONTO - The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) held its seventh conclave at the Harbour Castle Hotel on the Ontario capital's lakefront on December 2-5, electing Askold Lozynskyj as its first U.S.-based president since fellow New Yorker (and fellow jurist) Ivan Bazarko served as leader of the diaspora umbrella body in 1981-1983.

Among the dignitaries who appeared during the congress were Saskatchewan's Premier Roy Romanow, who delivered the keynote address at the luncheon on December 3, Ukraine's Ambassador to the United Nations Volodymyr Yelchenko, who spoke at the banquet on December 5, and Ukraine's newly appointed ambassador to Canada, Volodymyr Khandogiy, who attended most of the proceedings.

Ukrainian World Coordinating Council (UWCC) President Ivan Drach also attended, to take part in panel discussions, confer on matters of UWC-UWCC relations and deliver an address titled "Ukraine and Ukrainian Communities in the 21st Century."

Also in attendance was Archbishop Adrian Staryna, eparch of Dnipropetrovsk and Kryvyi Rih of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate, the man at the center of the controversy surrounding the church, seminary and gymnasium in Noginsk, Russia.

Four panel discussions, included in the program on December 4, addressed "Current Issues of Ukrainian Churches," "The Ukrainian Diaspora in Transition," "The Diaspora and Ukraine" and "The Role of the UWC in the 21st Century."

With the firm restraining hand of Chief Financial Officer William Sametz in evidence (he returns for another term), the UWC adopted a "minimum budget" of $240,000 (Canadian), with a provisional fall-back "55 percent" budget of $133,000 for 1999. These modest levels prompted the president-elect to call for a renewed fund-raising drive that would enable the UWC to at least double its budget in the coming years, given the "pressing and serious issues we need to address, and the many Ukrainians around the world who need our assistance."

All told, 192 delegates registered to participate in the four-day proceedings, plus a concert at the University of Toronto's Convocation Hall held on December 6. The UWC's verifications committee also said the congress was attended by 361 guests. Thirty-six national umbrella organizations and 22 international Ukrainian organizations were represented at the convention.

In his acceptance speech, Mr. Lozynskyj emphasized the importance of commemorations of the genocidal Famine of 1932-1933 as an important cathartic means to educate Ukrainians in Ukraine, Ukrainians around the world and the world at large that the only guarantor of Ukrainian identity is a stable and democratic independent state.

The UWC's new president said the importance of Ukraine as a geopolitical presence, recognized by such influential strategic thinkers as Zbigniew Brzezinski, should encourage the Ukrainian diaspora to embrace its supporting role and thus realize its own importance.

Mr. Lozynskyj offered an olive branch to Mr. Drach of the Ukrainian World Coordinating Council, who attended the congress. The UWC president said "we will find a modus vivendi" and said that, based on the talks the two held during the congress, he was prepared to accept the UWCC's expressions of disassociation from the Ukraina Society's KGB-tainted history.

Asked to offer his vision of the UWC prior to the voting, Mr. Lozynskyj said he believes the UWC "must reflect the concept of a world Ukrainian community and function as a kind of government which defends the interests of the 20 million Ukrainians who live outside Ukraine, because these individuals lack their own representation."

He added, "Unfortunately, the government of Ukraine is presently too weak, because of its economic difficulties, to concern itself with the fate of these Ukrainians."

Mr. Lozynskyj expressed his belief that, in relations with the Ukrainian government, "the diaspora not only has the right to offer support, but also the right to make certain demands concerning the national policy of the country."

A dearth of candidates

A six-month canvassing for candidates for the presidency (Dr. Cipywnyk declined to stand for another term, citing the excessive length of the five-year terms, among other factors) had produced a barrage of refusals. When the congress began, two candidates, outgoing UWC Vice-President Vasyl Veryha and former UWC activist Evhen Roslycky appeared to be in the running, but eventually withdrew. The candidacies of Ukrainian Canadian Congress activist Maria Szkambara and World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations President Oksana Sokolyk also ended in withdrawal.

