ACTION ITEM (12/12/99)

ACTION ITEM

Dear Colleagues:

The editorial in the October 9 issue of The Ukrainian Weekly outlines a crisis for the North American Ukrainian diaspora and indirectly for Ukraine. The Ukrainian Weekly has been an excellent source of information for the diaspora, and especially for the younger generation.

Equally important for our purposes, this English-language newspaper has been an immensely vital source of information and a paper of record concerning Ukrainian and North American diaspora issues, and it has communicated this information to the non-Ukrainian audiences we need to reach, mainly the U.S. Congress.

Time and time again, even when the Associated Press or other news agencies carried stories about Ukraine, these news items and articles were not picked up by newspapers in the United States. Only The Ukrainian Weekly has been a consistent source of information about Ukraine. We are not writing to denigrate Svoboda, but we feel that the inertia that has led to the disintegration of The Weekly's financial resources has got to be halted and turned around. The continued existence of The Weekly is equally, if not more, important for the overall destiny of Ukrainian-American relations than is Svoboda.

Because The Weekly is professionally written, objective, non-partisan, inclusive and nonsectarian, it is an excellent forum for public debate. We often say that we want unity in the Ukrainian diaspora and in Ukraine, but it is important to remember that the concept of democracy is not defined by a homogeneous "unity," but by a respect for its very opposite - for plurality. The Ukrainian Weekly is an excellent example of plurality of opinion which shows U.S. legislators that we are a thriving, dynamic, professional and thinking community, engaged in supporting our ancestral homeland and the best ideals of democracy. By the same token, it is an excellent means of building consensus and combined community effort.

Therefore, we urge all members to do the following: 1) write letters to The Weekly calling on its publisher, the Ukrainian National Association, to restructure the newspaper's budget to allow it the funds it deserves, 2) ask others in your community to do the same; 3) order a gift subscription to The Weekly for someone you know; 4) donate to The Ukrainian Weekly Press Fund; 5) advertise in The Weekly. Please act without delay.

- submitted by Ihor Gawdiak, president, Ukrainian American Coordinating Council.

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