2004: THE YEAR IN REVIEW: And in the diaspora: an orange wave (01/16/05)

2004: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

And in the diaspora: an orange wave

Many of the Ukrainian diaspora's efforts this past year focused on the dramatic events that took place in Ukraine over the final three months there - what many people have taken to calling "the Orange Revolution" in Ukraine.

Following the falsified November 21 runoff election in Ukraine, leaders of the diaspora community issued a statement that condemned the election and recognized Viktor Yushchenko as the election's winner.

The statement read, in part: "The Ukrainian World Congress and its member-organizations in 30 countries actively monitored the electoral process in Ukraine on November 21. " Should the CEC declare Viktor Yanukovych president, he cannot be deemed to have been elected by the voters. Should the CEC declare Viktor Yushchenko president, he will have overcome substantial obstacles and violations. The Ukrainian diaspora, whose activities are coordinated by the UWC, sends greetings to Viktor Yushchenko as the winner of the election and offers him its support for the benefit of the Ukrainian people and an independent democratic Ukrainian state."

The statement was signed by Askold Lozynskyj and Victor Pedenko of the Ukrainian World Congress, Michael Sawkiw of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and Ostap Skrypnyk of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

In addition to such statements, Ukrainians around the world demonstrated against the falsified November 21 vote.

In the U.S., protests against the initial outcome of the November vote took place in New York, Chicago, Houston, Washington, Sacramento and San Francisco, and points in between. In Canada there were protests in Toronto, Winnipeg, Montreal, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Regina. In Australia there were rolling rallies in Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne. In addition, there were demonstrations in Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Sweden, Italy and England, to name a few of the places around the world where the Ukrainian diaspora publicly called for free and fair elections.

Ukrainian citizens residing in Manitoba and hundreds of their supporters gathered near the Taras Shevchenko monument by the Legislative Building on November 21 to express their protest against the violation of the voting rights in Ukraine and symbolically cast their own votes. The symbolic polling station was created as a sign of support for Ukrainian democracy and to focus attention on the fact that there was no polling station set up for Ukrainian citizens in western Canada.

Results of the symbolic vote showed that 113 eligible voters participated in symbolic elections. One ballot was spoiled, one voted "against all" and 111 voted for Viktor Yushchenko, the candidate of the opposition.

An estimated 1,500 Ukrainian Americans demonstrated in front of the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington on November 24. Chanting "Yushchenko" and various slogans, the crowd blocked off the street in front of the Embassy's main entrance and part of Francis Scott Key Park next to it. The demonstration also forced the police to stop traffic on part of M Street, a major artery bringing bridge traffic across the Potomac River into the capital from Virginia.

The highlight of the event was the appearance by four Ukrainian diplomats who a day earlier signed a statement expressing their solidarity with their countrymen demonstrating in Ukraine and protesting the conduct of the presidential election. The four - Counselors Oleksandr Potiekhin, Volodymyr Chumak and Olexandr Scherba, and Second Secretary Yurii Parkhomenko - came out of the Embassy to the cheers of the crowd and shared their feelings about the election.

From the Ukrainian Embassy, the demonstrators went to the Embassy of Russia to show their displeasure with its government's meddling in the election process in Ukraine. Afterwards, a smaller group went on to the State Department, where a delegation had a meeting with an official responsible for Ukrainian affairs.

Protesters also gathered in Crawford, Texas, where President George W. Bush prepared to enter the Burger Barn on November 26 for a lunch with his wife, his parents and mother-in-law.

The president was greeted by throngs of cheers from 100 Texas Ukrainian Americans from Houston, Dallas, Forth Worth, Austin and College Station. The group carried Ukrainian and American flags, orange "Tak" (Yes - the Yushchenko slogan) ribbons, "Tak" Yushchenko signs, and placards bearing sincere thank-yous to President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell for their powerful statements regarding their disapproval of the fraudulent Ukrainian election results. One demonstrator held aloft a sign saying "Putin: Kyiv is NOT your new Moscow on the Dnipro."

The demonstrators were seen by President Bush, who stopped, smiled and waved to the group. The group returned the greeting with chants of "Democracy for Ukraine." Footage of the rally was aired on CNN as part of its continuous coverage of the fraudulent Ukrainian presidential election.

