FACES AND PLACES: Three decades, one generation (08/11/02)

FACES AND PLACES

by Myron B. Kuropas

Three decades, one generation

It hardly seems possible that a short 30 years ago Ukraine was still an integral part of the evil empire, still being exploited, still being denied basic freedoms, still suffering under the yoke of gangsters.

Since then a generation has grown up in North America, increasingly unaware of the horrors which were then happening and the enduring struggles which they precipitated.

Although hoodlums still rule in Ukraine, their future is limited. Pockets of independent endeavor are emerging, and Ukraine is slowly, painfully, but assuredly changing for the better.

To put Ukraine's current crisis into perspective, we need to look back to 1970 and recall what Ukraine was facing then and compare that to what is happening now. We need also to recall how our community was reacting and the people who were active in our preservation efforts here and abroad.

There's no better place to begin our sojourn into the past than Volume II of the recently released "The Ukrainian Weekly 2000," a compilation of the most significant news stories and commentaries published in the Ukrainian Weekly between 1970 and 1999.

In 1971, for example, a spokesman for the Compton Encyclopedia responded to a protest by Dr. Halyna I. Podiuk Klufas regarding the entry on "Russia" by stating that "Ukrainia and Latvia are now governed by the Soviet Union and thus the people who live there are Russians ...Texas was once an independent republic, but is now a state in the United States. The same is true of Ukraina and Latvia in relationship to Russia."

This kind of thinking was typical of the way many journalists, academics, politicians and the general public viewed Ukraine and Ukrainians. Fortunately, protest letters by Weekly readers and others forced the Compton people to re-evaluate their entry.

Today, the situation has changed somewhat but not completely. In his 1999 book "The World of Words: An Illustrated History of Western Languages," Victor Stevenson classifies the Ukrainian language as "Little Russian," one of the "three Russians" which includes "Great Russian" and "Belarussian (White Russian)."

Other 1970 protests noted in Volume II were related to the Vatican's initial refusal to allow Cardinal Josyf Slipyj to visit Canada, the arrest of Ukrainian dissidents in Kyiv, the murder of composer Volodymyr Ivasiuk, the arrests of dissidents Vyacheslav Chornovil, Ivan Svitlychny and Ivan Dzyuba, and the trials of Mykola Rudenko and Oleksa Tykhy. One of the largest demonstrations on behalf of human rights in Ukraine occured on September 25, 1977, when some 20,000 Ukrainian Americans from some 30 cities marched in Washington. The Ukrainian National Association was active in this event, as well in the successful lobbying efforts that led to the Soviet release of dissident Valentyn Moroz.

Another milestone was reached when the Vatican, responding to initiatives by Pope John Paul II, adopted a more obliging attitude towards Ukrainian Catholics, a posture that culminated in the first ever papal visit to Ukraine in 2001.

The 1980s began with a split within the Ukrainian Congress Committee as the UNA, the Ukrainian Fraternal Association and 19 other national organizations walked out of the organization. Two years later a competing umbrella organization, the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council (UACC) was established and for the next 18 years the battle was joined. Today, the UACC is moribund.

The struggle for Ukrainian freedom intensified during the 1980s as did efforts to counter the growing defamation of the Ukrainian name in the United States. With full Soviet cooperation, the Office of Special Investigations of the U.S. Department of Justice initiated its witch hunts against Ukrainians and succeeded in incorporating Nazi hunting into the American cultural fabric, all, of course, at U.S. taxpayer expense.

A high point of the 1980s was the sucessful effort to bring the Ukraine Famine of 1932-1933 to the world's attention. Books were published, articles written, a major manifestation was held in Washington, hearings were held in the House and Senate, and Congress approved and funded the Ukraine Famine Commission. Although attempts to curb OSI abuses in the United States were largely unsucessful, dissidents in Ukraine continued to pursue their national agenda with the establishment of the Popular Movement for Perebudova (Rukh), a development which formally ignited the spark that led to Ukrainian independence.

During the early 1990s Ukraine proclaimed its sovereignty with over 90 percent of the population later voting affirmatively for Ukrainian independence. John Demjanjuk was acquitted of war crimes by the Israeli Supreme Court in 1993; Oksana Baiul won a gold medal in the Winter Olympics in 1994, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted independent Ukraine's first-ever constitution, Ukrainian was adopted as the only official language, and the "the" disappeared from respectable publications writing about Ukraine.

For the first time in centuries, Ukraine's fortunes seemed to be improving.

Ukraine's enemies, however, were not idle. The once outlawed Communist Party of Ukraine made a remarkable comeback in Ukraine; Ukrainophobes produced "The Ugly Face of Freedom," a scurrilous diatribe of tainted journalism on "60 Minutes"; and Leonid Kuchma was elected president of Ukraine for a second time.

These are only some of the historic events reported in Volume II of "The Ukrainian Weekly 2000." Along with Volume I, which covers the years 1933 through the 1960s, readers will find a wealth of information about Ukraine and the Ukrainian community in North America.

"It is our sincere hope," writes The Ukrainian Weekly Editor-in-chief Roma Hadzewycz, "that in some small way the publication of both volumes of 'The Ukrainian Weekly 2000' serves as both a tribute and a thank-you to all our devoted editors, as well as to all those who supported our work during the 20th century."

We all need to review our past from time to time. Knowing our past helps us understand our present. It is for this reason that I urge all readers to purchase both volumes, read them and share them with their children. Copies are available from The Ukrainian Weekly, 2200 Route 10, Box 280, Parsippany, NJ, 07054 for the low price of $25 per set. All proceeds go to The Ukrainian Weekly Press Fund. (Additional donations are welcomed.

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

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