Zhovta Pora establishes party (03/13/05)

Zhovta Pora establishes party

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Zhovta (Yellow) Pora's leaders said they are establishing a political party, declaring it a vehicle for the Orange Revolution's ideals, among them the expansion of democracy and European values in Ukraine.

Pora will be distinct from the scores of other Ukrainian parties because it has created politicians who have a moral right and responsibility to power in Ukraine, its leaders said.

It also offers a realistic chance for the new generation to take an active role in politics, as the party has been built from the bottom up, leaders said.

"We changed the nation, together with the Ukrainian people," said Vladyslav Kaskiv, one of Pora's key leaders during the Revolution. "Today, Pora consists of activists who are supposed to take responsibility for the fate of Ukraine."

Pora's status as a political party ensures a permanent rift with Chorna (Black) Pora, which seeks to keep Pora as a grassroots civic campaign that fights corruption in elections and government.

In their view, becoming a political party contradicts the original purpose of Pora, which was to serve as a decentralized citizens' movement that resonated across party lines and individual leaders, according to a Chorna Pora press release.

The formation of a party also violates Pora's stated rule of political nonpartisanship, said Chorna Pora activists.

Chorna Pora's leaders accused Zhovta Pora of capitalizing on the Pora brand name and symbols in order to launch their own political careers.

"They've put people in power who had no participation in the Revolution," said Anton Pivniuk, a Chorna Pora activist and student at the Kyiv University of Technology and Design. "They are associates, or they have nice financing. They will be working for money, while we will be working for untainted ideas."

Pora's party leaders said they aim to finance their organization through contributions from small to mid-level businessmen, but no oligarchs.

Chorna Pora also accuses Zhovta Pora's leaders of engaging in their own form of "Kuchmism" by deciding to create a political party without a wide discussion or an agreement with Pora's activists, the press release said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Kaskiv is building a name for himself in Ukrainian politics.

On February 24 he was honored as one of 21 "Champions of Freedom" from 13 Central and Eastern European nations. U.S. President George W. Bush met these Champions of Freedom, including Mr. Kaskiv and Natalya Dmytruk, a sign language interpreter for Ukrainian State Television, on a visit to Bratislava, Slovakia. (See story on page 3 of this issue.)

"Led by Mr. Kaskiv and others and enduring brutal winter weather, Pora members ... maintained a peaceful presence 'on the barricades' for the duration of the Orange Revolution, refusing to abandon their tents until the announcement of the official vote tally showing that Viktor Yushchenko had won the presidency," said a press release issued by the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.

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