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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT -
AUR
An International
Newsletter, The Latest, Up-To-Date
In-Depth Ukrainian News, Analysis and Commentary
Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business,
Religion, Economics,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around
the World
"NOVEMBER 16 - 23,
2008"
UKRAINE REMEMBERS -
THE WORLD
ACKNOWLEDGES
75th Commemoration of the
Holodomor 1932-1933
A political system and political leaders
totally out of control creates:
"Induced
Starvation, Death for Millions,
Genocide"
GENOCIDE AGAINST
THE UKRAINIANS
The genocide was against the Ukrainians
as a national/ethnic group
living within
the whole Soviet empire over a period of years
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR - Number
915
Mr. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor,
SigmaBleyzer
WASHINGTON, D.C., SUNDAY, NOVEMBER
2, 2008
INDEX OF ARTICLES
------
Clicking on the title of any article takes
you directly to the
article.
Return to Index by clicking on Return to
Index at the end of each article
UkrInform - Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, October 27, 2008
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, October 14, 2008
UkrInform - International Life, Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, October
25, 2008
UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian 0818 gmt 24 Oct 08
BBC Monitoring
Service, UK, in English, Thursday, October 24, 2008
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, October 29,
2008
Itar-Tass, Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, October 25, 2008
By Yuri Shapoval, Historian, The Day Weekly Digest in
English, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, Oct 28, 2008
UkrInform - Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, October 13, 2008
Is this going too far?
By Oksana Mykoliuk, The Day Weekly Digest in English, Kyiv,
Ukraine, Tue, Oct 28, 2008
Agence France Presse (AFP) Strasbourg, France, Thursday, October 23, 2008
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2008 8:46 AM
14
. BELATED TRIUMPH OF HOLODOMOR
VICTIMSUkraine confronting its terrible past with Europe's help
By
Charles Tannock, Member, European Parliament, special to The Day,
The Day
Weekly Digest in English, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, October 28, 2008
15
. THE TRUTH PREVAILSEuropean
Parliament unanimously adopts resolution commemorating the Holodomor
By
Mykola Siruk, The Day Weekly Digest in English, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, Oct 28,
2008
CANDLE INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN
UkrInform -
International Life, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, October 27, 2008
18
. HOLODOMOR ACTIONS MUST
CONTINUE
By Alina Popkova, The Day Weekly Digest in English,
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, Oct 21, 2008
Essendon, Victoria, Australia, Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Friday, November 7, 2008
Orysia Tracz, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Monday, October 20,
2008
Exhibition features thirty-eight Holodomor artworks by Ukrainian
artists
Ukrainian National Museum, Chicago, Illinois, Saturday, October
25, 2008
Two-Day International Conference, 17-18 November 2008, Harvard,
Cambridge, MA
Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute (HURI), Cambridge, MA, Friday, October
31, 2008
75th Commemoration of the Ukrainian Genocide 1932-1933
Ukraine Remembers
- The World Acknowledges! Nov 16 - 23, 2008
International Holodomor Committee (IHC), Ukrainian World Congress
(UWC)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Monday, October 27, 2008
Keynote address by Prof. Alexander Motyl,
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Michael Naydan, Penn State University,
University Park, PA, Mon, Oct 13, 2008
26
. COLUMBIA UNIV CONFERENCE TO
COMMEMORATE THE HOLODOMOR-GENOCIDE"Visualizing the Holodomor: The
Ukrainian Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933 on Film"
Yuri Shevchuk, Ukrainian Film
Club of Columbia University,
Columbia University, New York, NY, Wednesday,
October 1, 2008
===================================================
1. PRESIDENTS OF BALTIC
COUNTRIES, POLAND, GEORGIA & AZERBAIJAN WILL
PARTICIPATE IN INTERNATIONAL
HOLODOMOR FORUM IN KYIV ON NOV 22
UkrInform - Ukraine
News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, October 27, 2008
KYIV -The Presidents of the
Baltic countries, Poland, Georgia and Azerbaijan have already confirmed their
participation in the November 22 international
forum on the 75th anniversary
of the 1932 - 1933 Great Famine (Holodomor) in Ukraine.
Mykhailo
Skuratovskyi, director of the Ukrainian foreign ministry's department for
cultural and humanitarian cooperation, told a news briefing Monday that on the
whole 20 or 30 delegations from many countries of the world are expected to come
to the forum.
Asked by the press, Skuratovskyi noted that the Foreign
Affairs Ministry of Ukraine had addressed to Russia the invitation to take part
in the forum, but no answer has come yet.
The MFA source reminded that on
October 23 the European Parliament passed a resolution on Holodomor, calling it
a crime against humanity. "Mind that
despite the absence of the 'genocide'
term, the genocide character of the famine was recognized. The resolution of the
European Parliament demonstrates that the truth about the Holodomor was heard by
the European community," Skuratovskyi says.
He noted that Ukraine has no
grudges against any country in the Holodomor context. "Our position is that the
world should know about the tragedy," he
said reminding that 15 countries of
the world had recognized Holodomor as an act of genocide, while others condemned
it as a crime.
Vasyl Boechko, head of the foreign ministry's department
for diaspora affairs, says the Everburning Candle international event that took
place in 30 foreign countries started in Ukraine Sunday.
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2
. MONTENEGROS PRESIDENT TO
ATTEND INTERNATIONAL HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 CONFERENCE IN
UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, October 14, 2008
KYIV - Montenegros President Filip Vujanovic will visit Ukraine on
November 22 to attend an international conference on the 1932-1933 famine.
Foreign Affairs Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko announced this after a meeting with
Montenegros Foreign Affairs Minister Milan Rocen.
It is very important that the president of Montenegro will attend the
international conference on November 22, Ohryzko said. According to Ohryzko,
Ukraine is very grateful to Montenegro for this decision.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, President Viktor Yuschenko has
thanked Montenegro for supporting Ukrainian initiatives on international
recognition of the 1932-1933 famine. Ukraine and Montenegro have agreed to open
embassies in each other capitals before the end of this year.
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3
. UN POSTPONES
CONSIDERATION OF ISSUE ON HOLODOMOR IN UKRAINE
UkrInform - International Life, Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, October
25, 2008
KYIV - A decision of the General Committee of the UN
General Assembly to postpone adoption of a recommendation on including an issue
about the Holodomor of 1932-33 in Ukraine into the agenda of the present UN
General Assembly was taken during the days when the world community celebrates
the 63rd Anniversary of the UN Foundation.
Ukraine, the USSR member at that time, was one of the UN founding
countries. Ukraine was among the first countries to sign the UN Charter and was
included into a group of its 51 founding countries.
Despite restrictions existing during the Soviet epoch, Ukraine was
considered to be a sovereign state de jure and carried out active political
activities at the UN, which gave it the only opportunity to realize its foreign
policy at that time. Just thanks to the UN membership Ukraine actually had no
difficulties with recognition in the world following declaration of its
independence.
The people of Ukraine, over 90 percent of its citizens, confirmed the
country's independence at the all-Ukrainian Referendum on December 1, 1991, that
was recognized by the UN and immediately following it - by many world countries
Ukraine was three times elected as non-permanent member of the Security
Council (1948-1949, 1984-1985, 2000-2001), five times - as member of the
Economic and Social Council. Ukrainian representatives have been elected to
leading positions in the main committees of the General Assembly sessions. In
1997, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Hennadiy Udovenko was elected Chairman of the
52nd Session of the General Assembly that is known in the history as the
“session of reforms”.
Ukraine joined the Global Anti-Terror Coalition having emphasized
readiness to counter terrorism within the framework of the UN activities. The
Ukrainian delegation stated a number of initiatives aimed at intensification of
international cooperation in this sphere at the 56th General Assembly Session
and at meetings of the UN Security Council.
Since July 1992, Ukraine is a contributor of the military units and
personnel for the UN peacekeeping operations. Over a period of Ukraine's
independence, about 28 thousand of Ukrainian servicemen participated in
peacekeeping operations under the UN auspices. In 1994, Ukraine became an
initiator of the Convention on the Safety of the United Nations and Associated
Personnel.
