NEWSLETTER
UKRAINIAN WORLD CONGRESS

№ 3 (19) – March, 2005

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EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS SESSIONS SCHEDULED

    The UWC Executive Committee will meet in Toronto on Saturday, March 19, 2005 at 9:30 AM. The annual meeting of members of the Board of Directors will convene in Kharkiv, Ukraine on August 16,17,18, 2005. As mentioned previously, the reason for the Kharkiv venue is both logistic and strategic. Kharkiv is centrally located and easily accessible for people from both the east and west. (It is a four hour train ride from Kyiv several time a day) Additionally, Kharkiv was the centre of Ukrainian intellectual life during early soviet days and the venue for initial repressions commencing with the Kharkiv trial 1929-30. Even today, Kharkiv represents the intellectual and spiritual pulse of eastern Ukraine. The UWC Board of Directors program will include a commemorative portion at the site of the Kharkiv trial as well as other extraordinary events. Details will be provided in ensuing newsletters as well as by separate notices and press releases. 

 

PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO TO VISIT U.S.A.

    Ukraine’s President will visit the United States at the invitation of President George W. Bush, April 3-7, 2005. The tentative schedule includes a working visit with the President of the United States in Washington, DC and meetings with the Ukrainian community and financial leaders in both New York and Chicago. Look for details in the Ukrainian-American press as well as the web site of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America: www.UCCA.org.

 

IV WORLD FORUM SET

    The Ukrainian World Coordinating Council met in Kyiv, on February 24-25, 2005 and set August 20-22, 2005 as the dates for the IV World Forum in Kyiv.

 

UPA FEATURE FILM TO TOUR U.S. AND CANADA

    A feature film depicting the struggle of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in Zakherzonnia (Lemkivchyna) produced jointly through the efforts of Ukrainian film director Oles Yanchuk and a Ukrainian-Australian benefactor Yuriy Borec (who wrote the book, which served as the basis for the screenplay) will tour the U.S.A. and Canada throughout April 2005. The tentative schedule is as follows: April 9- Montreal; April 10 – Toronto; April 11-14 – Hamilton, St. Catharines, London and Windsor; April 15 – Cleveland; April 16 – Detroit; April 17 – Chicago; April 18-19 – Hammond and Milwaukee; April 22 – Los Angeles; April 23 – New York. All proceeds from the showing are earmarked for the next Ukraine-Diaspora feature production about His Beatitude Metropolitan Andrei Sheptycky.

 

UKRAINIANS IN TRANSDNIESTER AND RUSSIA EXPAND ACTIVITIES

    While the presidential election of last year in Ukraine proved largely successful, it also exposed a number of deficiencies within our communities in the Diaspora, in particular in Moldova (Transdniester) and the Russian Federation. The elections there were greatly influenced (even controlled) by the government there and resulted even on December 26th in a vote favoring Prime Minister Yanukovich by 92% and 81% respectively. Following the November 21^st fiasco, rules were put in place in Ukraine to preclude both fraud and an uneven playing field in Ukraine. However, this did not apply to the polling stations in the Diaspora since those had been fixed and foreign government influence, particularly Russian, in such places as the Transdniester region of Moldova and the Russian Federation (RF) could not be addressed. In Transdniester, a breakaway region where the Ukrainian community is essentially separatist, Russia has created the impression of being the protector from Moldova, suggesting that protection depended upon support for the pro-Russian candidate. In the RF, the Russian government established a “Ukrainian” newspaper urging Ukrainian citizens in Russia to vote for Prime Minister Yanukovich and portraying opposition candidate Victor Yushchenko as a fascist and the candidate of American imperialism.

Despite pervasive russophilism predicated on a perception of Russian protection, because of its proximity, Ukraine remains a very significant factor in Transdniester. Nevertheless, open support for the separatists by the Yushchenko government would be problematic. The Ukrainian community leaders in Transdniester have expanded activity to stem complete russification of the Ukrainian population there, i.e. opening a Ukrainian school, grades 1-10 in Bandery. They hope to increase enrollment and provide additional grades, by providing transportation, school lunches, etc. for both students and teachers.            

The cultural and educational pro-Ukraine activities of the Ukrainian community in Russia are coordinated by the Association of Ukrainians in Russia. Their main mechanisms for outreach to the grassroots are periodic visits, which often prove difficult as the RF geographically spans eleven time zones. Another tool is a non-periodical publication named “Ukrainian Review.” Only six issues of this publication have appeared since 2001. The aim is to publish periodically, at least bimonthly in the beginning, increase circulation and span from Kalinigrad to Kamchatka, particularly ethnographic Ukrainian territory such as Kuban and arrange for publication on line. The estimate for this is a reasonable 25 thousand U.S. dollars annually.

The UWC has established a special Eastern Diaspora Fund for this and other purposes dealing with such countries as Moldova (Transdniester), Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. Contributions may be forwarded to either UWC office in Toronto or New York. Please write Eastern Diaspora Fund on your checks or money orders.