Third Ukrainian World Forum held in Kyiv (08/26/01)

Third Ukrainian World Forum held in Kyiv

Criticizes Kuchma, produces little progress

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - The Third World Forum of Ukrainians opened on August 18 with much pomp, high expectations and calls for consolidation of the Ukrainian nation on the eve of the 10th anniversary celebration of the country's independence. Protests in the session hall quickly changed the atmosphere, however, and at one point the first day threatened to turn into a high profile demonstration against the administration of President Leonid Kuchma.

But in the end the international gathering of representatives of Ukrainian civic groups from around the globe, the third since Ukraine declared independence in 1991, ended quietly with many of the delegates merely grumbling about the lack of planning and organization, and their inability to develop a specific outline for the direction of their relations with Ukraine, as they had after the first two forums.

The key points made in the final resolutions, which have yet to be approved by the 600 or so delegates - three hundred from the diaspora and 300 from Ukraine - primarily address concerns and points of disagreement with perceived Ukrainian policy. In the three and a half page document the delegates expressed discomfort with the poor development of the Ukrainian language in the country, the undeveloped state of information systems, the lack of Ukrainian language print and broadcast media, the failure of the Ukrainian government to develop a policy of immigration and reintegration of the diaspora into Ukrainian society and the lack of cohesiveness and cooperation among the legislative and executive branches of power in Ukraine.

The resolution blames the failure to complete democratic and economic reforms on old apparatchiks, remnants of the old Soviet system who have clung to power and continue to block changes, and expresses the need for "patriotic democratic forces" to remain united if the country is to complete its move towards political modernization. It also warns of the undue power and influence of the "financial oligarchic clans" that have assumed important positions within state structures. Finally, it calls for the formation of a single "All-Ukrainian Church," as well as the rehabilitation of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and the extension of veteran's benefits to its members.

Even with an extensive, if unapproved, list of action items and resolutions, delegates and guests expressed uneasiness that this forum had been the least productive yet.

"We expected that this forum would be the grandest after 10 years of independence. It was going to bring Ukraine together with the diaspora of the East and the West to decide how to build the country and maintain the diaspora," explained Michael Sawkiw Jr., president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America.

"I came away disheartened because the expectations we had were not realized. We now go back to our individual communities with no grand new plan. Nothing changed," Mr. Sawkiw added.

Many delegates agreed that the organizing aspect left a lot to be desired, while others said they believed the resolutions that came out of the roundtables had little to do with the discussions that took place within them.

"I attended two days of the education roundtables," explained Valentyna Kuryliw, a delegate of the Canadian Ukrainian Immigrant Aid Society of Toronto. "Then nothing we discussed ended up in the final resolution from the education section."

Another delegate, Professor Leonid Rudnytsky of Philadelphia, who is president of the Ukrainian Free University, hailed the forum as "an international bazaar of giant magnitude," but called the organization of the event a "hopeless situation." He added that the best thing that could come of the event would be to bring the Ukrainians closer together.

"We are beginning to understand the things that unite us," explained Professor Rudnytsky.

It seems certain that a decade after Ukraine declared independence the widening rift that has divided Ukraine's political leadership and the diaspora, which impatiently waits to see its version of an independent Ukraine become a reality, did not narrow during the three days of plenary sessions and roundtables. It was the critical voice that was most often heard from the delegates, even while the country's leaders, including President Leonid Kuchma, the popular ex-prime minister Viktor Yuschenko and Minister of Foreign Affairs Anatolii Zlenko, called for unity and the consolidation of the nation.

Never far from the surface of the proceedings was the ongoing political battle between President Kuchma and those oppositionist political forces that accuse him of corruption and complicity in the murder of journalist Heorhii Gongadze.

Three moments on the opening day, which occurred during the opening jubilee session in the morning and the plenary session in the afternoon, set the tone for the forum. Quite appropriately they were presentations from three leading but diverse elements of the world Ukrainian community: the president of Ukraine, the leader of the umbrella organization of the Western diaspora and a leading force in the oppositionist movement within the country.

As President Kuchma officially presided over the morning session, outside the Palats Ukrainy nearly a thousand demonstrators protested the policies of his administration, the Gongadze investigation and Tapegate.

After an honor guard carried the Ukrainian flag into the concert hall and a jubilee choir sang Bozhe Velykyi Yedynyi, Mr. Kuchma delivered the first speech of the convention, during which he declared, "No one entity or person can claim or pretend to claim a right of monopoly on Ukrainian independence."

"The patent for Ukrainian independence was written by the nation and no one else," explained Mr. Kuchma.

The president then offered a brief overview of how the independence movement gathered steam over the decades and presented five points for consideration in regards to the last decade of independence, including the inalienable right to independence, the country's fortune in avoiding civil and foreign conflicts while the state was developing, and the great success the country has had in foreign relations.

The president stated that relations with Russia cannot be stifled and that the large northern neighbor cannot be ignored. Mr. Kuchma suggested that perhaps the two countries should develop a relationship similar to the one Canada and the United States enjoy.

"They are asymmetrical but friendly," explained Mr. Kuchma.

He also emphasized that in Kyiv relations with the U.S. carry the same weight as do relations with Russia, while assuring the delegates that Ukraine's European choice is unequivocal and irreversible.

