FACES AND PLACES
by Myron B. Kuropas
If I had my way in 2004...
If I Had My Way As An American Ukrainian in 2004...
...Ukraine would become a totally free, not a partially free nation as depicted in a recent Freedom House report. This would mean that neither Leonid Kuchma nor Viktor Medvechuk would be president. The people and not the parliament would elect the president.
...The Communist Party of Ukraine would once again be outlawed and suffer the same fate as the Nazi Party in Germany; in a just and moral society it is truly mind boggling to think that the very party that was responsible for the Great Famine is still part of Ukraine's political process.
...Ukraine would have an independent judiciary and everybody, rich man, poor man, government official, would be subject to the rule of law. The Supreme Court would no longer be a tool of those in power. The many human rights guaranteed by the Ukrainian Constitution would be respected, not ignored as they were in Soviet times. ...Once elected on a particular slate, members of Parliament would be forbidden to change their political allegiance until the next term. They would also be subject to the law and could be indicted for criminal acts.
...People associated with the government, including parliamentarians, various and sundry bureaucrats, university staff and teachers who would not speak Ukrainian would be given a deadline to learn the national language after which they could suffer dismissal for failing to comply.
...An independent committee of highly respected jurists would be selected by the Supreme Court to investigate the most egregious crimes of the Soviet Union and those responsible brought to trial. Ukraine can never be fully independent until it comes to terms with its Soviet past.
...Oblast governors would be elected by the people, not appointed by the president.
...Ukraine would finally have a free press. Journalists who criticized government officials would not disappear, or suffer "unfortunate accidents" or "commit suicide" or lose their heads, literally. Reporters would be allowed free access to government officials whose first loyalty would be to the electorate rather than oligarchs or political mentors.
...The economy would improve once capitalism was given free rein and laws were in place to protect private property. A free market system which rewarded hard work and innovation would be encouraged and rewarded by a government which abolished confiscatory taxes on entrepreneurs.
...Corruption would end. Ukraine's oligarchs would begin to give back most of what they had stolen for so many years. Government officials who took bribes would be severely punished.
...Ukrainian higher education would be totally overhauled. Most of today's Soviet-era professors would be forced to retire. Ukrainian academics would be hired on the basis of what they know rather than who they know. Professors who took bribes from students would be summarily dismissed. Universities would flourish as true meritocracies where advancement is based on ability and achievement rather than political contracts. Universities would be responsible for granting higher degrees rather than the politically corrupt Ministry of Higher Education. Soviet-era academic degrees such as the "candidate," "specialist" and "academic" would be abolished (as they were in the three Baltic nations), and replaced by the universally recognized baccalaureate, master and doctors degrees. Professors would serve on thesis committees as part of their academic responsibility and not expect a fee or other largess for their guidance. Universities would finally become independent institutions of higher learning, not subject to the political control and whims of the Ministry of Higher Education. University students and Professors would no longer be punished for participating in the political process.
...Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic leaders would begin a dialogue for the purpose of coming to a greater appreciation of each other.
Ukrainians are a hard-working, well-educated, and innovative people who deserve far better than what they have experienced during the last twelve years.
If I had my way as a Ukrainian American in 2004...
...Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden would be dead and buried.
...The Ukrainian National Association would make a quantum leap towards renewal; the stagnation of the past few years would end and the UNA would once again be the premier Ukrainian organization in America.
...Our community would be united once again. The year 2004 will be a pivotal year, a watershed moment in our history, both here and in Ukraine, and for that reason unity is essential. My hope is that all national Ukrainian organizations, including the Ukrainian National Women's League of America (Soyuz Ukrainok), Plast, ODUM, and the Ukrainian Fraternal Association, will return to the Ukrainian Congress Committee (UCCA).
...Our brothers and sisters in the fourth wave whose values, aspirations, and behavior are so different from our own, would come to better appreciate the kinship which we all share.
...The membership of our Orthodox and Catholic churches would double so that our rich religious heritage is invigorated and our people are reborn into Jesus Christ.
...The Office of Special Investigations (OSI) would be exposed for the fraud that it is. At a cost of millions of American tax payer dollars OSI has deteriorated into little more than a hate group dependent on maintaining Jewish animus towards Ukrainians, ignoring, at the same time, Soviet criminals currently residing in the land of the free. OSI remains a blight on the American judicial system. It is a boil that needs to be lanced.
And so I dream, not little dreams, but big dreams, dreams worthy of thought and realization and I do so as an American. In the words of poet Archibald Macleish: There are those, I know, who will reply that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and mind, is nothing but a dream. It is. It is the American dream." And that, dear reader, is what will sustain me in the coming year.
Myron Kuropas' e-mail address is: [email protected].
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 4, 2004, No. 1, Vol. LXXII
| Home Page |