LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (06/18/06)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

"The way it was..." and our history

Dear Editor:

Myron Kuropas's column "The way it was and could be again, if," (May 28) was probably the best analysis I've read of our current position in the U.S. and how we got to where we are. His assessment of the 1950s and 1960s, and their influence on following decades, are all borne out by the facts he points out. And the UNA's achievements, in hindsight, are extraordinary considering the economic status of the average Ukrainian, be he a "staryi imigrant" or a DP.

I came here in 1950 as a little boy and experienced all that he wrote about. He succinctly summarized over half a century of our history in two columns. What is more is that there is no political whiff at all in his editorial.

I look back now at all that I've experienced and try to make sense out of it. There is a common thread. But there is something that scares me. While much of our communal history is recorded in various publications (like Svoboda) and documents, the actual feelings of those times may be lost.

This possibly unique period of our history, those years from the second world war to the mid-'60s, represent three cultures: the old world, the hybrid émigré (DP) world, and the American world all convoluted together. In another generation or two, our descendents will be able to find out what we accomplished and achieved as a group. But will there be any way for someone in the future to get a glimpse of what it was really like to be a displaced person in the United States?

The Fourth Wave of Ukrainians is beginning to make its imprint on our ever-changing society. And the way we looked at the "stari imigranty," and the way they looked at us in the '50s, is almost identical to the way the Fourth Wave looks at us and we at them. Another repeating cycle.

Yes, there will be archives and documents available for historical analyses, but where will one find what it was like to have been a Fourth Waver? It is these types of stories and recollections of individuals that add meaning to dry historical data.

Andrew Zwarun
Austin, Texas

Ukraine's future: "Oligarchs United"

Dear Editor:

A lot of ink and paper have been wasted in the press on the futile efforts of restoring the Orange Coalition. The simple fact is that the Orange Coalition was blown apart the moment President Viktor Yushchenko fired Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her Cabinet. Later he sealed his own doom by signing an agreement of cooperation with the oligarchic clique from the Donbas and his opponent Viktor Yanukovych.

In the process, he has scattered to the four winds the brilliant team that brought him to power in the first place. As a result, he was left with a title, but without any visible means of political support. And the day of reckoning was not long in coming. The voters rejected his party, Our Ukraine, in the parliamentary elections this spring. Once the smoke cleared, Our Ukraine was left with only 14 percent of the vote.

Since then, the ongoing negotiations to restore the Orange Coalition were no more than a face-saving farce.

But the first truly democratic election in Ukraine has changed the political landscape of the country forever. For the first time ever, the fog of political chaos that prevailed in Ukraine for the past 15 years has lifted. Now one can clearly see the landscape and the two political forces at work. On one side we find progressive forces for change and social justice, on the other the reactionary forces of the "status quo" of oligarchic syndicates.

Ms. Tymoshenko of the eponymous bloc and Oleksander Moroz of the Socialist Party represent the progressive forces for change. Petro Poroshenko plus acting Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov of Our Ukraine and Mr. Yanukovych plus Rynat Akhmetov of the Party of the Regions represent the pro-status quo forces of the oligarchic syndicates.

We should stop using the worn-out terms of "Orange" or "Blue," pro-Russian or pro-Western, pro-democracy or pro-authoritarian. Those terms are history. What we see today in Ukraine is simply a contest between two forces: progressive versus reactionary.

On a strictly numerical basis, the reactionary oligarchic forces have the upper hand over the progressive forces. In the new Parliament the so-called "grand coalition" of oligarchs from Our Ukraine and the Party of the Regions have a comfortable majority. You could call them "Oligarchs United." Furthermore, they have the tacit support of the president and the administrative apparatus at their disposal.

And this oligarchic force is not averse to reverting to the old methods of the KGB and Kuchma "oprichnyky." The recent attempt by the security forces of Ukraine to intimidate two high-ranking and newly elected national deputies of the Tymoshenko Bloc is a case in point (www.pravda.com.ua, April 18).

As events of the past weeks indicate, President Yushchenko has for all practical purposes abdicated his position and functions of leadership, and led the country into anarchy and banditism, with political assassinations against deputies of the Tymoshenko Bloc on the rise (two in the past week). The central authorities have lost control over the regions and President George W. Bush has wisely canceled his trip to Ukraine.

However, the people of Ukraine have lost their fear of "vlasti" (the authorities) and demonstrated their mettle during the heady days of the Orange Revolution. Any attempt at political repression in Ukraine will fail; it is a thing of the past.

So, what of the future? Most likely we will see a ruling oligarchic coalition of Our Ukraine and the Party of the Regions for the next three and a half years. Meanwhile, Our Ukraine will lose however little support it had in western Ukraine, and will be absorbed into the Party of the Regions.

The president, with grossly diminished powers, will wither on the vine, while the Yanukovych-Poroshenko apparatus will take over the running of the country for the benefit of "Oligarchs United" from both the western and the eastern parts of the country. And the people of Ukraine will suffer for a bit longer under corrupt oligarchic rule.

And then what? In three and a half years there will be a presidential election in Ukraine. And the most likely candidates for president will be Ms. Tymoshenko, Mr. Yushchenko, and Mr. Yanukovych. Mr. Yushchenko probably will lose in the first round of voting (unless the Party of the Regions decides to keep him as their standard bearer), and then the contest will be between the progressive forces under the banner of Ms. Tymoshenko and reactionary forces under the banner of Mr. Yanukovych - a classic contest of good versus evil.

Democracy has arrived in Ukraine.

Ihor Lysyj
Austin, Texas

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