Shevchenko Scientific Society conference focuses on Ukraine's statehood (06/17/01)

Shevchenko Scientific Society conference focuses on Ukraine's statehood

by Dr. Orest Popovych

NEW YORK - In conjunction with the upcoming 10th anniversary of Ukraine's independence, the Shevchenko Scientific Society convened a scholarly conference designed to examine what role social sciences and humanities could play in the reinforcement of Ukrainian statehood.

The conference, which was open to the public, took place on May 19 at the society's home in New York City. It was organized by Prof. Wsevolod Isajiw, a vice-chairman of the Social Sciences Section of the Society, in close collaboration with the section's chair, Prof. Marta B. Trofimenko. The scheduled speakers were Profs. Isajiw (University of Toronto), Yaroslav Bilinsky (University of Delaware) and Nadia Kokhan (Kyiv State University), as well as Elehia Natalia Skoczylas, a sociologist, political consultant and pollster with worldwide experience.

The program was opened by Dr. Larissa Zaleska Onyshkevych, president of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in America, who commented on the timeliness of the conference's topic and then passed the chair to Prof. Trofimenko, who took over as master of ceremonies and moderator.

First to speak was Prof. Isajiw, a sociologist, who stressed the fact that in a free country, professing freedom of speech, there must also be freedom of scholarly pursuit governed by facts, logic and proper methodology. It is the freedom of speech that should define the life of a civil society and determine its relationship with the government according to democratic principles. Promulgation of scholarly findings is beneficial to a society not only due to their direct application, but also indirectly, as a way of informing and educating the public.

An educated public, with confidence in itself and in its government, would tend to develop an extensive professional or middle class, thus promoting the establishment of a civil society, he stated. This would serve as an effective counterforce to the oligarchy now dominant in Ukraine. Unfortunately, Ukraine's government has been reluctant to apply scholarly advice towards the solution of social problems. In contrast, in the United States there is no social policy that is not based on scholarly research.

Prof. Bilinsky, a political scientist, opined that for the time being the Ukrainian political elite must seek accommodation with some of the oligarchs. For the government of Ukraine it is imperative to rehabilitate the physical as well as moral and cultural substance of the Ukrainian people.

In Prof. Bilinsky's estimation, the man-made Famine and the mass executions in the 1930s in Ukraine cost 10 million lives and should be classified as a genocide against the Ukrainian people. World scholars in this field, however, still refuse to classify the Ukrainian Famine as a genocide, and therefore it is the duty of Ukrainian scholars and Ukraine's government to work to reverse this stance.

Ukraine's government should also confront the legacy of the Famine in order to fill the blank spots in the Ukrainian psyche and to re-evaluate the role of those who participated in the genocide. Dr. Bilinsky warned against what he feels has been excessive polling in independent Ukraine, lest it lead to a kaleidoscopic view of the country, detrimental to the integrity of Ukraine.

Using color slides and lots of statistics, Ms. Skoczylas presented the findings of her many polls conducted in Ukraine in recent years. The polling took place in conjunction with elections or sought opinions on important political issues. The results, analyzed according to region, ethnicity, gender and age of the respondents, turned out to reflect accurately the voting preferences of Ukraine's population, both in the vote for independence in August of 1991 and in the 1999 presidential election.

The majority of those polled seem to be anti-Communist and (to a lesser extent) pro-Western, with people under 30 tending to be right-of-center politically by a ratio of 2:1. Unfortunately, this age group also has a low voter turnout. Ms. Skoczylas considers her polling experience as evidence that a deep democratic transformation has taken root in Ukraine.

The last speaker, Prof. Kokhan, shared with the audience the challenges faced by a philosophy teacher at the Kyiv State University, particularly one who insists on using Ukrainian as the language of instruction. Prof. Kokhan said she feels that a spiritual rebirth of Ukraine must be preceded by a rebirth of Ukrainian philosophy in the context of world philosophy, in particular of the Ukrainian philosophy of culture and nation-building. This process may be slow, but it is not hopeless, as evidenced by the recent openings of the departments of the Ukrainian philosophy of culture at Kyiv and Odesa Universities.

The conference was preceded by a meeting of the governing board of the Shevchenko Scientific Society, followed by an annual informational meeting of the society for all members. In the latter, members of the executive board and chairpeople of the various sections and commissions reported on their activities for the past year.

Certificates were presented to three people for their lifelong outstanding service to the society. Thus honored were Drs. Ivan Sierant and Myroslav Prokop, as well as Olha Kuzmowycz, the society's recording secretary and an editor of Svoboda.

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