Presently, Ukraine is a member of such UN authorities as the Human
Rights Council, Executive Committee of the World Food Program, UN Children's
Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Development Programs (UNDP) and the UN Population
Fund (UNFPA) and others. Today, Ukraine pays to the UN Regular Budget
0.039 percent of total expenditures of the Organization.
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4
. UKRAINE ACCUSES RUSSIA OF
FORCING FAMINE ISSUE OUT OF UN AGENDA
UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian 0818 gmt 24 Oct 08
BBC Monitoring
Service, UK, in English, Thursday, October 24, 2008
KIEV
- The Russian Federation, using "pressure and blackmail", attempts to deny
Ukraine its right to submit the issue of the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine
[Holodomor] for consideration by the UN General Assembly.
The press service of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine told the UNIAN
news agency that on 23 October 2008 the General Committee of the UN General
Assembly, after a heated debate, refused to put the issue of the 1932-33 famine
in Ukraine on the agenda of the current session of the UN General Assembly.
"The Russian Federation, using its levers of influence as a permanent UN
Security Council member, through direct pressure and blackmail, attempts to deny
a country-member of the UN [Ukraine] of its right to put an important issue on
the agenda of the UN, which is the most representative international
organization. These actions contradict the very letter and spirit of the UN
Charter and the procedure of the General Assembly," the Foreign Ministry said.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that the counter-productive stance
of Russia contradicts the approach of the world community in evaluating the
famine.
"This has been reflected in the resolution on commemorating the victims
of the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine, unanimously adopted by the European Parliament
on 23 October 2008. The resolution recognizes the famine as a 'terrible crime
against Ukrainians' and 'the crime against humanity'.
The resolution also condoles Ukrainian people who suffered from the 1932-33
famine in Ukraine," the ministry said. The work on putting the issue of the
1932-33 famine in Ukraine on the UN General Assembly's agenda continues.
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Promoting U.S.-Ukraine business
relations & investment since 1995.
==============================================================
5
. RUSSIA'S PERMANENT REP TO
UN CHURKIN REGARDS UKRAINE'S POSITION ON HOLODOMOR AS STIRRING UP HOSTILITY
BETWEEN UKRAINIANS & RUSSIANS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, October 29,
2008
KYIV - Russia's permanent representative in the United Nations Organisation
Vitaly Churkin believes that Ukraine's position on declaring the Holodomor
famine of 1932-33 as genocide against the Ukrainian nation stirs up hostility
between Ukrainians and Russians. The UN News Centre has announced this in a
report.
When speaking at a press briefing in the UN headquarters in New York City
(US), Churkin said that Ukrainian authorities are trying to politicize the
humanitarian and historic issue of the hunger on territory of the former Soviet
Union and thus wanting to include onto the UN General Assembly agenda the item
"Commemoration of the seventy fifth anniversary of Holodomor, the Great Famine
of 1932-1933 in Ukraine."
Churkin marked, Ukrainian executives are trying to present the historic
tragedy, linked to collectivization held throughout the Soviet Union, as
genocide of the Ukrainian people, thus exciting enmity and hatred between
Ukrainians and Russians. Also Churkin stressed that many states, including
Kazakhstan, are against inclusion of this item onto the agenda.
Although, according to the ambassador, the General Committee of the UN
General Assembly did not make any decision, as the US and UK delegations
prevented its normal work. "Historians have to clear out this question. We must
commemorate the famine victims and not to politicize this matter," Churkin told.
He stressed, the collectivization policy was not targeted at ethnic
groups and similar tragedies occurred in Russia (Siberia, Volga River basin) and
Kazakhstan too. Churkin emphasized, Russia understands the tragedy of Ukraine
but believes it inadmissible to call it genocide against Ukrainians.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, on October 23, the European
Parliament declared Holodomor of 1932-33 in Ukraine as a crime against the
Ukrainian people and humanity.
The Foreign Ministry accused Russia of hampering the UN to consider the
resolution on recognizing Holodomor of 1932-33 in Ukraine as genocide.
President Viktor Yuschenko declared 2008 as the year of commemoration of
Holodomor of 1932-33 victims.
The Verkhovna Rada declared Holodomor of 1932-33 as an act of genocide
against the Ukrainian people in 2006. Between 3 million and 7 million people
perished in the Holodomor famine of 1932-33 in Ukraine, according to various
estimates.
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6
. USA TRYING TO SET
UKRAINE, RUSSIA AGAINST EACH OTHER WITH
THE GREAT FAMINE ISSUE SAYS RUSSIA'S UN
REPRESENTATIVE
Itar-Tass, Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, October 28, 2008
UNITED NATIONS - The United States is trying to set people of
Ukraine and Russia against each other with the Great Famine issue, Russian
Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said on
Tuesday.
He said the United States was thus "resolving the hard task of
pushing Ukraine into NATO while 80% of Ukrainian citizens objected to the
Ukrainian
drawing into the North Atlantic alliance."
The U.S. and
British delegations were rude and kept interrupting the chair of the UN General
Assembly's General Committee, which was considering the Assembly agenda, Churkin
said. The General Committee discussed the possible attachment of the Ukrainian
draft resolution on the Great Famine to the agenda.
"The Great Famine and
Ukrainian genocide claims create a certain background for another mainstream
ideological action of the Ukrainian administration, i.e. glorification of
Ukrainian accomplices of the Nazi," he said. "The most illustrative example of
this glorification is the Hero of Ukraine title posthumously awarded by the
Ukrainian president to one of the most notorious leaders of Ukrainian Nazis,
Shukevich, in 2007."
"The Babiy Yar tragedy is the most vivid symbol of
Holocaust," Churkin said. "Plenty of those who killed Jews in Babiy Yar were
Ukrainian accomplices of the Nazi."
All that "is totally discordant with
the United Nations Organization, which was established amid the victory of the
anti-Hitler coalition, and principles of this organization," he said.
"Russia has been fighting against the phenomenon for more than three years.
Each year it offers a resolution that condemns the appearance of new forms of
racism and glorification of nazism, and each year the resolution gains support
of the UN General Assembly. We hope that the resolution will enjoy broader
support this year than in 2007 when it was approved by 130
states."
"European nations regularly abstain in the vote on the draft
Russian resolution that condemns glorification of the Nazi. Maybe, the United
States, which has taken up history and has become hyperactive in the Great
Famine issue, will finally support the resolution. So far, only two states
the U.S. and the Marshall Islands voted against our resolution last year
for reasons I would call inexplicable," Churkin said.
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7
. MP BORYS TARASIUK
PREDICTS ENDORSEMENT OF UN RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING UKRAINIAN HOLODOMOR FAMINE
OF 1932-1933 AS ACT OF GENOCIDE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, October 25, 2008
KYIV - Our Ukraine - People's Self-Defense Bloc MP Borys Tarasiuk, the
former foreign minister, has predicted that the United Nations will endorse a
resolution to recognize the Ukrainian Holodomor famine of 1932-1933 as an act of
genocide. Ukrainian News learned this from a statement by the press service of
the People's Rukh of Ukraine.
Tarasiuk questions a statement that the UN allegedly refused to
consider the draft resolution on the condemnation of the Ukrainian Holodomor. He
notes this concerns a decision of the General Committee, which drafts the agenda
of the UN General Assembly.
"I hope the General Committee will pass a decision to include the question
in the agenda of the UN General Assembly," Tarasiuk said. According to Tarasiuk,
there is a guaranteed majority at the UN General Assembly to support the
inclusion of the question for the consideration.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, following contentious debates, the
General Committee of the UN General Assembly on October 23 postponed the
endorsement of a recommendation about the inclusion of the Holodomor question in
the agenda.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Russia of
facilitating the postponement. The Ukrainian ministry said such actions from
Russia did not meet the spirit and letter of the UN Statute and the procedure of
the UN General Assembly.
President Yuschenko said he was confident that the United Nations
Organization will pass a resolution in October to recognize the Holodomor in
Ukraine of 1932-33 as an act of genocide. Ukraine urges the world community to
commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor famine of 1932-1933.
