№ 9 (37) – September, 2006

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IV FORUM ELECTS DMYTRO PAVLYCHKO CHAIRMAN

     The IV Forum took place in Kyiv August 18-20, 2006 and elected Ukrainian poet, diplomat and former national deputy  Dmytro Pavlychko chairman (see the picture). The initial celebratory plenary session held at the “Ukraina” Palace heard addresses from Culture Minister Ihor Likhovyj, Ukrainian World Coordinating Council outgoing Chairman Mykhaylo Horyn, Ukrainian World Congress President Askold S. Lozynskyj, Chair of Ukrainians in Russia Wasyl Duma, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk, European Congress of Ukrainians Chair Yaroslawa Hartyáni and President of Ukraine Victor Yuschenko. The second day was devoted to workshops and round table discussions. The working plenary session heard reports from the outgoing officers, adopted a series of resolutions and elected Dmytro Pavlychko chairman and a thirty-six member council composed equally of representatives from Ukraine, the eastern and western diaspora.  Prior to the commencement of the Forum a sizable diaspora delegation met with the President of Ukraine at his country retreat. The UWC is represented in the Council by first vice-president Eugene Czolij and general secretary Victor Pedenko.                  

 

UKRAINIAN WORLD CONGRESS DIRECTORS CONVENE IN KYIV

     The Board of Directors of the Ukrainian World Congress held its annual meeting August 21-22, 2006 at the Writers’ Union of Ukraine building in Kyiv. The meeting was preceded by a requiem service held at the site of the October Palace which had served in Soviet times as a secret police detention center. The service was celebrated by representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kyiv Patriarchate, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Roman Catholic Church. Twenty four countries rendered reports about their communities (Armenia, Australia, Argentina, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Mozambique, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Spain, United States of America and Uzbekistan). The Ukrainian Youth Association World Executive, the World Council of Plast Organizations and the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America gave reports as well.  Additionally the Board heard reports from the World Social Service Council, the World Coordinating Educational Council, the Human and Civil Rights Commission, the Sports Commission, the United Nations’ Council, the Commission against Human Trafficking, the Mass Media Council, the World Council on Cultural Affairs, the Commission to Aid  Ukrainian Citizens Abroad and the World Scholarly Council. The Federation of Ukrainians in Spain replaced Wasyl Borsuk with Antonina Dobrowolska on the Commission to Aid Ukrainian Citizens Abroad, representatives from Scandinavia were added to the commission and Yuriy Chopyk from Madrid was elected chair of the commission. UWC Executive Committee members, the president, two vice-presidents (the second from the World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations), the general secretary, the treasurer, the financial director and the chair of the UWC Auditing Commission rendered reports as well. Five new members from Croatia (Association of Rusyns and Ukrainians in the Croatian Republic as a central coordinating organization), Portugal (Association of Ukrainians in Portugal “Sobor” as a national organization) and Italy (Association of Ukrainian Women in Italy, Association of Ukrainian Women Workers in Italy and Association “Ukraine Plus,” all as national organizations) were accepted. A 2007 budget was adopted and an independent auditor designated. A plan was mapped out and discussed at length for the seventy-fifth anniversary observances of the Great Famine to include parliamentary resolutions in some thirty countries, a UN resolution/statement, a monument museum in Kyiv, educational material for school programs, publications,  conferences and exhibits. To date resolutions on the Great Famine have been passed in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland and the United States of America. Stefan Romaniw from Australia was asked to coordinate the Great Famine commemoration effort. The IX Congress By-Laws commission was established: Chairperson Olya Danylak from the WFUWO, Bohdan Futey and Roma Dygdalo from the USA, Eugene Czolij and Paul Grod from Canada, Slavko Burda from Europe, Romania Yavir from Asia, a representative to be designated by Argentina from South America and Maria Yarocka from Australia.  Finally, the city of Donetsk was chosen as the site of the 2007 UWC Board of Directors meeting and the city of Kyiv was designated the site of the 2008 UWC IX Congress.

 

EXCERPTS FROM THE UWC PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS TO THE IV FORUM

...At the III Forum at the request of the President of Ukraine I had the opportunity to report what the diaspora had done for Ukraine. During the IV Forum I would like to hear from the President and other governmental representatives as to what Ukraine has done for its diaspora. I do not seek assistance for the communities in the West. I am concerned about the consideration as well as the political and material assistance afforded the poorer communities, in particular those of the former USSR and its satellites, as well as new communities in countries where to date the Ukrainian community has been non-existent or insignificant....Allow me to say a few words about our church, our language, our history and bread...In Ukraine one church belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate reigns supreme with resources and privileges. In fact, this church was formed by a Stalinist synod to implement atheism, the liquidation of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic churches. .. In independent Ukraine this church interferes in the electoral process, agitates to reinstate the former Union and denigrates other churches....The Russian language can be heard in the Verkhovna Rada, Russian newspapers, magazines, books, audio and video recordings, computer games predominate, Russian in the streets, in stores, business is conducted strictly in Russian and now again Russian is the language in the Cabinet of Ministers. The use of Russian in Ukraine after fifteen years of independence is not simply the rightful expression of an ethnic minority. It is an arrogant assertion that I will not speak  Ukrainian and, often, a challenge denouncing Ukrainian independence and statehood...History is not an exact science. Unfortunately, it is written subjectively by victors...We were not among them until 1991...The Great Patriotic War had nothing to do with patriotism at all. Ukrainians who fought in the Red Army on the Soviet front did not fight for their country, they served as Stalin’s cannon fodder. Ukraine’s heroes fought in the Ukrainian Partisan Army...Thanks to the victors earlier we had experienced the Great Famine in 1932-22...you strive to have the world recognize this genocide of the Ukrainian people through parliamentary resolutions...yet the Memorial Mark on Mykhajlivska Ploscha  is not a memorial museum...it does not educate future generations or visitors that the Ukrainian people suffered more victims than anyone else during the XX century. Russia scripted our history for three hundred fifty years...Moscow took our church, our language, our history and even our bread...”