In addition to the rallies, the Ukrainian World Congress also issued a statement on December 6 on an important ruling by the Ukrainian Supreme Court. A portion of that statement read: "On Friday, December 3, 2004, the Supreme Court of Ukraine voided the results of the run-off election held on November 21 and mandated that a second run-off be held within three weeks. The following day, the Central Election Commission announced that the run-off would take place on December 26, 2004. In light of this information, irrespective of the ultimate composition of the CEC or the supervision over the second run-off, the Ukrainian World Congress calls upon all Ukrainians in the diaspora to prepare for the elections as scheduled. We continue to insist that the elections must be supervised by the international community, with a CEC of new composition, elimination of wandering ballots and allowance for equal media access both to the two candidates and all voters. Finally, it is imperative that the international community ensure Russia's non-interference in the electoral process."

Ukrainians in Australia were also active, assuring that events in Ukraine took place in a democratic fashion.

Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer and Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations (AFUO) Chairman Stefan Romaniw OAM met in Canberra on December 2 to discuss the election situation in Ukraine. Mr. Romaniw acknowledged and thanked the minister for the Australian government's position which rejected the November election result due to many reported violations, and the cooperation afforded to the AFUO. He called on the government to look at ways to apply additional pressure to ensure the will of the people is reflected in the final outcome of the presidential election.

"All governments, including the Australian government, have a role to play now, whilst there is an opportunity to effect change and allow the people of Ukrainian to choose their leader in an open and transparent way compared to the fraud and manipulation of results experienced to date," Mr. Romaniw added.

The AFUO then sent over 6,000 stuffed toy kangaroos and koalas to the pro-democracy supporters who braved rain and snow on Kyiv's Maidan Nezalezhnosty, or Independence Square. Mr. Romaniw said the aim of the gesture was to help provide a lift in spirits to those who sacrificed their time to keep up the vigil for Ukrainian democracy. "Australia is also sending over $30,000 in aid to those rallying in Kyiv, including food and medicines, so the kangaroo and koala drop is just another small way in which we're telling those rallying in Maidan Nezalezhnosty that we're all supporting them," Mr. Romaniw said.

Additionally, the AFUO held rallies in Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne in support of the fight for real democracy in Ukraine.

It must also be noted that Ukrainian citizens living in the diaspora came out to vote in increasing numbers as Ukraine's presidential election went from the first round on October 31, to the run-off between the two Viktors, Yushchenko and Yanukovych, on November 21; and on to the repeat run-off (or third round as it was being called) on December 26.

In addition, diaspora Ukrainians participated in large numbers as volunteer election monitors organized under the auspices of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. A total of 2,408 monitors were part of the UCCA delegation sent for the December 26 vote.

In news unrelated to the presidential election in Ukraine, the executive board of the Ukrainian World Congress, at its meeting in Toronto on February 7, established a task force to combat the illegal trafficking of Ukrainians. The task force was intended to function under the auspices of the UWC Human and Civil Rights Commission and was chaired by a representative from the World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations (WFUWO), a member-organization of the UWC.

The aim of the task force is to coordinate Ukrainian diaspora activity and serve as a liaison with the government of Ukraine as well as with numerous international governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and groups dealing with this problem, including the United Nations and the International Organization for Migration.

The UWC also issued a statement to the 48th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, held at the U.N. Headquarters in New York on March 1-12. The statement was made on March 8 and read, in part: "The international slave trade is among the most acute global issues confronting Ukrainians. The profound impact of the slave trade on Ukrainians is confirmed by Oleksander Dolzhenkov, deputy rector for scholarly research at the Institute of Law of the Odesa University, who recently reported that 'more than 400,000 Ukrainian women are currently being held abroad in sex slavery.' ' A report on 'Trafficking in Women from Ukraine' prepared by Donna M. Hughes of the University of Rhode Island and Tatyana Denisova of Zaporizhia State University states: 'From 1995 to 2000, approximately 400,000 women under the age of 30 left Ukraine. Trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation is a serious problem in Ukraine affecting hundreds of thousands of victims and their families.'

