1980: an overview

Winter Olympics

Last winter's Olympics in Lake Placid saw two sets of demonstrations by two Ukrainian organizations. Both had the same aim however - to protest Soviet human rights violations, the choice of Moscow as an Olympic site, and the inability of Ukrainian athletes to compete for their own nation. The Smoloskyp Organization for the Defense of Human Rights in Ukraine staged a six-hour mobile demonstration at the Olympic site, while the Ukrainian Liberation Front and its sub-groups staged a series of actions throughout the week. The groups did not get together for a unified joint effort. Unfortunately, their lack of unity is indicative of the widening schism polarizing the Ukrainian community, a rift that has grown more pronounced this year.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, December 28, 1980, No. 31, Vol. LXXXVII

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