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8
. WARSAW MELODY: NEW
BOOK OF HOLODOMOR DOCUMENTS
By Yuri Shapoval, Historian, Professor, The Day Weekly Digest in
English, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, Oct 28, 2008
NOTE FROM YURI SHAPOVAL: Petro Kulakov, an employee of the Branch State
Archive of the Security Service of Ukraine (HDA SBU), and this author recently
went on a working trip to Warsaw. It was not a ceremonial visit, and its general
tone was mournful rather than optimistic.
We traveled to the Polish capital to coordinate the text of the foreword
and read the galleys of another thick volume of the joint Polish-Ukrainian
series of documents entitled Poland and Ukraine in the 1930s-1940s: Unknown
Documents from Secret Police Archives.
This, seventh, volume will be entitled "The Holodomor of 1932-33 in
Ukraine." We were invited to Warsaw by the Polish Institute of National
Remembrance (IPN), the co-author and sponsor of this book, which numbers over a
thousand pages.
ATYPICAL VOLUME
This is a truly unusual book. There is a great deal of public interest
in the Holodomor in Ukraine. Poland is also interested in this subject. Polish
literature on the subject is considerably smaller in scope than Ukraine’s.
Although Polish studies dealing with the period of collectivization in
Ukraine were published even before the Second World War, owing to well-known
circumstances researchers in Poland were able to begin studying the Holodomor
only after 1989.
Today, we are working together on a volume of unique documents. Key
among them are documents and materials written by Polish diplomats, intelligence
officers, and officials in charge of voivodeships that were adjacent to Ukraine.
We are also publishing interesting documents from the HDA SBU on the GPU of the
Ukrainian SSR.
These include various instructions and data prepared by the Chekists during
the tragic events of 1932-33, as well as documents relating to foreign
diplomatic missions in the USSR and the Ukrainian SSR. The supplement will
include entries from journals kept by several Holodomor eyewitnesses.
POLISH INSTITUTE OF NATIONAL
REMEMBRANCE
Every day we worked with our colleagues at the
Polish Institute of National Remembrance, primarily with the historian, Dr.
Jerzy Bednarek, the head of the IPN’s department of archival studies and
sources, and Marcin Majewski of the Bureau of Provision and Archivization of
Documents.
All of us read the texts. This was a task easier said than done, as these
documents paint a horrific picture of a heinous and — what is even more terrible
— well-thought-out and implemented concept for the annihilation of Ukraine.
For example, a letter slipped into the Polish consulate’s mailbox in
Kharkiv reads: “Reigning in the country of freedom and inviolability of the
individual are executions, penal servitude, and incredible
exploitation...Robbery is rife. Peasants are robbing peasants, workers are
robbing workers.
"If a peasant has a chicken or a piglet, he has to sleep next to it at
night, so that someone who is not blessed with this ‘fortune’ will not steal it
during the night and eat it together with his starving family by morning. The
peasants (80 percent of the population) do not have any stimulus to work on the
land because they know that everything will be taken away from them anyway.”
POLISH CONSUL WRITES ON MAY 11,
1932
The Polish consul accredited to Kyiv writes on May 11,
1932: “I am reporting that with every passing day I am receiving increasingly
more news about the famine in Right-Bank Ukraine, which is felt particularly
acutely in the province. According to the latest information, cases of people
who are fainting from weakness and exhaustion being collected from the streets
are being recorded in such cities as Vinnytsia and Uman. The situation is
supposed to be worse in the countryside, where, according to information from a
reliable source, banditry and murders resulting from the famine occur every
day.”
Rural areas were not the only ones that were affected. A document from
the Consul General in Kharkiv on March 16, 1933, states: “We have witnessed
various city workers, who bring wood, coal, ice, etc., for the Consulate General
in Kharkiv, pouncing on potato peelings and other food scraps found in the
consulate’s garbage, while in the last few days the workers who remove this
garbage have eaten the food prepared for our dogs ...” If this was happening in
the capital city of Ukraine, what must the realities have been like in the
countryside!
Our Polish colleagues are occasionally surprised by certain things and
request more detailed explanations. We provide these, engage in dialog, and
offer clarifications, and all the while we and the Poles encounter the same
accursed question: Why did the world keep quiet, knowing what was really
happening in Ukraine?
Some Polish diplomats stressed the particularly catastrophic situation
in Ukraine, which was significantly different from that in Russia’s southern
regions.
POLAND'S CONSUL GENERAL WROTE IN
1933
The following is an excerpt from a report prepared by Poland’s Consul
General after a journey that he made from Kharkiv to Moscow in May 1933: “What
struck me throughout the entire trip was the difference between Ukraine’s
villages and fields and those in the neighboring TsChO [Central Chernozem Oblast
of Russia], and even the unfertile vicinities of Moscow.
"The Ukrainian villages are in a significant state of decline, emptiness,
decay, and misery waft from them, houses are half-collapsed, often with their
thatched roofs torn off; no new farmsteads are visible; children and old men
resemble skeletons... Later, when I arrived in the TsChO (first of all, the
outskirts of Kursk and Orel), I had the impression that I had just arrived in
Western Europe from the Country of Soviets ...”
Aware that the secret of Bolsheviks’ successes was their total
disregard of means and sacrifices, a Polish intelligence officer writes, “The
realization of all this has been made possible by engaging huge numbers of
freshly trained communists, who, first of all, have no connection to the local
populace, or those who have been brainwashed to such a degree that they have
become almost fanatics, who carry out all sorts of instructions, shutting their
eyes to all consequences that will affect the population.”
A female intelligence officer, who worked as a typist at the Polish
consulate, left extraordinary realistic accounts of her conversations with
people with whom she was in contact, as well as an analysis of the current
situation. We see a similar analysis in the reports prepared by heads of
voivodeships adjacent to Soviet Ukraine. People were fleeing there to escape the
famine in the “socialist paradise,” and they recounted what they had
experienced.
Together with our Polish colleagues, we are publishing mainly materials
that are meant for administrative use, not for the general public. This fact
alone provides grounds for stating that together we are taking another step
toward the establishment of a realistic, unbiased view of the Holodomor, what it
really was.
In addition, our visit to Warsaw was another step toward understanding
that political life is flourishing in both Ukraine and Poland. The only question
is how to place it within a certain framework so as not to drown in its violent
current. And all of a sudden we heard the “melody” of Lech Walesa, the
ex-president of Poland, who won the Nobel Prize in 1983.
LECH WALESA
On
TV we watched the official tribute to Lech Walesa, which was held at the Royal
Castle in the oldest part of Warsaw, marking his 65th birthday and the 25th
anniversary of his receipt of the Nobel Prize. Walesa, as people commonly say,
is a remarkable figure, so I will briefly recap his biography.
He was the fourth child born into a peasant family in 1943. At a
vocational school specializing in training mechanics for rural areas, he was
known for his bad behavior and marked lack of talent. After finishing school, he
worked as an electrical mechanic at an enterprise similar to a Soviet Machine
and Tractor Station (MTS). He later served in the army and then returned to his
native village. He did not obtain a higher education, and did not try to get
one.
In 1966 he decided to move to Gdynia, but en route he stepped off the
train in Gdansk to buy some beer, missed his train, and ended up staying in
Gdansk, where he soon found a job as an electrical mechanic at the Lenin
Shipyard. It is anyone’s guess what course Polish history would have taken had
he not gone to buy beer.
Poland is not Ukraine, so when the Polish government boosted food
prices in December 1970, the shipyard went on strike. The next 10 years marked
the period of Walesa’s greatest activism. In August 1980, he headed the
shipyard’s strike committee and soon became the leader of Solidarity, a
federation of workers’ trade unions that was established in place of the
government-controlled labor unions.
Walesa became the informal leader of the entire country, a person whose
views had to be reckoned with in party-state, labor, and intellectual circles.
Solidarity provided support to strikes and protest actions until December
1981, when its activities were banned, and Walesa and other opposition activists
were arrested. It was during this stormy period that Walesa was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize.
