2001: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Ukrainian diaspora: active on many fronts

Diaspora circles of Ukrainians have had an active year - especially Ukrainian youths, who have proved to be both proud and concerned by their Ukrainian heritage and have displayed a great interest in averting corruption and preserving all that is good in their homeland and the land of their forefathers.

The Ukrainian Weekly's reports of diaspora activities this year began with the announcement on March 23 of the Third World Forum of Ukrainians, a mass gathering of the global Ukrainian community slated for August 18-24 in Kyiv. The forum announced it would place a thematic accent on youth, its problems and perspectives. According to organizing committee member Mykhailo Horyn, head of the Ukrainian World Coordinating Council, the forum would strive to "place greater emphasis on the needs and ideas of the younger generation."

Meanwhile, in response to the corruption present in Kyiv earlier this year, on March 9, Ukrainians living in Prague formed an organization called the Forum of Ukrainians in the Czech Republic. The group supported the opposition movement in Ukraine; initiatives for democracy, transparency in government, rule of law, civil society; and a Western (pro-European) orientation for Ukraine. Boris Karmeluk, one of the founders of the forum, said the organization was created in order to accurately inform and unite Ukrainians and representatives of other nationalities in the Czech Republic who are concerned with the problems in Ukraine.

Another member, Kalyna Procyk, a 25-year-old Chicago native who had been living in Prague, said she was angered by the situation in Ukraine. "Through the power of unity, people have a chance to make some kind of difference, speaking as citizens who care about their country. They can show the Czech republic and the European community that they are a vocal, organized force that wants to be heard, present a positive image of Ukrainians protesting legally and show that Ukrainians have an interest in democracy and a fair presidency," she stated.

About a month later, on April 23, Ukrainian students from France and Germany gathered at the building of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, France, and demonstrated on its steps in support of a European Ukraine.

On that day PACE was meeting to discuss the authoritarian backslide of the Ukrainian government and the possible exclusion of Ukraine from its ranks. Almost 90 demonstrators gathered before the door to the Council of Europe to plead the cause of a "European Ukraine." Vladimir Polenski, a spokesman of the demonstration, stated that the students had gathered in hope of bringing Ukraine back on the track of democratic development. "Two conditions are necessary for this to take place," he said "The first and essential condition is internal in nature: democratic and pro-European forces of Ukraine should form a unified democratic coalition. The second condition is external in nature: Europe, its institutions and its national governments should give stronger support to the Ukrainian democratic opposition."

Just as democratic Ukraine has been striving for recognition by the Council of Europe, so the Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization has aimed to become a part of worldwide scouting, organized in the World Organization of Scouting Movements. (WOSM).

When Plast was reborn in Ukraine in 1990 it was assumed that, for the first time in its history, it would become a part of the WOSM. Plast grew in membership, encompassed every region in Ukraine, registered as a national organization and in 2000 received the coveted "national" designation; it sent representatives to two world scout jamborees; and it developed a leadership training program that has been acknowledged to be among the best in Ukraine, yet, the prize of membership in WOSM remained out of reach.

In 1999 the WOSM committee notified Plast that it was favoring another organization, Scouts of Ukraine (SU), as the potential WOSM member for Ukraine.

However, on April 20-21 of this year, Scouts of Ukraine held a meeting, the consequences of which might be a decision by the WOSM about who will be the Ukrainian representative in international scouting circles. In the spring SU members received an invitation to a meeting whose costs would be covered by the organizers. When the participants arrived they were told that their work would be not at an SU meeting, but at a conference on children's human rights. Nadia Melnychuk, a member of SU, stated "We were to work on a resolution that was to be presented at a Special Session on Children of the U.N. General Assembly. This conference was part of a worldwide UNICEF project in preparation for that session." From the invitation, SU members had no idea that they were going to a UNICEF-sponsored conference.

The absence of rules of a civil society in Ukraine has derailed many attempts to set up truly independent national non-governmental organizations. In this respect, Plast has been one of the exceptions: its 10-year history as a volunteer organization and expansion to all regions of independent Ukraine proves both its relevance and sustainability as a scouting organization. The WOSM appears to be promoting dubious initiatives that seem to have their own agendas, rather than giving Plast the attention it deserves.

On a different note, this year saw a lot of good spirit and cultural support in light of the 10th anniversary celebrations of Ukraine's independence. In August the Rusalka Ukrainian Dance Ensemble went to Ukraine to take part in and perform at Ukraine's gala festivities. Since their trip also coincided with the Third World Forum of Ukrainians, the dance group represented the Ukrainian Canadian community during the World Forum at a concert on August 18. Their tour not only celebrated Ukraine's jubilee, but also marked Rusalka's 40th anniversary.

