LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (04/19/98)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Danger: apathy within our community

Dear Editor:

I read with considerable interest Bohdan Vitvitsky's recent commentary addressing the upcoming Ukrainian National Association convention. Mr. Vitvitsky is to be congratulated for emphasizing the importance of the impending UNA elections and the apparent lack of public discussion surrounding the organization's future. He is surely correct in his observation that not many folks seem to be campaigning for office in this crucial year.

From my perspective, however, I see another force at work: apathy. Indeed, during my four-year term as a UNA advisor, I discovered that there are precious few people like Dr. Vitvitsky who care enough even to raise relevant issues, let alone discuss them with vigor.

For example, every three months the Executive Committee meets, and every year we have General Assembly meetings. From those meetings come many ideas, resolutions, proposals, etc. Some of these have been relatively minor (such as modifying the scholarship award system), while others have been very significant (such as proposing that the president be appointed by an elected board of directors rather than directly elected by the convention). All of these issues were raised on the pages of The Ukrainian Weekly.

Yet despite this fact, I have yet to read a letter to the editor discussing, say, the UNA Mission Statement or the proposed by-laws changes. Where are the letters discussing the future of Svoboda? Or the letters addressing the financial state of Soyuzivka? The General Assembly debates on these topics aren't secret; they're discussed at length in our press. Our community silence, then, results more from apathy than from lack of UNA transparency.

This apathy is most apparent in our declining membership. Ukrainian Americans are simply not joining the UNA. In fact, many who visit Soyuzivka and read this publication don't even belong to the UNA. We want to know why. What products do baby-boomers want? How can we improve our financial products and services? The UNA needs your input. And your business.

None of the above is intended to mitigate Dr. Vitvitsky's excellent commentary. But I do know that the UNA is much more transparent than he suggests. My advice to those who want information on the doings of the UNA is simply this: ask and ye shall receive. Ye might even get elected!

Taras G. Szmagala Jr.
Cleveland

The letter writer is an advisor on the Ukrainian National Association's General Assembly.

Olympic Committee grateful for support

Dear Editor:

We, the members of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, are very pleased that among the Ukrainian communities abroad there are more and more supporters of our Olympic movement. This support is possible in large measure due to the broad dissemination of information about sports in independent Ukraine. Please accept our sincere gratitude for your objective reports about our activities, as well as for your coverage of our athletes during the Olympic Games and other international competitions, for your reports about well-known Ukrainian athletes, and about our problems in general. It is important to us that this information reaches your readers who exhibit great interest in our Ukrainian athletes.

We look forward to continued cooperation with you and the staff of your valued publication.

Valerii Borzov
Kyiv

The writer is the president of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine.

A warning about new customs rule

Dear Editor:

Spies and smugglers who are regular readers of The Ukrainian Weekly should be wary of Ukraine's new customs rules.

Ukraine is now seven years into independence but nevertheless, there are still many wonderful reminders of just how Soviet the country remains. Sometimes this verges on the comical. Books and journals can be mailed abroad from the main post office in central Kyiv. Of course, postal clerks must first check whether or not you've included any "contraband" inside them. Sealed letters cannot be included within such parcels. Neither can you include encyclopedias or handbooks (dovidnyky). These same encyclopedias and handbooks though, can be taken to the West without any hassle from Ukrainian customs. A loophole for smugglers!?

Your readers should be aware of new regulations in force with which I had chance to become acquainted on my recent visit to Ukraine. All CDs, CD-ROMs, audio cassettes and video cassettes are to be submitted to Ukrainian customs three days before you depart to be checked over if they have "secret information" on them. At customs you may be asked to start up your computer to see if such information is also stored on it. Sealed envelopes may be opened.

Does this not all seem rather reminiscent of the Soviet era? Do the OSCE, Council of Europe and other international bodies know of these infringements upon human rights?

Taras Kuzio
Harrow, England

Thanks for articles and columnists

Dear Editor:

Thank you for The Ukrainian Weekly. I really look forward to it every week; I appreciate the information about Ukraine, I find the columnists' very thought-provoking articles so interesting that I'm always sharing them with my friends (hoping they'll see a need for The Weekly in their lives).

Helen Smindak makes me feel as though I am living in the wrong place: I need to be in New York with all the Ukrainian cultural activities going on.

You and your staff are doing a great job.

Olga Solovey
Dearborn Heights, Mich.

Use transliteration based on Ukrainian

Dear Editor:

I heartily agree with Andrij D. Solczanyk's letter that transliterating Ukrainian names into English from Russian is quite unacceptable for all the reasons he mentions in his convincing letter and then some. But why stop there? Is the transliteration of Ukrainian names from German (Jatziw) or from Polish (Szczur, Solczanyk, Hadzewycz, Woronowycz, Wynnyckyj, Jarosewich, etc.) any less questionable?

Since we live our lives in the English-speaking world should not there be a consensus in the diaspora to rid ourselves also of these throwbacks to Polish and Austrian transliterations?

With English as the basis for transliterating from Ukrainian, the above names would read; Yatsiv, Shchur, Solchanyk, Hadzevych, Voronovych, Vynnytsky, Yarosevych.

Oksana Pisetska Struk
Toronto

Too much about Ukraine's politics

Dear Editor:

A day or so ago, I received the March 29 issue of The Ukrainian Weekly.

I am perturbed. Pages are being allotted to the elections in Ukraine. Yes, it is interesting but not to the extent that we, here in America, must be completely knowledgeable, in every detail, about the candidates. I, you and all Ukrainians living in or even visiting the United States at the time of election can't do a thing about party platforms or the candidates' possibility of being elected. Does the Ukrainian press, in Ukraine, concern itself with the candidates running for various political, governmental positions in our government, statewide or nationwide?

The Ukrainian Weekly, in my opinion, has become too Ukrainian politically. There is nothing we can do, knowingly or unknowingly, for or against these candidates. There are many undertakings here in which we should actively participate. We criticize ourselves and individually do nothing.

Let's get involved in teaching the local and federal politicians about Ukraine. We have to show and tell him/her that we are a nation, that we, as such, fit into the new Europe. We have to defend our (Ukrainian position) in World War II, we should begin thinking and preparing ourselves for the EPCOT millennium celebration. This is what we should be doing nationwide. On an individual scale we must fill in the blanks in our American Ukrainian way of life. We must reorganize and recognize ourselves. Our ethnocultural identity is not a matter of choice, we must build and strengthen ourselves. We must become involved.

Wasyll Gina
New Haven, Conn.

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