The speech proceeded with polite applause and even moments of hearty clapping until the president made the mistake of mentioning Tapegate.

"You probably would not understand if I failed to mention the cassette scandal," began the president as he shifted to the subject during his 45-minute presentation. This brought forth a chorus of heckling, whistling and boos, and what followed had the potential to end the program, with individuals and groups in the audience chanting "Shame" and "Kuchma out" with sufficient fury that the president halted his speech.

Order was restored after about five minutes with pacifying gestures from other political leaders and organizers on the rostrum, but the heckling and whistling continued intermittently for the rest of the speech and the rest of the program.

To an extent the president rebounded with the crowd when he made positive remarks on the need for dominance of the Ukrainian language in the country, an issue that was at the top of the agenda of most delegates from the diaspora.

"In Ukraine, the Ukrainian language should and will dominate; there is no question on this matter," said Mr. Kuchma to thundering applause.

The second defining moment of this forum came when Askold Lozynskyj, president of the World Congress of Ukrainians, made a presentation on diaspora contributions to Ukraine and its independence over the years. The speech was in response to a challenge made by President Kuchma about a month earlier in which he had criticized the head of the WCU for his non-constructive attitude towards the presidential administration.

Mr. Lozynskyj followed with a lengthy but very effective dissertation in which he laid out the financial contributions of the diaspora over the last decade, including overwhelming support for the Ukrainian Olympic movement and funding for diplomatic quarters in the U.S. and Canada; the political pressure put forward by Ukrainian diaspora organizations to get countries like Canada and the United States to diplomatically recognize Ukraine as a state in the first days and months after independence; and the lobbying efforts of diaspora members within their countries to convince their governments to either extend, continue or increase foreign aid to Ukraine.

And Mr. Lozynskyj did not stop there. He went on to criticize the Ukrainian government's passivity towards the deplorable state of spiritual and ethnic life of Ukrainians in Russia when Russian life in Ukraine continues to flourish. He also offered a list of items that would help in the development of Ukrainian culture and language in Ukraine, in addition to relations with the diaspora, including taxes on foreign language books, a legal requirement that all elected and appointed officials must speak Ukrainian, and incentives for Ukrainians living in the diaspora to travel to Ukraine.

Mr. Lozynskyj's address received the biggest ovation of the three-day conference. During the closing ceremony, delegates from the diaspora still were abuzz over his eloquent presentation of what essentially reflected that which it had been trying to tell the Ukrainian government for years.

"The high point, undoubtedly, was Askold Lozynskyj's speech to the president. He very accurately and diplomatically described the contributions of the diaspora after the president threw down the gauntlet," explained Alexander Neprel, a delegate from New York representing the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council.

The third moment, which had little if any glimmer to it, occurred when Chairman of the Ukrainian Republican Party Levko Lukianenko, a former ambassador to Canada and ex-national deputy who spent 15 years in a Soviet gulag and for a time was sentenced to death, clamored on stage during the afternoon session of the first day to give an unscheduled and uninvited address.

Mr. Lukianenko has become an ever more vocal opponent of President Kuchma since the Gongadze affair and has closely tied his party's efforts to oust the head of state to the actions of the Ukraine Without Kuchma committee and Yulia Tymoshenko's Batkivschyna Party.

On his way up the stage to the podium, Mr. Lukianenko grabbed the microphone from the next scheduled speaker and then began a five-minute diatribe against President Kuchma, in which he blamed the elected leader for most all the ills of the country. He ended his harangue by telling the president that for all he had done he deserved a sentence of life imprisonment. He also said the only way Mr. Kuchma could begin to show remorse would be to resign his presidency.

Although the presentation drew a smattering of raucous applause, most delegates were shocked and disturbed by the manner in which it was delivered. WCU President Lozynskyj said he found the speech totally unacceptable.

"It was very inappropriate. I deeply respect Mr. Lukianenko as a patriot and true hero of Ukraine, but the remarks were unacceptable. He failed to maintain a certain decorum," explained Mr. Lozynskyj.

Another leading figure of the Western diaspora, Minneapolis resident Dr. Anatolii Lysyj, who was representing the U.S. Committee to Aid Ukraine, said that even if Mr. Lukianenko's words had merit, his method was wrong.

"He made a big mistake. I think even if you agreed with what he said you still understood that the problem needs to be discussed and positive ways developed to resolve it," Dr. Lysyj commented.

Not every assessment of the forum was negative, and not every aspect the subject of criticism, however. In addition to Professor Rudnytsky's observation that the forum gave the delegates time to interface and build bridges for further exchanges of information, Mr. Lysyj noted that for all its faults it fulfilled its primary purpose: a meeting of concerned Ukrainians from around the world and a venue for an exchange of ideas.

Another delegate, Olya Danylak of the World Council of Ukrainian Social Services, who resides in Toronto, said she came away with a sense of optimism regarding the progress being made in Ukraine as democracy continues to develop along with a civil society and the rule of law.

"They are open to new ideas; they listened to our proposal. They do not simply want handouts," explained Ms. Danylak. "There is a place for non-governmental organizations in Ukraine. It will happen. It will just take a little more time."

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