Also on tour this summer at the time of the independence anniversary was the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus of North America. The group ended its tour generally satisfied with its performances, but somewhat disgruntled with Ukrainian organizers. Their disappointment stemmed from the way the committee for the cultural program of the Third World Forum of Ukrainians insisted that they not play a preferred song in their repertoire.

The song in question was "March of the Ukrainian Youth," with lyrics by Ivan Bahrianyi, which in the chorus music director's opinion symbolically describes the situation in which todays Ukrainian youth finds itself. The Detroit-based ensemble agreed that the problems at the concert were but one aspect of the general state of the disorganization that surrounded their five-day stay in Kyiv. Some of them believed that their treatment by the organizing committee was a reflection of the problems in Ukrainian society.

It should be noted that Rusalka and the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus were chosen by Ukrainian umbrella organizations in, respectively, Canada and the United States, as performing ensembles representing their countries in Ukraine during the Third World Forum of Ukrainians.

Also in August, SUM, the Ukrainian Youth Association, held its sixth "world Zlet" (gathering) in Ukraine. Such gathering aim to develop among its young participants an understanding of Ukraine's past and present, so that they can build bridges to present-day Ukraine. This year's World Zlet held special significance as it commemorated the 10th anniversary of Ukraine's independence and offered participants a unique journey through Lviv, Ternopil, Kalush, Yaremche, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kaniv and Kyiv. The Zlet began on August 16 in Lviv with over 200 delegates from three continents present, and ended in Kyiv on August 24, the site of all major independence celebrations.

August was also an important month for Plast, especially in Sevastopol. On August 19 a historic ceremony brought together Plast members and members of Ukraine's naval fleet aboard the flagship of the Ukrainian navy, the Hetman Sahaidachnyi. The meeting was a key component of a tour of Ukraine organized by Plast's Chornomortsi fraternity and Chornomorski Khvyli sorority active in both the diaspora and Ukraine. The meeting is seen as the beginning of cooperative efforts involving Plast's sea scouts and Ukraine's naval forces.

Perhaps the highlight of the year for diaspora Ukrainians was the highly awaited Third World Forum of Ukrainians which opened on August 18 with many high expectations and calls for consolidation of the Ukrainian nation on the eve of the 10th anniversary celebration. However, protests in the session hall changed the atmosphere and threatened to turn the forum into a demonstration against the administration of President Leonid Kuchma.

The meeting ended with many unhappy delegates complaining 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 done at the previous two forums.

The key points made in the final resolution express the delegates' 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.

Never far from the surface of the proceedings, however, was the ongoing political battle between President Kuchma and those political forces that accuse him of corruption and complicity in the murder of journalist Heorhii Gongadze. As President Kuchma presided over the session, outside the Ukraina Palace nearly a thousand demonstrators protested the policies of his administration.

About a month later, the Verkhovna Rada rejected a bill that would have guaranteed Ukrainians living abroad certain rights in their homeland, including visa-free entry. The draft law would have allowed ethnic Ukrainians who are citizens of other countries to spend up to 120 days in Ukraine annually without a visa if they met certain requirements and registered with Ukraine's Consulate General or a consular office in their country. It would have also allowed for those registered to receive three-year multiple-entry visas at their request without going through an invitation process.

Ihor Otash, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Affairs, said that a minimum of 12 million Ukrainians live abroad, dispersed across the globe for various reasons, including economic and political ones. He said they should be encouraged to return home or at least maintain ties with their historic homeland. It is probable that the bill, which cannot be resubmitted to the legislative body until its next session, will be reworked and reintroduced.

In October a precedent-setting verdict was passed by Poland's Supreme Administrative Court in a case over property confiscated by the state in 1949 from Maria Hladyk, a Lemko who was forcibly resettled in 1947 from her home to a village in Poland. This verdict admits that the nationalization of Lemko properties 50 years ago was illegal and paves the way for other Lemkos, or their heirs to regain what was confiscated from them by the Communist authorities. Polish courts are currently going over some 200 lawsuits by Lemkos seeking to have their properties returned to them.

Finally, the compensation deadline for Nazi-era slave laborers was extended from August 11 to December 31 of this year. During World War II, many Eastern Europeans were taken from their homelands by the Nazi regime to Germany and were forced to work in camps and factories. Last year the German Parliament voted to allocate funds to compensate the slave and forced laborers, who are found worldwide. The compensatory funds are supplied partly by the German government and partly by the corporations that participated in the forced labor program over 50 years ago. Most claimants are now between 70 and 90 years old.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 6, 2002, No. 1, Vol. LXX

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