Opposition leaders make their case before the people (09/15/02)

Opposition leaders make their case before the people

by Jan Maksymiuk
RFE/RL Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine Report

Last week Ukraine saw a fairly unusual occurrence: Yulia Tymoshenko (a former oligarch) and Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko (the most prominent defender of the Ukrainian proletariat) stood arm in arm at rallies in the Ukrainian provinces and called for people to take part in the anti-presidential protest campaign that is scheduled to start on September 16.

UNIAN reported that last week, Ms. Tymoshenko and Mr. Symonenko, jointly with Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz, sought support for the protest campaign in Zhytomyr, Rivne, Lutsk, Bila Tserkva, Cherkasy and Dnipropetrovsk. As the three opposition leaders told a news conference on September 2, the protest campaign will continue until President Leonid Kuchma and "other representatives of Ukraine's top authorities" resign their posts.

The three leaders also called for an early presidential election. "We cannot wait for another two and a half years [for the regular presidential election in 2004] because then we will get Mr. Kuchma or his successor," Ms. Tymoshenko commented. The state-controlled media, quite understandably, have not reported on the tour of Ukrainian regions by Ms. Tymoshenko, Mr. Symonenko, and Mr. Moroz.

The demand to oust President Kuchma seems to be the only unifying factor for the three opposition leaders, who, quite naturally, have avoided mentioning their ideological differences during rallies.

The Ukrainska Pravda website reported that at the rally in Zhytomir on September 5, Mr. Symonenko, in line with the Communist Party program, spoke about ensuring free-of-charge education, high pensions and wages, inexpensive transportation, the repayment of savings lost due to the break-up of the Soviet Union, the "termination of criminal privatization and the return of enterprises to the people's ownership." Mr. Moroz stressed the need for the democratization of the power system and quoted sums that were allegedly embezzled by President Kuchma to the detriment of the Ukrainian people.

Ms. Tymoshenko blamed Mr. Kuchma for the failure of reforms in the country.

In general, all other Ukrainian failures were blamed on the president as well. Mr. Moroz, the website noted sardonically, even tried to place responsibility on Kuchma for not lifting the ban on producing moonshine (unlicensed production of alcohol) in Ukraine.

It is understandable that the opposition wants to muster support for its "Rise Up, Ukraine!" protest action among as many people as possible. Therefore, the three leaders have appealed primarily to what seems to be the most probable motive for popular discontent: the dire economic situation in Ukraine and people's natural yearning to pin their hopes on someone who promises to improve it.

But, on the other hand, it is also obvious that, to a significant extent, the message voiced by the opposition is politically irresponsible and practically inapplicable. It is no wonder that Viktor Yushchenko prefers not to associate with Ms. Tymoshenko, Mr. Symonenko and Mr. Moroz too closely. Even he - dubbed a "Ukrainian messiah" - would find it rather hard to accelerate privatization in Ukraine efficiently and to ensure "the return of enterprises to the people's ownership" at the same time.

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