LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (11/28/99)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Re: The Weekly's role and its importance

Dear Editor:

The recent editorial about the financial problems of The Ukrainian Weekly ("The Complex Answer," October 10) is very disturbing news and has elicited positive responses from our community. I hope there will be more.

In addition to being an advertisement for the Ukrainian National Association, The Ukrainian Weekly is also the single best nationwide vehicle for informing Ukrainian Americans about significant events in the diaspora community and in Ukraine.

It is a unique source that provides all generations of Ukrainians with the information they need to work for business and professional reasons. Additionally, The Weekly effectively preserves and fosters among the younger generation of the American diaspora a sense of their ethnic heritage, which helps them identify with the rest of our community.

The Ukrainian Weekly plays an extremely important role in providing information about current developments in Ukraine to that segment of the U.S. population that has the greatest effect on formulating policy toward Ukraine. Often The Weekly is the only source that prints certain news items concerning Ukraine that American or Canadian papers overlook or will not print for whatever reason.

The Weekly outlines issues in a responsible way and thus demonstrates for the U.S. government those concerns the Ukrainian American diaspora considers to be most critical and policies and actions it expects its representatives to pursue. On numerous occasions I have heard members of the U.S. Congress or their staff remark that they learned about this or that development in Ukraine by reading The Ukrainian Weekly. U.S. State Department employees dealing with Ukrainian affairs also make use of this valuable source of information.

Scholars and graduate students doing research on Ukrainian issues at the Library of Congress often avail themselves of this excellent paper, which is displayed along with other major newspapers on the public racks of the European Division's Reading Room.

Therefore, it is of utmost importance that The Ukrainian Weekly be given every chance, not only to continue its work, but to expand. And, its staff should be congratulated for all their hard work.

Ihor Gawdiak
Washington

The writer is president of the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council.

Reaction to review of Hutsulschyna book

Dear Editor:

The Ukrainian Weekly is a respected source of information about problems and events in the world, in Ukraine and in the Ukrainian diaspora. For this reason the publishers of the book "Hutsulschyna: Perlyna Ukrainskykh Karpat" felt it important that The Weekly note its publication.

The review reads as a detailed listing of the book's table of contents, and as such provides an arguably accurate representation of the book. Following this is the reviewer's assessment that the book's value is diminished somehow by the absence of dates and credits for the photographs, and by the technical faults of the photographs themselves.

These photographs were gathered from a large number of people and their compilation was not an easy process, nor was it a realistic task to authenticate the captions and dates, or to verify the geographic locales portrayed in these photographs.

The Institute of Ethnology in Lviv described the publication of this book as a "pre-eminent event in Ukrainian ethnography" and a "definitive work," and underscored the significance of the book "for current and future researchers of this colorful region."

Criticism of this publication by the review in The Weekly is painful for lovers of the Hutsuls and their region who devoted so much time and effort in preparing the materials that enabled the publication of this important book.

Ulana Starosolska
New York

The writer is editor of "Hutsulchyna: Perlyna Ukrainskyh Karpat."

Ukraine doesn't need hetmanate or monarchy

Dear Editor:

One is compelled to agree with Dr. Myron Kuropas on his assessment of the presidential elections and presidential authority in Ukraine ("Where is our hetman, now that we need him?" October 31). However, the situation does not merit the romantic notion of re-establishing a hetmanate or monarchy in Ukraine.

Left-Bank and Right-Bank Ukraine under hetmanate administrative rule experienced a lack of cohesiveness due to internal squabbling and disloyalty (let alone foreign intervention), based on personal ambitions and opportunism. The brilliant statesman Hetman Ivan Mazepa, Hetman Ivan Vyhovsky and others witnessed first-hand these tragic setbacks that more than hindered their military campaigns.

I'm not sure the British imperial example is opportune either. The princely members of the House of Windsor are hardly models of exemplary rulers. Moreover, monarchies have been plagued for centuries by disgruntled taxpayers. The average Ukrainian citizen has difficulty paying taxes under the current political system in Ukraine. Why would a Ukrainian be content in attempting to fulfill his civic duty by paying taxes in support of a monarchy?

And besides, Ukraine has had its share of governance under monarchial, imperial colonial rule. Monarchies breed unrest. Irishman Bobby Sands starved himself to death in protest against the English crown's colonial rule in Ireland. Did I mention Basque separatism?

Illya Matthew Labunka
Lviv

The Ukrainian Weekly welcomes letters to the editor and commentaries on a variety of topics of concern to the Ukrainian American and Ukrainian Canadian communities. Opinions expressed by columnists, commentators and letter-writers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of either The Weekly editorial staff or its publisher, the Ukrainian National Association.

| Home Page |