Mr. Lozynskyj agreed to stand for the post on the penultimate day of plenary sessions, but although he was the lone candidate at the final plenum, certain delegates felt the need to express their opposition (a motion to have these votes tallied by secret ballot was defeated), and the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America president became the UWC's chief executive by a vote of 146 for, 11 against and 13 abstentions.

At the opening ceremonies, attended by about 300 people, members of the Toronto-based Barvinok dance ensemble carried in 17 flags representing Ukraine and the countries whose national representations are members of the Ukrainian World Congress: Australia, Austria, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The invocation was delivered by Metropolitan Wasyly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada, and this was followed by an ecumenical moleben commemorating the victims of the Famine of 1932-1933. Dr. Cipywnyk also asked for a minute of silence in their honor, then tersely proclaimed the congress open, and expressed the wish that its delegates would "adopt resolutions for the benefit of the diaspora and the welfare of Ukraine."

Evhen Czolij, as president of the host country's Ukrainian umbrella body, welcomed the delegates from abroad to Canada, while Member of Provincial Parliament Derwyn Shea and City Councillor Chris Korwyn-Kuczynski read welcomes from the premier of Ontario and the mayor of Toronto.

Newly appointed Ambassador Khandogiy brought greetings from Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and extended his own appreciation as a diplomat for the role the diaspora has played in making it possible for Ukraine to make its voice heard around the world.

When the formal business of the congress was taken up, the election of Taras Pidzameckyj as the congress's presidium chairman broke a string of three congress chairmanships held by Chicago activist Julian Kulas.

Due in part to financial constraints, but also to the aging leadership of Ukrainian organizations in North America, the total of registered delegates (192) was dramatically lower than were present at the sixth congress (285), which had already signalled a steep decline from the numbers at the 1988 congress (478).

Before the congress got under way, it was apparent from the program distributed to delegates that there would be no "Ottawa segment" as planned. Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs had declined to endorse the idea, put forth by the UWC's Commission on Human and Civil Rights, that the world umbrella body's host country serve as a sponsor for a United Nations resolution condemning the use of famine as an instrument of war or political coercion (as it is currently being employed in Sudan, for example), in part to commemorate victims of the Famine in Ukraine of 1932-1933. Thus, activities that were to have taken place in the Canadian capital were cancelled.

Other difficulties stemmed from the malaise in the UWC itself. No by-laws committee was struck at the congress, because it had failed to meet the deadline of submitting proposed by-laws changes that lapsed six months prior to the congress. Tamara Woloschuk, who was appointed ad hoc as committee chair a few scant weeks before the June deadline, explained that no amendments had been submitted by any of the UWC's constituent organizations or officers, and that she was given insufficient time to marshal any last-minute efforts.

Membership in the congress's other committees seemed to fluctuate. Throughout the four-day conclave (and even at press time a full two weeks later), it was impossible to determine the exact composition of the resolutions committee, chaired by Wolodymyr Stojko of the U.S., although Julia Woychyshyn and Yaroslav Skrypnyk, both of Canada, participated in reading the committee's report to the final plenary.

The congress's resolutions were a source of considerable controversy in themselves, not least because the committee's ability to write them out in time was hamstrung - in part by the actions of the delegates and in part by other technical difficulties.

Since delegates either cavalierly ignored the deadline for submissions (4 p.m. on December 4), or found it difficult to meet because various panel discussions on matters of interest were held until 6 p.m., the resolutions committee was two hours late with its report on the following morning, and even then was forced to read proposals from scraps of paper.

The resolutions read out (with assurances that they would be "edited for composition and structure") were adopted as an omnibus package, except for one, the source of yet another controversy. For the first time in the UWC's history, congress delegates defied Church hierarchs by voting down a resolution about the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

According to Bishop Yurij of the Ukrainian Orthodox of Canada, he, along with Metropolitan Wasyly and Archbishop John of Canada, as well as Archbishop Vsevolod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A., proposed a resolution that the UWC address Moscow Patriarch Aleksei II and ask that he release the Ukrainian Orthodox who are presently under his jurisdiction so that they may freely form an autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

Several delegates complained that this constituted "begging Moscow to grant Ukrainian autocephaly" and refused to support the resolution, despite several personal assurances from Bishop Yurij that this resolution would be useful in the international arena.

