Please be advised that the web site www.ukrainianworldcongress.org is not the web site of the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC). Furthermore, please be advised that the e-mail address info@ukrainianworldcongress.org is not the e-mail address of the UWC. Please do not communicate with the UWC through this e-mail address. Additionally, kindly advise the UWC if within the last year you have transmitted any material to the UWC via this e-mail address.

Until further notice, all electronic communication with the UWC should go through UWC’s e-mail address at: congress@look.ca.

Please disseminate this Important Notice as widely as possible and  excuse any inconvenience.

GREAT FAMINE OBSERVANCES AND MORE PULITZER ACTIVITY

Events in commemoration of the Great Famine were organized by the recently formed Ukrainian community in Greece which we neglected to report in the December Newsletter. The observance commenced on November 22, 2003, continued until the end of November and included the participation of scholars and representatives of the Ukrainian-Greek community, other nationalities, artists, scholars, students and journalists, local politicians, and representatives from the Ukrainian Embassy and in particular, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic community of St. Nicholas in Athens.

Continuing the efforts of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association to revoke the Duranty Pulitzer Prize, the UWC has enlisted the expertise of four scholars to conduct an analysis of the thirteen articles written by New York Times journalist Walter Duranty in 1931, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. Upon receipt of these reports, they will be forwarded to the Pulitzer Prize people.

2004 SLOGAN AND OBSERVANCES

 “In unity is our strength” has been adopted as the UWC’s slogan for 2004. Further, the UWC Executive Board suggests the following anniversaries for observance in 2004:

• 125^th  birth of Symon Petliura;
• 75^th formation of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists;
• 70^th death of Mykhajlo Hrushevsky;
• 65^th proclamation of the Carpathian Ukrainian state;
• 60^th death of Oleh Kandyba and the formation of the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council;
• 50^th Kinghir uprising and
• 20^th death of Patriarch Josyf Slipyj.

Recent events in Ukraine involving the President and the Verkhovna Rada, the formers attempt to amend the Constitution of Ukraine to provide for the election of the President not by direct popular vote but by the VR have raised political concerns. Additionally the presidential elections of October 2004 remain the preeminent scheduled event of 2004 in Ukraine.  The UWC has issued a Statement on the Constitutional process and an Appeal for unity in connection with the 2004 presidential election. The Ukrainian language Statement and Appeal is enclosed.

UWC ADDRESSES FRENCH PRESIDENT CHIRAC

    The UWC has forwarded a letter to French President Jacques Chirac in connection with the recent defacing of Symon Petliura’s  grave and headstone in Paris. The UWC requests the President’s personal attention to this matter as a “hate crime” rather than, simply, an act of vandalism. Depending on the President’s response further options remain available.

PRESIDENT KUCHMA VETOES DIASPORA STATUS

    In a surprising veto of the recently passed by the Verkhovna Rada bill on the status of “zakordonni ukraintsi” the President of Ukraine vetoed the bill and returned it to the VR for further consideration. The President’s veto was supported primarily by arguments of unconstitutionality and contravention of existing provisions for foreigners both in the Constitution and elsewhere. UWC

President Lozynskyj has addressed President Kuchma’s position in a letter to him. A copy of the UWC letter is enclosed.

UWC REQUESTS MEDVEDCHUK DISMISSAL

    Following up on the VIII UWC Congress venue fiasco, the UWC wrote to Chief of Presidential Administration Viktor Medvedchuk requesting an explanation, inasmuch as the original Congress site is within his jurisdiction. Having failed to receive even the courtesy of a reply, the Executive Board in December 2003 decided to wait an additional thirty days for a response, a failing that, to request that President Kuchma dismiss his chief of staff. The UWC’s argumentation is as follows: the UWC entered into a binding contract with the Ukrainian Home to hold its VIII Congress from August 18-21, 2003 and made the requisite deposit; two weeks prior to the event the UWC was notified that the Ukrainian Home rescinds the contract because of imminent renovations; the Ukrainian House falls within the jurisdiction of the Presidential Administration; throughout the ordeal the UWC intervened with representatives of the Presidential Administration insisting on contractual obligations; the UWC was compelled to contract for alternate accommodations; these events were followed up with a demand for an explanation from Chief of Presidential Administration Medvedchuk; there has been no response. The UWC’s formal request for Medvedchuk’s dismissal was forwarded to the President on January 5, 2004.

EUROPEAN CONGRESS OF UKRAINIANS HOLDS SESSION