NINTH ANNIVERSARY OF UKRAINE'S INDEPENDENCE

Statement by the UACC

Statement of the Executive Board of the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council on the occasion of the ninth anniversary of Ukraine's independence.

Until August 1991, the phrase "short-lived" was the usual characterization when historians wrote about Ukraine's attempts at independence. It now is nine years since Ukraine reappeared on the map of consciousness of the world. Looking back at the history of Ukraine of the past 350 years since Bohdan Khmelnytsky made Ukraine a European power, nine years is a considerable period of time.

On the threshold of its 10th year as an independent and internationally recognized state, Ukraine continues to grow while simultaneously removing the vestiges of three and a half centuries of colonialism. As two American legislators Rep. Steny Hoyer and Sen. Paul Sarbanes noted when independent Ukraine's fifth anniversary was observed in Congress, Ukraine was doing much better five years after independence than the United States was five years after July 4, 1776. This still holds true as Ukraine celebrates its ninth anniversary. The model American Constitution was not even ratified until 14 years after independence, while the American currency was hardly coveted nine years after "the shot heard around the world." Ukraine, on the other hand, already enjoys a working Constitution and its currency is real. As Americans of Ukrainian descent we should be happy and proud of all this and celebrate the achievements for which we and our ancestors waited so long.

There are many ways we as Americans can celebrate Ukraine's good fortune. We can look for ways to attract American investments for Ukraine, keeping in mind that it was foreign investment that helped the poor and debt-ridden United States stand on its feet. We can help Ukraine tear down the decrepit vestiges of the old Soviet system and its unproductive command economy. But the most effective way we Americans can help Ukraine is by nourishing good U.S.-Ukraine relations, and this can best be done through our active participation in the American political process.

This is the quadrennial big election year in the United States, and we should not remain on the sidelines with the 60 or 70 percent of our fellow Americans who don't bother to vote.

All of us who are citizens by birth or naturalization should be registered as voters and we should cast our ballot in every election from that for the local school board to the election of the president of the United States.

Our motto should be: "I'm a Ukrainian, and I vote." This would be our most tangible action in honor of Ukraine's ninth anniversary of independence.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, August 20, 2000, No. 34, Vol. LXVIII

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