A reminder about protocol from Mr. Pidzameckyj drove home the point that, in the past, delegates had always deferred to Church hierarchs in the formulation of resolutions that concerned them, but this did not deter the assembly from excising the item from the omnibus list of resolutions, and then defeating it by a margin of 63 to 22, with 11 abstentions.

The process of selecting of resolutions also came under fire. Mr. Kulas complained that none the submissions made by the panel (on the role of the UWC) he chaired were considered. Other delegates and commission members made similar remonstrations.

In accordance with a decision made by the new UWC executive, all submissions for resolutions, including those "formally" ratified by the congress were to be reviewed, and the final text of all the resolutions was embargoed until December 23.

A day of reports

December 3 was a day of reports, read by the national representations, international bodies and UWC's commissions. Good news came in the form of Stephane Dunikowski's announcement that a split akin to that which had sundered the community in the U.S. had been resolved in France and that the Comité Central des Organisations Ukrainiennes (Central Committee of Ukrainian Organizations), of which the young Paris-based lawyer is president, is now his country's sole umbrella body.

Otherwise, the complexity of Ukrainian presence in Europe made itself felt in the reports voiced by delegates from Western European countries on one hand, and Central and Eastern European states on the other. The former naturally subscribe to the concept of a "Western diaspora." The latter feel they are "local" or "autochthonous" Ukrainian inhabitants who prefer that the government in Kyiv play a more active role in defending their interests, even as they maintain close institutional ties to diaspora organizations such as the UWC.

Considerable opprobrium was directed at Mr. Drach and the UWCC, particularly on the issue of its association with the Ukraina Society. A delegate's attempt to dismiss the issue as "a meaningless spat over a technical matter," prompted the Ukrainian Research and Documentation Center's Prof. Wsevolod Isajiw to point out that, as a matter of historical record, the Ukraina Society was a successor institution to the notorious Soviet Repatriation Commission formed to dragoon displaced persons following the World War II, and as such unacceptable to the diaspora.

Other perennial sticking points were raised, such as the variegated UWCC by-laws and the misapprehension in Ukraine of the concept of a non-governmental organization.

Mr. Drach told the plenum that he would address these criticisms by modifying his scheduled address, delivered later that evening. In this fashion, he managed to limit debate on the subject, since no provision had been made in the agenda for discussion following his speech.

In his last administrative act as president, Dr. Cipywnyk delivered a thematic report on his five-year tenure as the titular head of the Ukrainian diaspora, to supplement the specifics of his activities provided in the printed version handed to delegates.

Dr. Cipywnyk praised the work of his chief financial officer, saying that "threats to the UWC's life because of its financial difficulties proved not to be fatal, as many people thought, because of the efforts of William Sametz."

He chided Ukrainian communities around the world for pleading poverty when asked to support the UWC, but then summoning up vast sums to support various ancillary, albeit worthy causes. "People claim that they can't pay their dues, and yet millions can be found to support Ukraine's diplomatic missions," Dr. Cipywnyk said.

In conclusion, the departing UWC chief said: "We need a more realistic approach to the situations with which we are confronted. The diaspora can't save Ukraine from its financial and political difficulties, and Ukraine cannot save the diaspora from assimilation. But through improved communication and cooperation, much can be achieved if the two act together and rise to the challenges they face."

Mr. Drach's defense

Later that evening, the UWCC president used his scheduled slot to rebuke those who criticized him and the organization he has headed since 1992, singling out Mr. Lozynskyj, Dr. Cipywnyk and Dr. Omelan Kowal of Belgium. "There is still a long way to go in terms of our political maturity," he intoned, "because we are so given to criticism and insults."

Mr. Drach said the Ukrainian élite worldwide is demoralized. "To those who insist we need self-medication," he declaimed, "I say that I'm calling on those surgeons willing to operate without anesthetic to reconsider their methods and their qualifications."

"They've made a profession of nihilism, and they lack love for Ukraine," Mr. Drach asserted.

Concerning the UWCC specifically, he conceded that it doesn't do enough to secure support from the Ukrainian government, to maintain adequate relations with the Western diaspora, or even to defend the interests of individual Ukrainian communities elsewhere. Mr. Drach asked the critics to be patient, because to demand that things be done immediately "is a Stalinist or Maoist program."

