FACES AND PLACES: Things are bad, and they're getting worse (02/04/01)

FACES AND PLACES

by Myron B. Kuropas

Things are bad, and they're getting worse

Way back in the 1970s, when I was the Great Lakes regional director of ACTION, a federal anti-poverty agency that administered the Peace Corps, VISTA, Foster Grandparents and other volunteer programs, we were housed on the third floor of a building across the street from the Chicago Opera House.

The second floor of this building was the home of the Environmental Protection Agency, another federal agency. The regional director was Valdas Adamkus, a Lithuanian American who had earned a reputation as an honest, focused and effective federal administrator. A few years ago Mr. Adamkus retired from the EPA and moved to Lithuania. Today he is president of Lithuania. Another American, Gen. Ramas Kilikauskas, a Vietnam veteran, helped rebuild the Lithuanian army from the bottom up, dumping all Soviet- era officers.

Latvia's current president, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, was raised in Canada. American Mari-Ann Rikken-Kellam, who was active in exposing OSI collusion with the Soviets, is a member of the Estonian Parliament while her husband, Tunne Kellam, is head of the ruling Estonian political party, Pro-Patria. Former KGB officers have been put on trial in Estonia and Lithuania for war crimes. Baltic governments enforce their language laws without exception, despite the presence in Latvia and Estonia of an even larger percentage of Russians than in Ukraine. The Baltic countries are prospering economically as well.

Other former Communist countries also court their expatriates. Retired Polish Americans are welcomed in Poland where they live quite well on their American pension dollars. Armenian Americans, one of America's most affluent groups, are helping keep Armenia afloat. Multi-millionaire Kerk Kerkorian recently announced a gift of $70 million for various projects in his homeland. Slovenia's last prime minister spent most of his life in Argentina.

Ukrainians in North America also have had some influence on Ukrainian policies. Many Catholic priests and bishops have and continue to work in Ukraine. People like Bohdan Futey, who participated in the development of Ukraine's new constitution; Bohdan Watral, who is helping develop credit unions; Bohdan Krawchenko, who worked with the administration of President Leonid Kravchuk; Katherine Chumachenko, wife of Ukraine's Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko; Roman Popadiuk, appointed by the first President George Bush as America's ambassador to Ukraine, and Slava Stetsko and Roman Zwarycz, two members of the Ukrainian Parliament, also come to mind. Others have and continue to work for various American and Canadian governmental agencies and legal firms in Ukraine. The influence of Ukraine's diaspora in the actual governing of Ukraine, however, has been anemic at best. And it doesn't appear this will change soon.

Today the Ukrainian American honeymoon with Ukraine is coming to an end. At a Chicago UCCA banquet commemorating January 22, participants were asked to sign a letter read to them by Chicago UCCA Chairman Orest Baranyk. The letter was succinct and to the point:

"After the achievement of Ukraine's long-awaited independence almost 10 years ago, we noticed many shortcomings in the process of nation-building: the decline of the Ukrainian language and culture, a turning towards Moscow, as well as corruption of the oligarchs and Ukraine's organs of justice. All of this hurt us, but we understood that the evolutionary process would not provide quick results.

"Recent events in Ukraine, however, have crossed the line. [These include] the arrest and illegal incarceration of patriotic students, the dearth of prosecutions for crimes against the government, the death of opponents of the administration and attempts to silence those who have criticized the president for pushing Ukraine towards a dictatorship similar to Belarus."

The letter urged President Leonid Kuchma to make "radical changes" and to appoint people to key positions "who adhere to constitutional law and democratic principles." It ended with the expressed hope that changes "will once again steer Ukraine towards the creation of a democratic and patriotic state, permitting all of its citizens to prosper." Signatures were obtained from over 200 individuals at the banquet.

When it came time for the consul general to speak at the banquet, he took exception to the letter, stating that "Ukraine will not listen to dictates from beyond its borders." Recalling Ukraine's troubled past, he urged greater tolerance. Compared to others in Ukraine, especially eastern Ukrainian Russophones, who dismiss the diaspora as "agents of foreign capitalists eager to exploit the Ukrainian nations," the consul general's remarks were rather mild.

So how bad are things in Ukraine? On the positive side, reports The Economist, "Ukraine has managed a tricky re-negotiation of its foreign debt, nudged up its foreign exchange reserves, cut the annual rate of inflation from 377 percent five years ago to around 20 percent at last count, and has seen its economy grow by 6 percent."

On the negative side, The Economist describes Ukraine as "a bankrupt menace that leaks crime, disease and many thousands of illegal immigrants ... Leonid Kuchma has been increasingly friendly to Russian Vladimir Putin. Russian companies have been snapping up the choicest and most lucrative bits of the Ukrainian economy, such as its aluminum industry, at bargain prices; the government seems as blithe about this as the president. Public spiritedness is weak, corruption rampant, the press docile." Tragically, the murder of journalist Heorhii Gongadze was not the exception. Hardly a month passes in Ukraine without a journalist being killed. And now, reportedly, there is evidence that Vyacheslav Chornovil's death was not accidental.

Are things getting worse? Consider this. There is no exclusively Ukrainian-language television station in all of Ukraine. Russian TV stations, newspapers, magazines and radio programs far outnumber Ukrainian-language forums. Even "all Ukrainian" stations often have Russian speakers and programming. While the Baltic countries demand all governmental discourse in Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian, the law establishing Ukrainian as the official language is ignored by Ukrainian government officials with impunity.

President Kuchma is at a crossroads. If he truly cares about the future of Ukraine and not the pocketbooks of his family and friends, he will heed the well-intentioned advice of Ukraine's diaspora. Time is running out and so is patience, not only in the diaspora but in Ukraine as well.

Myron Kuropas' e-mail address is: mbkuropas@compuserve.com

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