Chicagoans picket The New York Times (12/07/03)

THE 70th ANNIVERSARY OF THE FAMINE-GENOCIDE IN UKRAINE

Chicagoans picket The New York Times

by Luka Kostelyna

CHICAGO - Tuesday, November 18 was an unpleasant day: cloudy, constant rain, unfriendly. However, the planned demonstration in front of The New York Times office at 111 E. Wacker Drive, Chicago, took place in the downpour.

The Chicago Ukrainian community's objective for the demonstration was to demand that the New York Times disown the Pulitzer Prize unjustly awarded to Walter Duranty and to encourage the Times publisher to do the right thing by printing an expose of Duranty's duplicity in promoting Stalin's agenda on the front pages of The Times, as well as The Times' complicity with Stalin.

In his dispatches from Moscow, Duranty not only covered up the Famine-Genocide in Ukraine in 1932-1933 but also argued against its existence. He hid the truth about the genocide from Times readers while admitting, in private, that millions were dying of hunger.

According to a dispatch sent by George A. Gordon, chargé d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin (dated June 5, 1931) "Duranty stated that 'in agreement with The New York Times and the Soviet authorities' his official dispatches always reflect the opinion of the Soviet regime and not his own."

The Illinois Division of Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) organized the noontime demonstration. More than 50 people, who arrived by bus and car, took part in the active protest. Protesters carried signs with appropriate messages such as: "New York Times Collaborated with Stalin," "New York Times Guilty of Covering Up Murder of 10,000,000 Ukrainians," and "New York Times: Lies Fit to Print." Leaflets detailing the charges against The New York Times were distributed to passers-by.

The president of the UCCA's Illinois Division, Orest Baranyk, had a prepared letter to the publisher of The Times, which he read to the demonstrators and observers. Mr. Baranyk, along with the UCCA's Illinois vice-presidents, Julian Kulas and Pavlo Bandriwsky, attempted to personally deliver the letter to a representative of The Times but was stopped by the building's large security detail. After some heated arguments and strong persuasion, Mr. Baranyk forced the issue and was able to present the letter to a representative for delivery to The Times office.

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