The UWCC president sought to deflect criticism of the manner in which the putative world Ukrainian umbrella body's congress was organized in 1997, in concert with the second World Forum of Ukrainians, by saying that First Prime Minister Vasyl Durdynets secured government funding for that conclave, while former Prime Ministers Yevhen Marchuk, "who finds favor among so many here," and Pavlo Lazarenko did nothing.

As a final riposte to critics in the diaspora, Mr. Drach said: "Have pretensions to yourselves. If you manage to transfer the capital of Ukraine to Toronto, then talk; but at the moment, it's in Kyiv. Those who work there, work as they know how. Suggestions as to how to work, they consider advice, not commands."

While no provision was made for discussion of Mr. Drach's clearly provocative address, under considerable pressure from the delegates and guests assembled, session chairman Levko Dovhovych yielded the floor to one speaker, Archbishop Adrian.

The Orthodox hierarch blunted the moral authority of Mr. Drach's protestations by stating baldly that while the UWCC president "had often visited Moscow, and often appeared in the Russian media," he never once came to the Muscovite suburb of Noginsk to visit the embattled shrine, seminary and gymnasium since they were closed by the Russian authorities.

Somewhat chastened, Mr. Drach agreed that "the barbarities" committed in Noginsk were unacceptable and offered assurances that he would "try to visit."

Oksana Sokolyk, president of the World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations (WFUWO), spoke on the theme "By Strengthening the Diaspora we will help Ukraine."

Mrs. Sokolyk averred that when the WFUWO thought to mobilize a diaspora reaction to the crisis engendered by the Russian Duma's claim to the Crimean city of Sevastopol, she and her fellow activists were suddenly struck by the realization that the diaspora's forces and resources are weakening.

The veteran UWC activist said that, while assimilation in the diaspora and the realities on the ground in Ukraine have to be taken into account, "we have to accept that our [Ukrainian] identity is non-negotiable."

"Many of us speak various different languages," Mrs. Sokolyk continued, "would it truly be difficult to learn another - that of our ancestors?" She said that she does not reject those who don't speak Ukrainian fluently, "I only implore them: try to learn it."

Mrs. Sokolyk set out guidelines for the UWC's future action: 1) to preserve Ukrainian identity in all countries of Ukrainian settlement; 2) to work for the strengthening of Ukrainian statehood; 3) to use all means available to influence governments in countries where Ukrainians live to improve political, economic and cultural relations with Ukraine and to secure its position on the international arena; 4) help direct diaspora resources to support Ukraine's efforts in nation-building, economic development and spiritual rebirth.

Other doings

The program also included a congressional session of the UWC Sports Commission, held on December 4, at which Atlanta's Larysa Barabash Temple was chosen to succeed Vsevolod Sokolyk as chairperson, and members of Australia's Ukrainian community reported on efforts made in preparation for the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000.

Also that day, the Conference of Ukrainian Youth Organizations held a three-hour session in which the situation of youth-focused groups was addressed. In contrast to the broader congress at which the Ukrainian language was held out to be an ineluctable unifying force, at this session it was more or less readily conceded that bilingualism (if not an outright absence of spoken Ukrainian) in diaspora settings is a fact of life.

That evening, Aleksander Maslej, president of the Lemko Association of Poland, spoke about "The Plight of Ukrainians forcibly relocated in Poland," and Oleksander Rudenko-Desniak, president of the Association of Ukrainians in Russia, delivered an address on "The Ukrainian Diaspora in Russia."

On December 3, Radio Canada International reporter Oleksander Chartchenko hosted a World Conference of Ukrainian Journalists, which attracted some representatives of Ukraine's media as well as the old guard and newly established diaspora press - though no formal invitations or agenda had ever been released. Nothing was made of a suggestion to formally convene a congress of Ukrainian journalists. However, Ihor Dlaboha of the U.S.-based Ukrainian Broadcasting Network, gave an analysis of the situation facing the Ukrainian media in North America.

The UWC's banquet was held in the Frontenac Ballroom on the closing day of the congress. Mr. Czolij served as master of ceremonies, read greetings from Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and welcomed guests in seven languages: Ukrainian, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, promising to learn more by the next congress.

