STATEMENTS AT 'REQUIEM 2002' RALLY

UACC president: Let's dedicate ourselves to a law-abiding Ukraine

Below is the text of a statement on behalf of the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council delivered by President Ihor Gawdiak at Shevchenko Plaza, in Washington on September 15 as part of the "Requiem 2002" action.

When generations of Ukrainian immigrants to the United States came here to Washington to dedicate this statue of Taras Shevchenko in 1964, they did so not only to honor the greatest Ukrainian poet and statesman, but also to reaffirm their own commitment to the vision of a Ukrainian state that Shevchenko called for in his poem asking when will Ukraine get its Washington with his righteous laws.

When Ukraine became independent in 1991, Ukrainian Americans were full of hope and expectation that Shevchenko's and their own vision of the country they had left behind would now become a reality. Sadly, however, 11 years later most Ukrainian Americans and the citizens of Ukraine are still waiting for Ukraine's Washington. They are still waiting for Ukraine to become the kind of state they had hoped for.

The men whom we commemorate today shared the same vision of Ukraine. Heorhii Gongadze and other journalists, Vyacheslav Chornovil and other political activists, who met tragic and unexplained deaths in the prime of their professional careers, had dedicated their lives, their energy, their passion toward creating a Ukraine that was truly a democratic state, where the rule of law is supreme and is applied equally to all its citizens. A state where the economic benefits are distributed as equitably as possible, where a free media exists and where freedom of speech and all the other human rights that are integral to a democracy are guaranteed and protected.

Especially today, when the world seems fraught with terror and hate, we must also not forget that all these men were men of peace. They never called for violence as the means to achieve their goals. We should honor them by uniting together and by dedicating ourselves to work for a Ukraine that is a truly European state, a just and law-abiding nation where no one who champions the truth needs to feel afraid any more.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, September 22, 2002, No. 38, Vol. LXX

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