A new wave of strikes engulfed Poland in 1988, forcing the government
to start talks with Solidarity and set the date for free parliamentary
elections. In June 1989 Solidarity won the elections, and then Walesa showed his
character. He refused to form a cabinet together with the communists. The
government was headed by his comrade in arms Tadeusz Mazowiecki.
In October 1990 President Wojciech Jaruzelski resigned, and in December
Walesa won the early presidential elections, the ultimate result of his love of
electricity. As the head of state, Walesa maintained a political course aimed at
market reforms and the creation of a strong presidential republic. The new
president was an authoritarian leader. At the same time, he followed a
conspicuously pro-Western political course.
Walesa sought to consolidate his country because a rift had appeared in
Polish society. In September 1993 he helped the coalition of leftist parties
gain a majority of seats in parliament and form the cabinet. He wanted to unite
the left— and right-wing forces under his “patronage.” This was a fatal mistake.
Walesa started being criticized by both rightists and leftists. The presidential
campaign in November 1995 resulted in the election of Alexander Kwasniewski as
the new head of state.
The West, however, remembered Walesa. During the Olympics in Salt Lake
City he was asked to raise the flag of the Winter Games. He is also remembered
in Poland, as evidenced by the official ceremony at the Royal Castle and the
gala concert that was held in the evening.
The next day Walesa once again found himself in the limelight when a
collection of documents reflecting Walesa’s special relations with the
secret police of communist Poland started being discussed on television. Once
again people were seeing Walesa, Kwasniewski, IPN’s new head Janusz Kurtyka, and
other public figures.
I watched it all and realized that the Poles remain Poles. They are not
afraid to engage in public discussions of the acutest topics. As for Walesa,
there is no doubt that he will not be thrown to the wolves because he was too
important a figure during the toppling of the Polish communist state. However,
this does not mean that people will ignore what Walesa did or keep silent even
about certain unpleasant things.
Unfortunately, we don’t know how to do this yet, nor are we eager to
learn how. Although we may hit out at politicians, we love them as though they
are a priori devoid of any shortcomings. But they have them in spades. So, let’s
not create any political idols for ourselves — no idols whatsoever — just like
the Poles are not turning Walesa into one.
As always, the city of Warsaw impressed us. We have been traveling
there every year since 1996, and sometimes a few times a year. We saw how life
has begun to change, not without difficulty, but the main thing is that laws are
working. The conviction that everyone is equal under the law has become
stronger.
Do you know what struck us about Warsaw this time? It was the
cleanliness and neatness. We so want there to be less dirt in our country, both
political dirt and the other kind.
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9
. MONUMENTS TO FAMINE
VICTIMS ERECTED IN LUHANSK, UKRAINE REGION
UkrInform - Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, October 13, 2008
KYIV - Monuments to the victims of the Famine of 1932-1933 have been
erected in the villages of Pavlenkove and Trembacheve in Luhansk region (East
Ukraine).
The shooting of a documentary about the famine was considered during a
meeting of the coordination council at the Luhansk regional state
administration. Following the meeting, a decision was taken to form a working
group on revising several episodes from the film taking into account remarks
made during a draft preview of the film.
The opening of the monuments and the shooting of the film were
organized in Luhansk region as part of events dedicated to the 75th anniversary
of the Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine.
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10
. KYIV SCHOOLCHILDREN TO
PRODUCE DRAWINGS OF THE HOLODOMOR
Is this going too far?
By Oksana Mykoliuk, The Day Weekly Digest in English, Kyiv,
Ukraine, Tue, Oct 28, 2008
In November, a Holodomor drawing contest
for children in grades 6 through 11 gets underway. The initiator of the contest
is the Main Administration for Education and Science at the Kyiv City State
Administration (KMDA).
The competition will consist of several stages and will be held in all
schools of the Ukrainian capital. The best works will be selected for an
exhibition scheduled for Nov. 18 at the Children and Youth Palace in Kyiv.
Kyiv’s Deputy Mayor Serhii Rudyk said during a session of the
organizing committee tasked with preparing public events in conjunction with the
anniversary of the Holodomor that the drawings will be used in public
advertising. The KMDA’s Chief Advertising Directorate will add more touches to
the artworks, which will then be displayed on municipal billboards and light
boxes.
Another competition on the same subject will be held almost
simultaneously, this one organized on the initiative of the Ministry of
Education and Science of Ukraine, entitled The People’s Memory. It is aimed at
encouraging children to take an interest in history by tracking down Holodomor
eyewitnesses.
With all due respect to the memory of those who perished during the
famine, including my own relatives, aren’t we placing too heavy a burden on our
children’s shoulders? How can they be expected to make drawings about this
horrific tragedy?
How will they illustrate children their own age who are swollen from
starvation? How will they illustrate the heaps of dead bodies that were dumped
in common graves, the corpses that were scattered on the roads, and the Soviet
activists confiscating the peasants’ last scraps of food and ransacking their
houses?
With this project we are providing grist to the mill of all those who
refuse to acknowledge the Holodomor in Ukraine. They will claim that we are
using our children, and traumatizing them in the process.
Olena LISHCHYNSKA, psychologist and senior
research associate at the
Institute of Social and Political Psychology,
Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of
Ukraine:
The Holodomor is a distressing experience. Pupils in grades 6 to 11 are
adolescents. They are very sensitive, and they haven’t had time to shape their
world views. So, for them sketching or painting scenes of the Holodomor is an
extreme educational exercise.
Of course, the point is to instill certain qualities in our children, like
patriotism and empathy, and an awareness of what people had to pay so that they
can have an easier life today. This is a positive objective, but I think that
this burden is too heavy to be borne by our children, and therefore not all
children will be able to experience it in an adequate fashion.
Certain psychological defense mechanisms will be activated: some
children may deny it; others will switch off, in other words that which leads to
emotional dullness and withdrawal. Let’s ask ourselves: Do we have to make our
children live through such horrible experiences? Do they have to relive the
pain? Do we have the right to make them feel this pain?
Consider our current situation: the world is gripped by a financial
crisis. Not everyone knows what this means, but we all understand the word
“crisis.” In Ukraine we have an ambiguous political situation. Things are
happening, but we aren’t sure exactly what they mean.
There are depressed moods and expectations. All this has an effect on
children and adults. In addition, The Days are getting shorter, we’re switching
the clocks. It’s cold outside, but all of us — especially our children — have to
remember such horrible things.
Isn’t this going too far? As for pupils in the upper grades collecting
Holodomor eyewitness accounts, I see this in an altogether different light.
First, these are older pupils; they’re studying history and communicating
with the older generation. What happened more than 20 years ago is viewed by
children as something from the incredibly distant past, simply because all this
happened before they were born.
Therefore, communicating with these eyewitnesses, establishing an emotional
link with them, helps these young people build their world views. They can see a
more vivid connection between their lives and those of their grandparents.
Speaking to these witnesses will give them an opportunity to personally
assess what these people have to say, compared to what is generally being said
about the Holodomor. Interviewing eyewitnesses is a good method for generating
data. So I think this project is more useful. It is not as symbolized as
drawing.
Halyna TODOSOVA, Main Administration for
Education and Science, KMDA:
Our children in grades 6 to 11 already know about the Holodomor. The
subject is extensively discussed these days. Even first-graders discuss it with
their teachers, who are familiarizing them with this tragic period of our
history. I believe that our children are coping effectively with this task.
A creative competition dedicated to the Holodomor is underway in Kyiv,
organized by the Hrinchenko Pedagogical Institute. This contest has four
categories: Literary Works, Journalistic Works, Photo Reports, and School
Newspaper. We are planning to publish a selection of these works, which will be
entitled Ukraine: through the Holodomor to the Summits of World Civilization.
We’re also taking part in a national educational and patriotic
competition dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holodomor victims. It is
called “The People’s Memory,” and its goal is to collect children’s compositions
as well as essays by teachers. The purpose is to collect eyewitness accounts.
These can be research papers or audio and video tapes of such accounts. The main
requirement is to preserve the eyewitness’ voices.
Even if a work is short, it will still be topical because it will be a
genuine testimony. Only pupils in the upper grades will take part in the latter
two competitions. We want our children not only to know what happened in the
past, but also to view their future with optimism. We want them to believe that
having survived so many ordeals, Ukraine is moving toward the summits of world
civilization.