The keynote address was delivered by Ukraine's Ambassador to the United Nations, Mr. Yelchenko, who mentioned that the tenure of Hennadii Udovenko as president of the U.N. General Assembly had greatly strengthened Ukraine's authority in the international arena, and said that his efforts in the coming year would be focused on securing a temporary seat on the U.N. Security Council for Ukraine.

Ambassador Yelchenko mentioned that on December 2, speaking to the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, he reminded the international diplomatic community that it was also the 50th anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and placed the genocidal Famine of 1932-1933 on the U.N.'s official record.

"Last month Ukraine commemorated one of the most tragic chapters in its history," Mr. Yelchenko's statement, distributed at the UWC congress, read, "the 65th anniversary of the man-made Famine of 1932-1933, when the Ukrainian people became the object of a conscious and deliberate genocide undertaken by the Soviet regime of those days." [See page 2 for the text of Ambassador Yelchenko's remarks at the U.N.]

Emboldened by the theme of a "world community of Ukrainians" raised by Mr. Lozynskyj, Ambassador Khandogiy stated in his address that it is time to erase distinctions such as those between the Eastern and Western diasporas, and between Galicians and those from central Ukraine. "We should feel that we are part of a single indivisible organism, as branches that grow from a single trunk and draw sustenance from the same roots," Mr. Khandogiy said.

Mr. Drach interpolated himself into the program to relate obscure anecdotes and a bizarre call for an end to splits in the diasporan community. "Slava Stetsko and Mykola Plawiuk should finally resolve their differences and bring the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America together with the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council," he said.

Dr. Cipywnyk delivered his farewell address, congratulating the newly elected presidium and president, and wryly wishing them good luck, health and great endurance. He said it would be impossible for him not to continue his association with the UWC and the principles it stands for.

He thanked members of his presidium for their dedicated work and volunteerism, and thanked the communities of Australia, Argentina and Brazil for their hospitality. Dr. Cipywnyk extended special gratitude to UWC headquarters staffer Lesia Szubelak, saying that without her labors the world umbrella body would have been hard-pressed to function at all, and the seventh congress would not have taken place. He also thanked Ms. Szkambara, William Kereluk, Alex Neprel, Luba Zaraska, Maria Lopata, Marusia Kret, Anna Luciw, Ihor Shevchuk and Chrystyna Bidiak for volunteering their time and efforts in handling the logistics of the congress.

St. Volodymyr Medals, the UWC's highest award, were granted to Ukrainian Olympic Committee President Valerii Borzov, U.S.-based scholar and community activist Lev Dobriansky, writer Lina Kostenko, the Ukrainian National Women's League of America, Canadian-editor and community activist Volodymyr Okipniuk, U.S. community activist Dr. Bohdan Shebunchak, Canadian fraternalist and community activist Dr. Mykola Suchowersky, Canadian academic patron Petro Jacyk and Canadian Ukrainian cooperative and community activist Yaroslav Skrypnyk.

Certificates of recognition were conferred upon the late Volodymyr Kolesnyk, Marta Kravtsiv-Barabash, Walter Klymkiw, Kvitka Zorych-Kondracka, Luba Krupa, Evhen Mastykash and Myron Stebelsky.

The UWC concert, held the following day at the University of Toronto's Convocation Hall, was held without the new president attending, because he had not expected to put forward his candidacy and had pressing business out of town.

First Vice-President Szkambara emceed a program that included performances by the Barvinok Ukrainian Dance Ensemble, the Polyfonia Children's Choir, the Vesnianka Dance Ensemble, a bandurist chorus conducted by Victor Mishalow, violinists Marta and Irena Krechkovska and their uncle Yuriy Krechkovsky, pianists Olha Tsinkevych and Oleksy Rozumny, as well as the Vesnivka and Burlaka choirs.

Presidium of the Ukrainian World Congress Secretariat:

Executive:

Vice-Presidents, regional:

Members (national):

Members (international organizations, UWC commissions):

Auditing Committee:

Co-chairs:

Members:

Deputy members:

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, December 20, 1998, No. 51, Vol. LXVI

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