"The UWC shares the view of virtually all NGOs engaged in exposing and combating this scourge: trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery and a grave violation of human rights. We further agree that the international community must do more, much more meaningful, tangible work. To this end, we call on the United Nations system and governments to: marshal the political will to combat trafficking; undertake prevention and awareness campaigns; encourage and support the activities of non-governmental organizations; promulgate national legislation to punish traffickers and their facilitators; prioritize law enforcement efforts to arrest and convict traffickers; provide humanitarian services to victims and assist in their reintegration into society; ratify and implement the U.N. Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, including the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish the Trafficking of Persons, Especially Women and Children; develop international, regional and bilateral cooperation with countries of origin, transit and destination; and accord special focus on the new front for traffickers in Central and East Europe."

The 48th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) was under way in New York City on March 1-12. The session was devoted to the double theme of "Women's Equal Participation in Conflict Prevention, Management and Conflict Resolution" and "The Role of Men and Boys in Achieving Gender Equality."

The World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations (WFUWO), which has consultative status to the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), participated in the session. Because the WFUWO watches the work of the CSW Commission closely, WFUWO President Marika Szkambara and her assistant, Anne Szepetyk, traveled to New York from Toronto to participate in the conference and to meet with WFUWO's United Nations representation, whose coordinator is Nadia Shmigel. This year the WFUWO's U.N. representation co-sponsored a panel discussion focusing on the link between gender issues and the continuing spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic as one of the many side events offered as part of the programmed conference schedule.

Diaspora Ukrainians also traveled to Kyiv, where the Ukrainian World Coordinating Council held its meeting on March 19-20 during which it noted that in the last year it had developed extensive new contacts with the Eastern diaspora, particularly in Russia.

Mykhailo Horyn, chairman of the UWCC, noted in his report to the organization's leaders that in the past year tighter relations were established with Ukrainian communities in the Russian Federation, including remote Karelia, as well as in the region that abuts Ukraine's Kharkiv Oblast and the autonomous republic of Tatarstan. The UWCC leader noted that in Russia the community focus remained predominantly on folk song and dance ensembles. He said that those a little better organized had proceeded to begin forming education programs as well.

Mr. Horyn said he was particularly impressed with the situation in Tatarstan, where Ukrainians have a government-sponsored Sunday school program in addition to an artistic group and a choral ensemble. He explained that the Tatarstan government leadership was very responsive to the needs of its Ukrainian citizens.

The UWCC leader said that he would push the organization to broaden its involvement with the new communities and to extend them to people-to-people contacts between the Ukrainians living there and citizens in the homeland.

The UWCC also turned its attention to preparations for the fourth World Forum of Ukrainians next year. Vitalii Riadchenko, head of the UWCC Secretariat, called on the organization to focus fully on preparations for the event, which is the largest global gathering of Ukrainian non-governmental organizations. The UWCC announced that it had formed an organizing committee that included representatives from the Verkhovna Rada, the UWCC, the Ukrainian World Congress and national diaspora organizations of other countries. It also had invited Viktor Medvedchuk, President Leonid Kuchma's chief of staff, to become a member.

In other news, President Kuchma signed legislation on March 26 ascribing certain rights to those ethnic Ukrainians living abroad who identified themselves as Ukrainians. He did so after some critical aspects of the draft bill were dropped by its authors in the Ukrainian Parliament.

National Deputy Oksana Bilozir said that, especially in the West, the diaspora community was so well organized and sufficiently financed that it needed to be given a leading role as one of the central lobbying arms of Ukraine. Ms. Bilozir also noted that Ukraine's state authorities could not continue to disregard a recent economic immigration that had left another 7 million Ukrainians living abroad - forced to do so in order to support their families back home. She explained that the recent Fourth Wave of immigration was in all likelihood the largest current investor in Ukraine with expatriates sending back to their family members still living there a total of some $400 million in small amounts each month.

The lawmaker said that Ukraine's executive branch had hacked off articles specifically giving Ukrainians living abroad who could qualify for special status the same rights and privileges as citizens of Ukraine. She also explained that another setback was the president's disagreement with the need for a special state committee for Ukrainians living abroad. Ms. Bilozir noted that the lack of an overall policy - what she called a conceptual strategy on how relations between the diaspora and expatriates on the one hand and the state on the other should proceed - had weakened the argument for the need for a separate state committee on the matter.