FOOTNOTE: Having children
in grades 6 through 11 study and create drawings/artwork about the
Holodomor is certainly not placing too heavy a burden on
the children’s shoulders. Children can they be expected to make
drawings about this horrific tragedy. Thousands of such children around the
world study
major human tragedies and create artwork about such tragedies all the
time. We do not agree that sketching or painting scenes of the
Holodomor is an extreme educational exercise for such children. The
educational system in Ukraine should significantly increase their educational
work in this area and use artwork and drawings much more than they now do.
We respectively strongly disagree with the statements to the otherwise in the
article above. Educational administrators and teachers need to grow
up. The children already have. AUR Editor.
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investment relations since 1995.
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11
. JAMES MACE HELPED CREATE A NEW UKRAINIAN SOCIETY OF FREE
INDIVIDUALS
Compiled by Nadia TYSIACHNA, The Day
Weekly Digest, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, Oct 21, 2008
The Ukrainian version of
James Mace's book "Vashi mertvi vybraly mene... (Your Dead Chose Me)", the
latest addition to The Day's Library Series, was
published only a few months
ago, but many people have already become familiar with Mace's ideas. The book
Day and Eternity of James Mace, published in 2005, sparked reader interest in
"Your Dead Chose Me" at the Lviv book fair. A substantial number of copies sold
out in a few days.
The Day's editorial office continues to receive orders
for more copies of this book from various oblast and raion administrations,
municipal and raion
educational and cultural departments as well as from
school libraries. Below, a number of Ukrainian writers, civic activists,
educators, and other
public figures reflect on what James Mace means to
them.
Anatolii DIMAROV,
writer:
In our country we often love the dead but do not love
the living, especially when the latter are prophets, because they prevent us
from enjoying a peaceful life. By publishing James Mace's second book, The Day
has accomplished a feat. I lived through the 1932-33 famine and ate pancakes
made from acacia blossoms.
Now the Institute of Literature, the Institute
of Ukrainian History, and other institutions and civic organizations must help
promote Mace's book all over Ukraine, including in the remotest areas. This
publication is like a church bell tolling for the dead, raising the alarm, and
rousing people's conscience.
Yevhen
SVERSTIUK, human rights champion and civic activist:
As far
as I'm concerned, James Mace was an unbiased scholar. In other words, he was one
of those scholars for whom research and exposing the truth was
standard
practice. I first heard him speak in 1990, when he addressed a conference in
Kyiv, where he insisted that the famine of 1932-33 was an act of
genocide.
At the time, we, members of the Sixtiers movement, knew little
about this concept, but we always said that the famine was a deliberately
engineered act, and because we said this we all served prison
terms.
James Mace and Robert Conquest were researchers swimming against
the current because the political situation at the time was anything but
favorable to
revealing the truth. Mace paid for this courage with his
career.
As my friendship with James progressed, I realized that for him
recognition of the Ukrainian Holodomor as an act of genocide was not so much a
problem
of scholarly appropriateness as it was a matter of the heart.
Working with the testimonies of eyewitnesses to this tragedy - the living source
of history - he became a passionate defender of our truth.
His book is
valuable; of that there is no doubt. I think that our society is much
traumatized. It has been observed that, for the most part, the people who are
most concerned about the Holodomor are those who never experienced it. I am one
of them because I grew up in Volyn, which was part of Poland in the
1930s.
It is usually those people who realize the importance of memory.
Other people, who were traumatized, follow the wisdom of not stirring up past
troubles, which means that their families starved to death, they buried their
dead, and they hope to God that nothing like this will ever happen again. But
this is a primitive stand because, without understanding the truth of the past
and the duty to speak about that past, there is no honorable
future.
Petro KRALIUK, deputy rector for
education and research, Ostroh Academy National
University:
James Mace was not destined to live a long life.
He could have lived a few years more. But what he accomplished during his
lifetime deserves not the
Order of Yaroslav the Wise, which was conferred on
him posthumously, but the Order of Hero of Ukraine at the very least.
We,
Ukrainians - above all, the Ukrainian government - failed to appreciate his role
during his lifetime, and we failed to do so after his death. I hope our
descendants will do this. The book "James Mace: Your Dead Chose Me" is not only
a tribute to this man.
This collection includes not only research on the
Holodomor but also articles, notes, and reflections on contemporary Ukraine.
These fluidly written
materials reveal Mace as an erudite and thinking individual, who was able
to penetrate to the root of the problem. It is unfortunate that there is no
James Mace in the situation that exists in Ukraine today, which is strongly
reminiscent of the theater of the absurd. He would have had a lot to say and
much advice to offer.
Alina PLIACHENKO, head
of the civic organization Ukrainian Women's League, Odesa:
I
sent in my order for a copy of James Mace's book by mail. I am the hostess of
the program on Odesa Radio called "Shanuimo bortsiv za ukrainsku
derzhavnist" (Let's Honor the Fighters for Ukrainian Statehood). My recent
broadcasts were dedicated to Hetman Ivan Mazepa.
In November, when
Ukraine marks the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor, there will be a special
broadcast dedicated to Mace, who helped create a new
Ukrainian society of
free individuals. Revealing the truth about the tragedy of 1932-33 to Ukrainians
and the international community is like laying the
cornerstone of a new
society. Mace's voice was so strong that he will dominate Ukrainian intellectual
thought for many years to come.
Valerii
KOPIIKA, archpriest of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and
parish priest at the Church of the Nativity of
the Blessed Virgin Mary, Kyiv:
When I think about James Mace,
I am reminded of the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus addressed all the people,
declaring, 'Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted, Blessed
are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be
filled, Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.'
To this
day these commandments strike many people as abstract statements. However,
during Mace's life they turned out to be vital and active, which is why he was
of service to the Ukrainian people and persecuted for this. When he spoke in the
Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, he was greeted with catcalls, like 'Yankee, go
home!'
He also overcame his physical infirmities and illnesses in order
to establish the truth of his cause. He thirsted for truth! In our difficult
times, of globalization and consumer mentality, Mace was able to nurture and
manifest in himself the undying values of love, forgiveness, and mercy. Clearly,
he was governed not by scholarly interests alone. "Your dead chose me," he
writes. That is why his journalistic works are like medicine for our society,
which
Mace accurately described as a postgenocidal one.
Les SANIN, film director:
I read Mace's book
with great interest because I already knew a lot about this scholar. What was
most interesting to me was the world view of this caliber of individual. A film
director is always looking for real heroes. To a certain extent, this collection
of his works gave me another clue to understanding the horrific 1930s because
the events in the film that I'm working on take place during this
time.
Mace did a great deal for Ukrainians. Clearly, it's high time we do
something for him. This book, like the earlier one, "Day and Eternity of James
Mace," is a tribute to this distinguished individual.
Yaroslav PAVLIUK,
writer:
I met James Mace in 1993. I had heard a lot about
him, but I had no idea of the scope of his personality. I am ashamed to admit
that he opened my eyes to the truth about the Holodomor in Ukraine, although I
first encountered this subject when I was visiting Vinnytsia oblast in 1989,
during the festivities to commemorate Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky's 100th anniversary.
We were driving through Sharhorod raion and talking with collective
farmers.
That was when I noticed that people were very reluctant to talk
about the famine of 1932-33 that had taken place in their region. Some simply
refused to talk about it. I think that Ukrainians are simply obliged to publish
Mace's works. These collections of articles are a living monument to
him.
He did more for Ukraine than anyone beyond its borders. I recommend
everyone to read "Your Dead Chose Me." In this book one can find answers to
various topical questions and much food for thought.
Serhii ARKHYPCHUK, stage director:
To
me it is very important to know that James Mace was a Native American because
his people are still oppressed. Within Ukraine and outside it are
forces that want to turn our country into a reservation, for example, so
that in the Kyiv suburb of Pyrohove patriots will live there and resolve their
linguistic and cultural problems, but the Russian-language pop culture will be
dominant everywhere.
