LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (01/21/01)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Kuropas ignores historical facts

Dear Editor:

Dr. Myron Kuropas' "Stay on message, Mr. Bush!" column demonstrates his determination "to toe the party line," no matter how misguided. Dr. Kuropas ignores the last 80 years of Ukrainian history in blaming Gore and Talbott for allowing "'mafiya supported oligarchies to rise to power." Corruption and gangsterism permeated the Soviet leadership. Unfortunately, many of these Communist gangsters were able to take advantage of their Soviet-era influence to maintain their political and economic power in post-independence Ukraine. The corrupt members of Ukraine's political and economic elite will have no problem maintaining the status quo under a Republican administration that is determined to limit U.S. involvement in international affairs. Further, reducing or restricting financial aid to Ukraine will punish all of the Ukrainian people for the misdeeds of a corrupt few while permitting these corrupt oligarchs to continue their monopolization of Ukraine's resources.

Dr. Kuropas also ignores the anti-Ukrainian "tough love approach" taken by the last Republican administration. It is troublesome (but not surprising) that Dr. Kuropas' column omits any mention of the elder Bush's "Chicken Kiev" speech. Had Ukrainians listened to President Bush's message denouncing their "suicidal nationalism," Ukraine's independence would still be only a dream. Ukrainians can only pray that George W.'s message is different from that of his father. Given Mr. Bush's decision to recycle his father's advisors and Cabinet members, this is very unlikely.

James Kachmar
Reno, Nev.

May Kuropas' column continue

Dear Editor:

In recent months, there appeared on these pages letters to the editor critical of Dr. Myron Kuropas' manifestly conservative political views in his "Faces and Places" column. While some have challenged the veracity of some of his statements, others have questioned the propriety of expressing such views, going so far as to suggest that his column be terminated. As one writer recently put it, the editorial staff must "stop anyone from using The Weekly to advance the agenda of one political party." In other words, the promulgation of conservative ideas is somehow inappropriate and offensive and must cease lest more feathers of our liberal brethren be ruffled. Well, Dr. Kuropas' column is an op-ed rather than a strictly news column and the risk of ruffling a few feathers is the price we must pay for a free press. "Faces and Places" is a legitimate forum for expressing political thought, whatever its coloration. The last time I checked, it is not a crime to promulgate the conservative philosophy, except perhaps at our colleges and universities. Isn't it ironic that the call to muzzle a spokesman for the conservative cause should come from the left, the very same people who invoke the First Amendment right to free speech in defense of smut peddlers but who are quick to wield their arsenal of pejoratives such as racist, sexist and homophobic to silence those with whom they disagree?

The argument that political discourse is inappropriate for a publication like The Ukrainian Weekly appears specious. Politics, after all, affects us all, including, in a tangential way, Ukrainians living in Ukraine. It determines whether we have enough money after we pay Uncle Sam his dues to send our kids to "Uki-school" and whether more people should be allowed to emigrate from Ukraine.

There is little doubt in my mind that the political and social perspective from which Dr. Kuropas composes his essays, was formed, in no small measure, by his having lived through the sea of political and social change that has transformed and continues to transform this country. These changes include the politicization of scholarship and arts (research into certain areas regarding race and sex is taboo, even the teaching of Shakespeare has become, at some universities, controversial), the dumbing down of education (SAT has been reformed, grades are inflated, and 14-year-olds have a 10,000-word vocabulary, in contrast to the 25,000-word vocabulary kids had in 1950, but one thing they've got plenty of is self-esteem), the creation of star chambers on college campuses for adjudicating sex- or race-related offenses, speech codes, moral relativism, government sanction of reverse discrimination and the proposition, unthinkable 30 years ago, that homosexual and heterosexual unions are somehow morally equivalent. Remember, it was not the conservatives, but the '60s radicals and their accomplices who have hijacked our social and political institutions so that they could bestow upon us these and other social niceties.

For my money, Dr. Kuropas, whose perspicacity and erudition are in ample evidence in his column, is a refreshing antidote to the opinionated left-leaning news presentations of Peter Jennings or of the left-wing propagandist Anthony Lewis of The New York Times. May Dr. Kuropas' thoughts and observations continue in The Ukrainian Weekly far into the future. I'm sure that as a true conservative and a believer in the unfettered right of free speech, he will welcome any and all criticisms.

Walter J. Dziwak
Lake Hiawatha, N.J.

Soviet Ukraine was indeed a factor

Dear Editor:

It was disappointing to read Andrew Fedynsky's piece "Onward to the 21st century" (December 17, 2000). In it, he states, "Ukraine was never a factor in world events" when it was a member of the Soviet Union. In the little world of Mr. Fedynsky and other anti-Communists, this may have been true. However, this was not the case for the rest of the civilized world.

Whenever I met workers from Nicaragua to Angola, from Vietnam to Cuba, they all knew of Soviet Ukraine and its support of their liberation struggles. I am always proud to say Soviet Ukraine provided political, technical and military support to our brothers and sisters struggling for liberation in Africa, Asia and Latin America! It's not surprising, therefore, that imperialism and its agents will never acknowledge the contributions of Ukrainian Proletarian Internationalism.

Michael Step
Garwood, N.J.

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