The Christian Party leader, who is a member of the Committee on Diaspora Relations and chair of its EuroAtlantic subcommittee, said she appreciated the criticism against the approved legislation, especially from the leaders of the North American diaspora and the Ukrainian World Congress, who had helped to draw up the initial draft bill. However, she suggested that diaspora leaders needed to understand that an essential breakthrough had taken place. She said the driving force for the bill, National Deputy Ihor Ostash, who had worked for passage of the legislation for nearly three years, and the other lawmakers who had pushed the effort over strong political resistance decided in the end that a basic first success would be to finally have a legal definition on a "Ukrainian abroad" and recognition on the legal books that a diaspora entity existed.

During the summer, Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization marked the beginning of a set of programs that brought Ukrainian Plast counselors to the United States and sent their Ukrainian American counterparts to Ukraine. Nine Ukrainian counselors spent July working at Plast camps in the United States, while several Ukrainian American plastuny worked on humanitarian projects in Ukraine. The nine Ukrainian counselors spent their summers fulfilling the duties of counselors at their respective camps - everything from teaching orienteering to running arts and crafts.

The exchange grew out of collaboration between the National Plast Commands of the United States and Ukraine. The program was designed to help Plast in the United States preserve its Ukrainian character, while providing Plast in Ukraine with valuable experience. According to Ihor Mykyta, head of the National Plast Command of the United States, Plast in the U.S. differs from other scouting organizations because one of its main goals is the preservation of Ukrainian heritage. However, that goal is in jeopardy as children and counselors alike are losing their Ukrainian language ability.

The Ukrainian counselors who participated were chosen in an open application process administered by the National Plast Command of Ukraine, subject to the approval of the National Plast Command of the United States. The selected counselors represent some of the most qualified and active counselors in Ukraine. The exchange was made possible by the help and contributions of the Ukrainian American community. The National Plast Command of the United States reached its goal of raising $9,000 to fund the exchange. According to Mr. Mykyta, in 2005 National Plast Command would again like to fully fund a set of Ukrainian counselors coming to the United States, as well as partially fund a group of Ukrainian American counselors who would work at camps in Ukraine.

The National Plast Command of the United States also administered a program sending several Ukrainian American plastuny to Ukraine to work on humanitarian projects. The program, called the Plast Effort Toward the Cooperation of Nations (known by its Ukrainian acronym as PAKS), offered Ukrainian American plastuny a selection of humanitarian projects proposed by various organizations in Ukraine. The goal of the project was for plastuny from the United States to begin to view Ukraine as a concrete reality rather than an abstract idea and improve their Ukrainian language skills, all while working for a good cause. Participants lived and worked separately from each other, so they were totally immersed in Ukrainian language and culture.

Projects proposed by sponsors included caring for children in an orphanage for the physically disabled in a village in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast; renovating the facilities of that orphanage; increasing awareness of AIDS, drug use and other health issues in Lutsk, Volyn Oblast; restoring historical landmarks in Berestechko, Volyn Oblast; and facilitating tourism at the Museum of Lesia Ukrainka in Volyn.

Ukrainians were active also in Scotland, working to preserve a historic chapel there. The Ukrainian Catholic chapel in Lockerbie, Scotland, is being looked after by Zennon Pufkyj, a retired lance corporal with the Kings Own Scottish Borders. The former British soldier appealed for funds to help preserve the chapel once used by members of the Galicia Division.

Originally the chapel was one of the 40 huts at Camp 68, a prisoner of war camp housing 450 Ukrainians who came to Scotland from Rimini, Italy, in April 1947. Thousands of other Ukrainians were dispersed to other camps all over Britain. The POW camp was situated on land then owned by a farmer named Sir John Buchanan Jardine. He gave one of the huts on the site, made from a shell of corrugated iron, to Ukrainian POWs to turn into a chapel, which they did by using whatever limited resources were available. The chapel can accommodate up to 50 people.

The chapel is the first of its kind in Scotland and is still in use. Father Lubomyr Pidluckyj of Edinburgh celebrates liturgy on the first Sunday of every second month. The chapel is known simply as the POW chapel. The chapel is located about three miles from the Garden of Remembrance for the Lockerbie Air Disaster, along the C92 (a) road to Dalton.

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