UKRAINE'S INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY: Ukraine 2002: much to celebrate (09/15/02)

UKRAINE'S INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY

Ukraine 2002: much to celebrate

Following are remarks delivered by Myron B. Kuropas at the UCCA-sponsored Ukrainian Independence Day Commemoration in Chicago on August 25.

As we commemorate the 11th year of Ukraine's independence, we can rejoice. Positive changes are taking place, and there is more reason for optimism than for pessimism.

For the first time in its history, Ukraine has a democratic Constitution freely articulated by elected officials. During the past two years, economic growth has overtaken stagnation. The former command economy is being liberalized. Following the last parliamentary elections, the Communist Party is no longer a major power. The will of the people is being exercised in the voting booth and parties of reform are gaining support. These are highly significant gains.

Another notable change in Ukraine's societal structure is the emergence of a civil society. We all know that one of the first things the Bolsheviks did upon conquering Ukraine was to outlaw freedom of association. Non-governmental organizations or NGOs, which included various religious, humanitarian, cooperative, economic and cultural societies, were abolished. Today, all of that is changing. Although the present government in Ukraine still over-regulates the activities of NGOs, their number has grown from some 4,000 in 1995 to 35,000 in 2001.

Religious, gender and ethnic diversity is also being promoted in Ukraine today. In 2001 Ukraine had 25,000 religious organizations representing 80 churches and sects. Some two-thirds of Ukraine's people say they are believers. With the exception of the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and a few Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic fanatics who insist that only their faith is the true faith, religious tolerance is becoming the norm.

Ukrainian women are slowly returning to center stage in Ukraine, as well. There are some 700 separate women's societies in Ukraine today, most of which belong to three national umbrella organizations.

Some 40 ethnic groups have created there own civic and cultural NGOs. The most active are those established by Crimean Tatars, Jews, Russians, Hungarians, Poles and Romanians.

Finally, we can be thankful for the emergence of semi-private institutions of higher learning such as the national universities of Mohyla and Ostroh. A new, nationally conscious elite is being educated in these academies, and this augurs well for Ukraine's future.

This is not to say that Ukraine has solved all of its problems. Leonid Kuchma is still president. If the Supreme Court rules that he was elected prior to the adoption of the present Constitution, which limits presidents to two terms, Mr. Kuchma can run again, he could win again, despite his current 13 percent approval rating. Mr. Kuchma has adopted some of the Soviet-style tactics of the past, especially in the arena of press freedom. The rule of law is almost non-existent. Ukraine's justice system is corrupt, making it difficult for honest Ukrainians to feel safe and secure as they go about their daily affairs. Recent revelations by the Ministry of Internal Affairs point to specially created death squads operating in Kyiv, Odesa and Lviv, suggesting, of course, that many so-called "accidents" and disappearances involving journalists and politicians were pre-arranged.

Moscow is increasing its involvement in Ukrainian affairs, behaving as if Ukraine is still an integral part of the Russian empire, still "Mala Rus." Moves are now under way to coordinate Ukrainian and Russian history in textbooks and to have the Ukrainian Parliament consult with Russia's Parliament before any new legislation is introduced. Ukraine's population has shrunk by some 3 million people since independence. We've just learned that the percentage of AIDs cases in Ukraine is the highest in Eastern Europe.

A recent poll taken by Our Ukraine indicates that 56 percent of the respondents do not believe Ukraine is a truly independent state. And finally, Ukraine's image in the democratic West has been badly tarnished during the past three years. A two-year study of Ukraine by Cognita Ukraine, an independent consulting firm, has concluded that Ukraine is perceived as a state run by the mafia, a corrupt, unreliable, rather distasteful place.

There is a debate raging in our community these days regarding the role of the diaspora in Ukrainian affairs. We are faced with a dilemma. Should we condemn the outrages of the current administration at every opportunity or should we accentuate the positive and ignore the negative? If we consistently condemn Ukraine, some community members argue, then the United States will abandon Ukraine, pushing it closer to President Vladimir Putin's Russia. Others believe that ignoring Ukraine's blemishes will only lead to more corruption, more theft, and a nation totally controlled by oligarches and the mafia.

I believe we have a moral obligation to point to Ukraine's shortcomings because if we don't, who will? Ukraine does not have a free press. We shouldn't fear that our criticism will turn America against Ukraine because the only people who can influence American foreign policy towards Ukraine is the Ukrainian government itself. America will always do what America believes is in its best interest and what we say or do will have little effect. We learned this lesson during the Cold War. The U.S. government knows what is going on in Ukraine far better than we do. To pretend that all is well over there only hurts our credibility with U.S. government officials.

At the same time, however, we need to realize that our influence on events in Ukraine is rather limited. Let's face it. If the Ukrainian people decide that they want to join the Russia-Belarus axis there is little we can do about it. But knowing this doesn't mean we bury our heads in the sand and only moan, groan and complain.

There is much that we, as individuals, can do to help, not on a grand scale, but in some small ultimately meaningful way. Each of us needs to adopt a small piece of Ukraine - a school, a library, a university, an NGO, a church, a town, a family, an author, a student - some trustworthy institution or person - that we can assist directly. Just think of the impact we will have if each and every one of us here today did just that. The mechanisms for assistance are in place. Many, many opportunities exist. We need to seize this moment in Ukrainian history and act on it.

Ukraine lives. Better days are on the horizon.

| Home Page |