What happened during the Holodomor was truthfully
assessed by an Italian diplomat, who saw the statistics on the destruction of
the Ukrainian people
and arrived at the conclusion that Ukraine will be
Russified and cease to exist as a state.
Volodymyr Vernadsky said that
Ukraine had struggled throughout its history for a very small number of points
that were important to the life of the people and the assertion of the state,
namely: education, book printing, the church, and language. This was precisely
what the Russian empire and the Polish and Romanian conquerors sought to deny
Ukrainians. The Soviet government machine did such a thorough job of altering
people's psychology that we still see the "Soviet man" almost
everywhere.
Therefore, the publication of Mace's book is an important
event in Ukraine because there are still many people who lie and refuse to
recognize the
Holodomor of 1932-33 as an act of genocide even though their
own families suffered.
I have reliable information that one member of the
Party of Regions called his relatives, asking about the Holodomor. He wanted to
know which of his
relatives had starved to death. But a few hours later he
voted against the truth. So the importance of this book is difficult to
overestimate.
Dr. Volodymyr PANCHENKO,
professor of National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy:
I am
absolutely convinced that the title of this book, "Your Dead Chose Me," best
conveys its content. These words are impossible to forget. This is both a
scholarly and a moral clue to everything that James Mace accomplished. Of course
The Day's readers know that Mace was among the first - perhaps the
first -
to tell the world a large part of the truth about the Holodomor of 1932-33 in
Ukraine.
This newest book shows that Mace was a person for whom the
concepts of truth and justice were extremely important. Some people viewed him
as an eccentric or a Don Quixote. He was a Don Quixote who knew what he had to
do, what his mission was all about because our dead were calling him.
I
remember when the 70th anniversary of the Holodomor was being marked. Mace took
part in a televised broadcast, and one of his opponents was the
communist
Valerii Mishura, who yelled at Mace, "Yankee, go home!" I think that this
situation is significant. Ukraine still has not fully revised its
understanding of its history when such people shout "Yankee, go home!" at
Mace.
Probably the knowledge of what happened to us in 1932-33 is not
profound and widespread enough for our country's political and public life to
become
normalized. In this sense, The Day is doing a very important job.
Starting from the time that Mace joined the paper and throughout the years since
his
death, it has been systematizing and popularizing Mace's scholarly
heritage.
It is extremely important for Ukrainians to be able to hear
what Mace had to say. He did his utmost to get through to the enigmatic
Ukrainian soul and tell us the bitter, purifying truth, without which we do not
have a chance to understand ourselves.
Mykhailo SLABOSHPYTSKY, writer:
The
publication of James Mace's work marks the beginning of the triumph of justice.
I believe that we - our state, civic organizations, and the people who knew
James personally - are indebted to him, in the sense that his books are not
being published. The importance of both Mace books is difficult to overestimate.
We are under the illusion that everyone knows the truth about the famine and
that everyone has matured enough to perceive this truth. Wrong!
Mace's
works must be treated like handbooks by the establishment because they can
straighten out the thinking of many people. These publications
contain
arguments for our discussions, when, for example, we are trying to decide
whether we will be a nation like the Jews. The Jewish nation rallied
around
the idea of withstanding and surviving the challenge of the
Holocaust.
Our unifying idea is also tragic: it is our knowledge about
the Holodomor as an act of genocide, but it will allow us to remain a nation. I
say without
exaggeration that Mace gave us the code for our nation.
Ihor PALYTSIA, Member of
Parliament:
Every nation has dark pages in its history that
are tragic stages in the process of self-assertion. Ukraine's independence, its
uniqueness and self-sufficiency were achieved painfully through the horrific
sufferings of its people. The Holodomor of 1932-33 was not only an act of
genocide against the Ukrainian people but also a phenomenon of lasting and
purposeful cruelty against mankind, humanity.
The book "Your Dead Chose
Me" is not just a collection of James Mace's works that were part of his
scholarly research. Each article is the result of his
personal experiences,
part of his life, which he dedicated to analyzing contemporary events, striving
to imbue himself with the Ukrainian national mentality.
The impression is that Mace was seeking a way for Ukraine's national
revival and progress, the way a person seeks self-perfection. This book
encourages
readers to study and perceive the Ho-lo-domor as a tragedy of a
worldwide scope.
Mace wanted to convey to the international and Ukrainian
communities the facts attesting to the immense, artificially engineered famine
in Ukraine, about whose existence people knew but for a long time were afraid
even to think about it owing to the historical circumstances that had developed.
Ukraine lost much, but it can gain a great deal by studying Mace's works,
because those who do not remember their past have no future.
LINK:
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12
. EU PARLIAMENT SAYS
UKRAINIAN 1930S FAMINE WAS SOVIET "CRIME"
Agence France Presse (AFP) Strasbourg, France,
Thursday, October 23, 2008
STRASBOURG - The "artificial"
famine that killed millions in Soviet-era Ukraine in 1932-33 was "cynically and
cruelly planned" by Moscow, a European Parliament resolution said
Thursday.
The European Union's parliament stopped short of labeling the regional
outcome of the communist policy of collectivization of agriculture "genocide,"
the term used by a 2006 Ukrainian parliament law.
However, its resolution said the deaths of between 4 and 10 million
people, according to census and statistical estimates, were "an appalling crime
against the Ukrainian people, and against humanity."
The stance is likely to trigger deep irritation in Moscow, which has
argued that drought was a pivotal factor. The text "strongly condemns these
acts, directed against the Ukrainian peasantry, and marked by mass violations of
human rights and freedoms."
Lawmakers also called on former Soviet states to open up their archives
so that "all the causes and consequences" can be studied. Other areas and their
ethnic groupings, including Kazakhstan, were also badly affected by the
famine.
The Holodomor - understood as "murder by hunger" in Ukrainian - has
been recognized as genocide by a small number of governments around the world,
with Kiev campaigning for years to have the U.N. apply the strict legal
definition.
Pro-Russian Ukrainians say it resulted from ideological error, with
historians divided as to all the circumstances behind it and the 2006 law in
Kiev passed by only a slim majority.
The program of forced collectivization saw the produce of Ukrainian
farmers confiscated with the Soviet authorities also blocking food supplies into
Ukraine in what some historians have argued was an attempt to crush a drive for
independence. Ukraine gained its independence with the collapse of the Soviet
Union in 1991.
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13
. THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR
USING THE WRONG APPROACH ON THE UKRAINIAN
GENOCIDE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RECOGNISES
UKRAINIAN FAMINE OF 1930's
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2008 8:46 AM
UNIAN, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 23, 2008
The European
Parliament has recognised the Ukrainian famine of 1930s as crime against
humanity, according to the EP official web-site.
In a resolution on the
commemoration of the Holodomor, the artificial famine in Ukraine in 1932-1933,
MEPs describe it as "an appalling crime against the Ukrainian people, and
against humanity".
According to the resolution, the Holodomor famine of
1932-1933, which caused the deaths of millions of Ukrainians, "was cynically and
cruelly planned by Stalin`s regime in order to force through
the Soviet Union`s policy of collectivisation of agriculture against the will of
the rural population in Ukraine".
[WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! LEMKIN HAD THE RIGHT REASON: “... The Soviet
plan was aimed at the farmers, the large mass of independent peasants who are
the repository of the tradition, folklore and music, the national language and
literature, the national spirit of Ukraine”.
& the Communist activist
Prokopenko was exact when he admitted: “Starvation in Ukraine was brought about
in order to reduce the number of Ukrainians, resettle in their place people from
another par of the USSR, and in this way kill all thought of independence.”
Roman Serbyn]
MEPs believe that "recalling crimes against
humanity in European history should help to prevent similar crimes in the
future" and they stress that "European integration has been based on a readiness
to come to terms with the 20th century`s tragic history and that this
reconciliation with a difficult history does not denote any sense of collective
guilt, but forms a stable basis for the construction of a common European future
founded on common values".
The resolution therefore makes a
"declaration to the people of Ukraine and in particular to the remaining
survivors of the Holodomor and the families and relatives of the
victims".
