Patriotic groups rally in Ukrainian capital to express frustration with Yushchenko (06/25/06)

Patriotic groups rally in Ukrainian capital to express frustration with Yushchenko

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - In response to the recent wave of rebellion in eastern and southern Ukraine, patriotic forces held a raucous meeting at the Ukrainian Home on June 16 to organize into a civic and political force to defend the Ukrainian nation, language and culture.

More than 400 patriots and nationalists attended what was dubbed the All-Ukrainian People's Council to vent their frustration with the Yushchenko presidency, which they said has betrayed the Orange Revolution's ideals and failed to defend national interests.

"A revolution is a change in the system - socially, culturally, politically, economically. Has anything changed, gentlemen?" thundered the prominent film director Yurii Ilyenko, to a loud response of "No!"

He continued: "Nothing has changed. Revolutions set off guillotines and punish those who drove the nation to revolution. Why are those who called for federalism, division and destruction free to walk the streets?"

The call to unity among Ukrainian right-wing forces also revealed sharp divisions that remain among them.

Speakers heaped attacks on President Viktor Yushchenko even as national deputies from the Our Ukraine coalition sat in the front row, including Liliya Hryhorovych, Yevhen Hirnyk and Refat Chubarov, as well as former Deputy Mykola Zhulynskyi, who chairs the President's National Council on Cultural and Spiritual Issues.

The Our Ukraine bloc is the leading center-right political force in Ukraine, consisting of six parties: the Our Ukraine People's Union, Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, People's Rukh of Ukraine, Christian-Democratic Union Party and the Sobor Ukrainian Republican Party.

For the March 2006 parliamentary elections however, numerous right-wing forces decided to go on their own in an attempt to earn 3 percent of the popular vote, including the Pora-Reforms and Order Citizens Bloc, the Kostenko-Pliusch Ukrainian People's Bloc, the Ukrainian National Assembly-Ukrainian National Self-Defense, and the All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda led by Oleh Tiahnybok.

Prolific author Dmytro Pavlychko decried the right-wing parties for splitting the vote.

The Our Ukraine bloc won 3.5 million votes, the Kostenko-Pliusch Bloc won 476,000 votes, the Pora-Reforms and Order Bloc won 373,000 votes, Svoboda won 91,000 votes and the Ukrainian National Assembly won 16,000 votes.

"We lost the elections because we failed to unite before the elections and went our own separate roads," Mr. Pavlychko said. "Our biggest mistake wasn't that we didn't join with Yushchenko, Tymoshenko or Moroz. We should have gone together - Tiahnybok, Pora, Reforms and Order, Ukrainian People's Party."

National deputies from Our Ukraine, the Tymoshenko Bloc and the Party of the Regions are oligarchs who are working only in their own interests, not Ukraine's, Mr. Pavlychko said.

Ukrainians have never controlled the Verkhovna Rada and have always worked for or represented foreign interests, as is the case with the current Parliament, said Yurii Kostenko, the chairman of the Ukrainian People's Party.

"In Ukraine, Ukrainians have never been in power," he said. "This is how we're essentially different from the Baltic nations, from Poland, from all of Eastern Europe, which after the Soviet Union's collapse were able to create prosperity in their nations."

Dr. Zhulynskyi recalled approaching a teenager in Donetsk in October 2001 and asking him why he was holding a Russian flag.

What difference does it make?, the teenager replied.

"Our biggest problem, incontestably, is with our youth and that our society is not charged with the idea of national self-determination," said Dr. Zhulynskyi.

Luhansk Prosvita Chair Volodymyr Semystiaha decried the bleak situation of Ukrainian culture in his oblast, placing the blame on ethnic Russians and Jews in government who have little concern for Ukrainian history or appreciation for Ukrainian culture.

The Luhansk Oblast has no Ukrainian newspaper or television media, which he called an information blockade.

"I call on the president to immediately implement order in government appointments," Mr. Semystiaha said. "Appoint, in the first place, real, ethnic Ukrainians and those who understand the situation, who respect people and who are true professionals in their fields."

The most exuberant applause was reserved for Mr. Ilyenko, producer of the Ukrainian film classic "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" (directed by the renowned Serhii Paradjanov) who belongs to the nationalist Svoboda party.

"The Ukrainian language took on the function of the nation when there wasn't a nation," he stated. "And there wasn't a Ukrainian nation for all of history, practically. Language carried out the function of the nation. It was the law, it was the border, it was our rights and it was our education."

Community of Ukrainian Writers Chair and National Deputy Volodymyr Yavorivskyi of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc had the unique distinction of drawing jeers from the audience.

Many Ukrainian patriots and nationalists resent Ms. Tymoshenko, whom they consider disloyal to Ukraine's national interests despite her critical, leading role during the Orange Revolution.

They also resent Mr. Yavorivskyi for leaving Our Ukraine and joining her bloc.

Although expected to appear, Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists chair Oleksii Ivchenko wasn't in attendance.

His standing among nationalists has plummeted after the Ukrayinska Pravda Web site revealed he had bought an exorbitantly lavish Mercedes car for the Naftohaz government enterprise he chaired from dealerships owned by his relatives.

Foma, lead singer of the rock group Mandry, said the Ukrainian government must implement stricter quotas on radio and television stations to play Ukrainian content.

As for concrete results, All-Ukrainian People's Council decided to create a coordinating staff for a permanent organization called "We Will Defend Ukraine" (Zakhystymo Ukrayinu).

Its purpose is to unite all national-democratic and patriotic forces to counter attempts to destroy Ukrainian nationhood by both internal and external enemies of Ukraine, said Ivan Zayets, a member of the Ukrainian People's Party.

"Earlier, Russia based its politics on supporting pro-Russian forces in Ukraine," he said. "But a new doctrine is in place now - building a Russian Ukraine. Therefore, forming a Russian mentality in Ukrainian citizens."

The first step in this strategy involves eliminating Ukrainian as the single official language, he added.

The Russian government is seeking to remove all national democrats from government posts and overwhelm Ukraine's media with Russian content, Mr. Zayets said.

Eventually,"We Will Defend Ukraine" may evolve into a political party or bloc, he noted.

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