FACES AND PLACES: Our community's four "aces" (08/25/02)

FACES AND PLACES

by Myron B. Kuropas

Our community's four "aces"

We all know and enjoy the three tenors. Their singing is unsurpassed.

Some of you may know and enjoy the three black tenors. They, too, are outstanding.

But did you know that our community has four aces, not professional singers, mind you, but academics who have made outstanding contributions to our community and who, unlike the community-subsidized prima donnas at Harvard are willing to mix with and address us common folk? They attend academic conferences, of course, but they also inform non-academics. All four gentlemen fall under the rubric of "ace," defined by The American Heritage Dictionary as "an expert in a given field."

On Sunday, July 21, our four aces participated in a roundtable discussion in Chicago sponsored by the Foundation for the Advancement of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Illinois. Moderated by Julian Kulas, the panel's topic was: "The Political and Economic Situation in Ukraine in the Wake of the Recent Parliamentary Elections."

The first ace to speak was Dr. Taras Hunczak, a professor of history at Rutgers University, editor of Suchasnist, and editor or co-editor of numerous multi-volume historical document collections related to Symon Petliura, Ukraine and Poland, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and other topics referencing Ukraine's freedom crusade. Considered a bon-vivant by some, Prof. Hunczak can also hold his own as a singer, especially when the appropriate social occasion presents itself.

Prof. Hunczak was relatively optimistic about the outcome of the elections, reminding us that the Communist Party lost two-thirds of its parliamentarians. This is a very encouraging development, he emphasized. Also positive is the fact that some elected officials changed their allegiance after the election. "People now know who they really are," commented Prof. Hunczak. They misrepresented themselves and voters will remember that the next time. "They won't get re-elected." Although there is growing disappointment in Viktor Yushchenko, Yulia Tymoshenko's stock seems to be rising in Ukraine.

It is worth noting in this regard that, according to a recent sociological survey conducted among prominent journalists in Ukraine by Democratic Initiatives, Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Medvedchuk and Parliament Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn are gaining in popularity since the election.

The second ace to speak was Dr. Vasyl Markus, a local academic celebrity who, along with his lovely wife Dr. Daria Markus, is the current editor of the Encyclopedia of the Ukrainian Diaspora. A political science professor at Loyola University for many years until his retirement in 1988, Dr. Markus was an editor of Volume 2 of Ukraine: A Concise Encyclopedia, and the associate editor of the first two volumes of the Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Actively involved in the Ukrainian Catholic Church, he is also an authority on Subcarpathian Ukraine.

Dr. Markus commented on the tightrope that Mr. Yushchenko must walk if he expects to be elected president. Mr. Yushchenko opposes impeaching President Kuchma because such a move would dangerously destabilize the government. At the same time, however, he needs to maintain his momentum and to weaken Mr. Kuchma's base without openly criticizing the president. If Mr.Yushchenko works with the grassroots and courts the rising young elite, he has a chance to win in 2004, Dr. Markus believes. The diaspora should be less critical and work with the U.S. government in its efforts to improve the situation in Ukraine.

Dr. Peter Potichnyj, a professor of political science at McMaster University, was the third speaker. Co-author of the ground-breaking study "Two Solitudes: Jewish-Ukrainian Relations," as well as "Soviet Agricultural Trade Unions, 1917-1920," Dr. Potichnyj left Ukraine after World War II with a westward-bound company of the UPA. He is a co-editor of the multi-volume Litopys Ukrainskoyi Povstanskoyi Armii (Chronicle of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army) and "Political Thought of the Ukrainian Underground, 1943-1951." Amazingly, he is also a consultant to Heilongjiang University in Harbin, China.

In his remarks Dr. Potichnyj focused on Ukraine's political culture which, he argued, is a work in progress. With no strong political culture to provide balance, Ukrainian politicans still have not understood the limits of their political power. The emphasis is on personal aggrandizement, not the commonweal. Moreover, political parties in Ukraine lack vision and have not defined their goals well. Because they tend to waffle, they don't engender trust, and this lack of trust leads to disenchantment within the electorate. Although there are many positive changes in Ukraine, a democratic political culture will be long in coming. It's easier to establish a nation-state than to nurture it.

The fourth speaker, also from Canada, was Dr. Jaroslav Rozumnyj, former chairman of the Slavic studies department at the University of Manitoba and one-time president of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in Canada. His articles on Ukrainian literature and culture have appeared in numerous Ukrainian émigré and Canadian scholarly publications.

Dr. Rozumnyj believes Ukraine has three major problems: the Russian language, still the language of prestige; Russian elitism, which dominates the mass media; and a loss of population. Ukrainian national pride is on the rise and this has frightened Russia. This has produced the kind of backlash we see in moves to celebrate the Pereiaslav Treaty, growing demands to harmonize Ukrainian and Russian history, and plans for a nationwide celebration to commemorate the 85th birthday of Volodymyr Shcherbytsky, former first secretary of the Communist Party of the Ukrainian SSR. It was Mr. Shcherbytsky who, following Moscow's dictates, reversed the moderate Ukrainianization efforts of his predecessor, Petro Shelest. Under Comrade Shcherbytsky, Russification was intensified along with increased repression of Ukraine's dissident movement. Following re-unification, Germany eliminated Soviet-style professors from universities in East Germany, Dr. Rozumnyj pointed out. Ukraine must do the same. The Soviet ballast that is still dragging Ukraine down needs to be dumped. The Ukrainian diaspora, meanwhile, should continue to criticize Ukraine and to support academic life based on a Ukrainian national model.

Like many of us, the four aces are a bit long in tooth. They have lost none of their powers of discernment, however. They are superb educators who have much to say and love to travel. Invite them to your next community forum and let them sing.

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

| Home Page |