It "recognises the Holodomor (the artificial famine of
1932-1933 in Ukraine) as an appalling crime against the Ukrainian people, and
against humanity".
The text then "strongly condemns these acts,
directed against the Ukrainian peasantry, and marked by mass annihilation and
violations of human rights and freedoms".
It also "expresses its
sympathy with the Ukrainian people, which suffered this tragedy, and pays its
respects to those who died as a consequence of the artificial famine of
1932-1933".
Lastly, the resolution "calls on the countries which
emerged following the break-up of the Soviet Union to open up their archives on
the Holodomor in Ukraine of 1932-1933 to comprehensive scrutiny so that all the
causes and consequences can be revealed and fully investigated".
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14
. BELATED TRIUMPH OF
HOLODOMOR VICTIMS
Ukraine confronting its terrible past with Europe's
help
By Charles Tannock, Member, European Parliament,
special to The Day,
The Day Weekly Digest in English, Kyiv, Ukraine,
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
The European Union is founded on
reconciliation, the belief that we can create a better future by acknowledging
our past in all its brutality. Germany has justly acknowledged and is trying to
atone for the indescribable atrocities of the Nazi era and the Holocaust.
Greece, Spain, and Portugal peacefully turned their back on their right-wing
dictatorial regimes and met their future as democratic countries within the
EU.
The newer EU member states are seeking their own paths to truth and
reconciliation through a sincere and uncompromising analysis of their
totalitarian pasts.
However, some countries are still trying to hide from
their own histories. Despite its status as an EU candidate state, Turkey still
denies the Armenian genocide that was committed under cover of the First World
War. Russia has also failed to come to terms with the brutality of Stalin's
communist dictatorial regime.
Since gaining its independence in 1991,
Ukraine has constantly striven to inform the world community about the famine of
1932-1933, which was
intentionally planned by Stalin and is known to us by
the Ukrainian word Holodomor.
The European Parliament has now recognized
the Holodomor as an immense tragedy in the history of humankind. As an old
friend of Ukraine and the
co-author of the European Parliament's resolution,
I sincerely rejoice over this important and deeply symbolic event.
The
goal of our resolution is to express our indignation concerning the Holodomor.
The resolution reflects our determination to honor the memory of the millions of
victims of the Holodomor, some of whom are still alive and can share their
stories. Their testimonies are extremely important because these people will
soon pass into history. It is only by reminding ourselves about such heinous
crimes against humanity that we can ensure they will never happen
again.
This resolution does not contain the word 'genocide' because other
political groups - mostly communists - think that the strict definition of this
term should not be applied to the Holodomor. They claim that genocide as a term
was defined in international legislation only after the Second World
War.
However, I suspect that their real reason is a desire to pacify
modern-day Russia, which fears that compensation claims may be lodged against
it.
After all, the argument over genocide is not worth risking the
resolution in general. It is much more important to have serious support from
all political groups. But no one should attempt to belittle the unimaginable
sufferings that were inflicted upon Ukraine.
NO WORDS CAN DESCRIBE THE ATROCITY
No word or words can properly describe the atrocity of the
Holodomor. What is important is not so much the text we use but the sentiments
we express -
solidarity with Ukraine on the 75th anniversary of the
cruelties that were perpetrated against its people.
The lesson that we
should learn from history is the importance of having solid international
legislation and judicial structures if we want the perpetrators of such crimes
to be punished. This process was launched in Nuremberg. The tribunal on the
former Yugoslavia, which will soon consider Radovan Karadzic's case, shows that
these principles are more important than ever.
This week the European
Parliament declared its resolute support for trying Joseph Kony, the leader of
the Lord's Resistance Army of Uganda, in the
International Criminal Court.
Tyrants who resort to mass killings and destruction should have no place to
hide.
The Orange Revolution led by President Viktor Yushchenko embodied
Ukraine's struggle for liberation from Russia's influence, and it propelled
Ukraine on its independent way of development based on shared European values.
This resolution is the belated triumph of the Holodomor victims whose voices
were
lost on the paths of history.
This is also a victory for
President Yushchenko. In my opinion, many of the political misunderstandings in
Ukraine can be explained by the scale of
suffering that this nation has gone
through. This bloody event had an impact on Ukraine's confidence in itself and
on stability in this country, which
has been making its way in the
post-Soviet world.
President Yushchenko is absolutely right in saying
that Ukraine must acknowledge its past in order to build a better, stabler, and
more prosperous future. By acknowledging the Holodomor, the European Parliament
supports the position advocated by President Yushchenko.
UKRAINE HAS BORNE MUCH GRIEF
Ukraine has borne much grief throughout its history. I hope
that the next stage in that history involves a sovereign and independent Ukraine
rightly taking its place in the not-too-distant future as a full member of the
EU. After the Georgia crisis there can be no doubts that many Russian
nationalists would like to redraw the borderlines that were established after
the breakup of the Soviet Union.
However, EU membership will help Ukraine
protect itself against any interference with its domestic affairs on the part of
its big neighbor. Russia simply needs to get accustomed to a sovereign and
independent Ukraine that can independently decide on its future in the European
family of nations.
FOOTNOTE: Dr. Charles Tannock (b. 1957) is a
British psychiatrist. He has been a member of the European Parliament since 1999
and is the vice-president of the EU-Ukraine PCC delegation and a member of the
European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee. Tannock is the co-author of the
resolution commemorating the Holodomor, the 1932-1933 man-made famine in
Ukraine, and a member of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and
European Democrats. He is the author of numerous publications on psychiatry.
Tannock was a Councilor in his local Earls Court ward in 1999-2000.
LINK:
http://www.day.kiev.ua/255928
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15. THE TRUTH PREVAILS
European Parliament
unanimously adopts resolution commemorating the
Holodomor
By Mykola Siruk, The Day Weekly Digest in
English, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, Oct 28, 2008
With its vote this
authoritative legislative body, comprising 785 parliamentarians from 27 EU
member states, has joined the circle of countries and international
organizations that have already recognized the 1932-1933 Holodomor in Ukraine.
The joint resolution was agreed upon by members of the European People's Party,
a group of liberals, the Greens, the Union for Europe of the Nations, and the
socialists.
[1] The first
point of the resolution recognizes the Holodomor as an
"appalling crime against the Ukrainian people, and against humanity" and
"strongly
condemns these acts, directed against the Ukrainian peasantry, and
marked by mass annihilation and violations of human rights and freedoms." It
also
"expresses its sympathy with the Ukrainian people, which suffered this
tragedy, and pays its respects to those who died as a consequence of the
artificial famine of 1932-1933."
Finally, the resolution "calls on the
countries which emerged following the break-up of the Soviet Union to open up
their archives on the Holodomor in
Ukraine of 1932-1933 to comprehensive
scrutiny."
[2] The second
point of the resolution proposes that the President of the
European Parliament send the text of the document to the Council of Europe, the
European Commission, the government and parliament of Ukraine, as well as to the
UN General Secretary, the OSCE General Secretary, and the General
Secretary
of the Council of Europe.
On July 3, 2008, despite protests from Russia
and Kazakhstan, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution on the
Holodomor in Ukraine, which "strongly encourages all parliaments to adopt acts
regarding recognition of the Holodomor."
The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
also "supports the initiative of Ukraine to reveal the full truth of this
tragedy of Ukrainian people, in particular,
through raising public awareness
of the Holodomor at international and national levels."
On Sept. 23,
2008, the US House of Representatives condemned Stalin's 1932-1933 Holodomor in
Ukraine and commemorated its victims in connection
with the 75th anniversary
of the tragedy. "In 1932 and 1933, an estimated seven to 10 million Ukrainian
people perished at the will of the totalitarian Stalinist government of the
former Soviet Union, which perpetrated a premeditated famine in Ukraine in an
effort to break the nation's resistance to collectivization and communist
occupation," says the document.
So far, Ukraine's attempts to get the UN
to recognize the Holodomor have not been successful. On July 11, 2008, the
plenary session of the UN General
Assembly refused to put the Holodomor
issue on the current session's agenda, thereby denying the request of Ukraine's
Ministry of Foreign Affairs to
recognize the events of the 1930s as genocide
against the Ukrainian people.
The great importance of the European
Parliament's resolution is discussed in an article by one of its authors, MEP
Charles Tannock. [article 14 above in the AUR]
COMMENTS: Confirming we are right
Andrii VESELOVSKY, Ukraine's representative to the
EU:
"Above all, the resolution is important for Europeans
in general because Europe is our region and our Motherland. We are telling the
truth about what
happened in the past, and on this foundation we can build
our future. This is what our children will be raised on. If our parents, or even
we, do not
agree with all this, our children need to be taught this. And
these children will be totally different; they will be children with a truly
European mentality.
"How much do we need this resolution right now? There are still living
survivors of the Holodomor. In the afterlife they will not need either
recognition or remembrance. They need these things today. They also have
children and grandchildren to whom they will convey this.
"When things
like this happen, when something that our society had a hard time dealing with
is recognized in Europe and the entire world, this helps our society realize
that the step we took at a certain point in time was difficult but the right one
to take. It is a confirmation that we are right, and this helps us make the
transition from a complex and obscure past to a normal and open
future.
"As for the reports in the mass media that the Holodomor has not
been acknowledged as genocide, I think this is a completely misguided message.
For us, Ukrainians, this was genocide in the sense that we were destroyed. If,
say, the Kazakh people feel that this phenomenon had the same forms and
proportions and affected their nation in a similar way, let them talk about it
and promote their cause. For us, this is genocide, as stated in the Verkhovna
Rada ruling, and that is the main thing.
"The European resolution comes
close to ours because it contains references to the Convention, which mentions
genocide. However, we should not twist
these words to suit our interests.
Each tragedy has its own dimension and specific features. The Holocaust was an
act of genocide against the Jewish
people, and it is called the Holocaust.
The Holodomor was effectively an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people,
and its name is the Holodomor.
"All talk of whether we were given the
word 'genocide' is a violation of memory and in the conditions of current
political life - petty politicking. In five years from now no one will be
talking about this. Everyone will have forgotten these inconsequential details.
The important thing is that this black page in our history has been recognized
and respect has been paid to the memory of our victims. And we are confirming
that to which we are entitled."
LINK:
http://www.day.kiev.ua/255930--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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16
. HOLODOMOR 1932-1933
EVERBURNING CANDLE TRANSFERRED FROM RUSSIA TO ARMENIA
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, October 21, 2008
KYIV
- Within events devoted to the 75th anniversary of commemorating the
victims of Holodomor 1932-1933 in Ukraine, a ceremony of giving the Everburning
Candle of memory from Russia to Armenia as well as the meeting-requiem were held
in the Yerevan philharmonic. The action was initiated by the Federation of
Ukrainians of Armenia under the auspices of the Ukrainian Embassy in Armenia.
Participating in the event were representatives of the Ukrainian
community, other national communities of Armenia, politicians, parliament's
deputies, diplomats accredited in Armenia, in particular, US, Brazilian, Polish
and Georgian ambassadors, diplomats from other countries, students of the
Yerevan branch of the Ternopil National Economic University as well as staff of
the Armenian presidential administration.
Ukrainian Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Armenia
Oleksandr Bozhko addressed his speech at the meeting. He noted the international
character of the action and urged to preserve the historical memory in order to
prevent from future tragedies like Holodomor.
Head of the Federation of Ukrainians of Armenia R. Yavir told the
audience about tragic events in the history of Ukrainian people during Holodomor
1932-1933. Vocal ensembles of the Ukrainian community performed Ukrainian songs
at the event.
The Everburning Candle is supposed to stay in Armenia till October 25,
2008. After that a solemn transfer of the candle to Georgia will be held at the
Armenian-Georgian border, the Ukrainian Embassy in Armenia told UKRINFORM.
As UKRINFORM earlier reported, in 2008, on the initiative of the World
Congress of Ukrainians, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Holodomor
1932-1933, Ukrainians from all over the world are holding the action Everburning
Candle.
Its route goes through all continents and countries where Ukrainians live
and everywhere it is a symbol of commemorating the innocent victims of
Holodomor, a symbol of sorrow and prevention from such a tragedy in future.
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17
. UKRAINE HOSTING FINAL
STAGE OF HOLODOMOR EVERBURNING CANDLE INTERNATIONAL
CAMPAIGN
UkrInform - International Life, Kyiv, Ukraine,
Monday, October 27, 2008
KYIV - A final stage of the Everburning Candle
International Campaign started in Ukraine. Solemnities began in the village of
Ivankiv, Boryspil district of Kyiv region with a divine service and ignition of
the Everburning Candle with a torch which was passed like the baton by 32 world
countries, a symbolic Candle in the memory of Holodomor, UKRINFORM correspondent
reported.
The candle-torch was delivered to Ukraine by a delegation led
by Ukrainian Ambassador to Georgia Mykola Spys. The international baton in
Georgia was
running from Tbilisi to Batumi, Poti and other cities with
divine services, exhibitions, conferences, memorable meetings.
According
to the diplomat "the goal which was set by initiators of the Everburning Candle
is achieved and the action became a milestone in recognizing this horrible crime
by the international community". Mykola Spys said a potential of
recognizing Holodomor crimes will help prevent future possible encroachments on
human main values - life, rights and freedom.
"We hope that like
Holocaust, genocide of Ukrainian people - Holodomor 1932-1933 - will be
recognized all over the world. This is our genetic memory. We have to remember
the terrible tragedy of the Ukrainian nation and we hope that all people of the
world will share this historic memory with us," Vasyl Boyechko, Ukraine's MFA
official, said.
The Everburning Candle International Campaign has been
running during 2008 with a slogan "Ukraine Remembers - World Recognizes" with
the symbolic
candle-torch travelling around the world. In October-November
the candle-torch along with the Candle in the memory of Holodomor will attend
Ukraine's 25 regions.
The action will end November 22 in Kyiv when the
Memorial to Holodomor Victims 1932-1933 will be unveiled. Then the Candle will
be delivered to the Holodomor Museum to be opened within the Memorial near
Kyiv-Pechersk
Lavra.
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18
. HOLODOMOR ACTIONS MUST
CONTINUE
By Alina Popkova, The Day Weekly
Digest in English, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, Oct 21, 2008
The Embassy of
Ukraine in the Russian Federation recently welcomed the International Holodomor
Remembrance Flame, which is traveling throughout the world in commemoration of
the victims of the 1932-1933 Holodomor.
Despite the fact that preliminary consent had been given to hold the
ceremony of welcoming the flame to Moscow, the Russian authorities did not allow
the Remembrance Flame on Russian territory.
So the participants of the Moscow leg of this international action
gathered on the territory of Ukraine, in our embassy in the Russian capital.
Some of them talked to The Day and explained why Moscow rejects Kyiv’s arguments
about honoring the famine victims.
Stanislav KULCHYTSKY, Holodomor researcher
and deputy director of the
Institute of Ukrainian History at the National
Academy of Sciences of Ukraine:
“This event was held at our
embassy; in other words, on the territory of Ukraine. Among those present were
the embassy staff and representatives of the Ukrainian community in Moscow.
There were quite a few people. Comparing this event to the way it was held in
the United States (Washington, New York, Philadelphia) I must say that
everything looked different in the US.
"There were no Americans present, but it was not, in fact, intended for
Americans but for Ukrainians who live in that country. The Ukrainian Americans
came dressed in national costumes: for them, it was a solemn ceremony, and some
of them had not seen each other in years. It was very moving.
“Since the Russian government has a different view of the Holodomor,
here in Russia we were forbidden to hold a public event, although during the
negotiations we emphasized that there is nothing anti-Russian about the
Holodomor Remembrance Flame.
“In the final analysis, we have done much to research the Holodomor.
There can be no claims against modern Russia. The Russian people were not
responsible for the Holodomor because it was engineered by Stalin’s people to
enable Stalin to retain power. I said this to the Russian side, and my statement
was accepted with understanding, but the Russian government still banned this
action on its territory. So we held it at the Ukrainian embassy, where Russia
could no
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