Toronto Symposium Examines the Holodomor in Comparative Perspective Spective Organized by HREC
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INSIDE: l UNA to reach financial milestone this year – page 5 l Conference discusses legacy of World War II – page 9 l Wladimir Klitschko’s reign comes to an end – page 11 THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal W non-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXXIII No. 49 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2015 $2.00 Candle-lighting remembrance is first Activists call for united front to be held at new Holodomor Memorial against Ukraine’s corrupt oligarchs by Zenon Zawada consensus amid their heavy influence over Ukraine’s politics. KYIV – If there’s anything that Ukrainians “We need to set the task now that we can agree on, it’s that the country’s headed should have done immediately after the for an enormous crisis next year that prom- Revolution of Dignity, which is to get ises to alter the current state of affairs, par- together and form a political force as a ticularly the ongoing domination of the counterweight to the oligarch projects. A nation’s corrupt oligarchy. simple unification of two small political Not only have Ukrainian President Petro parties is not an answer. The time has come Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy to create a powerful platform that will win Yatsenyuk failed to pursue structural reforms the competition for young, high-quality or rein in the oligarchs, but they’ve been politicians,” Vasyl Hatsko, the head of the exposed in corrupt schemes, and so have the Democratic Alliance party, told the tyzh- entourages they brought with them. den.ua news site. Increasingly, prominent figures such as Among those young quality politicians Donbas oligarch Serhiy Taruta are warning of are 15 national deputies of the Petro political-economic collapse within months. Poroshenko Bloc, who held a press confer- “We’ve already passed the bifurcation ence in the Verkhovna Rada on November point of where we can’t doubt it any longer Yaro Bihun 25 to announce they were forming a group, The candle-lighting ceremony held at the site of the Holodomor Memorial in – there’s no possibility of survival in this the Anti-Corruption Platform, within the Washington. existing model,” said Yuriy Romanenko, the faction to expose and fight corruption – director of the Strategema Center of both within their faction and beyond. ration took place at the site of the by Yaro Bihun Political Analysis in Kyiv. The announcement came a day after a Holodomor Memorial, constructed this The big question now is what the new closed-door meeting of faction deputies in WASHINGTON – This year’s candle-light- year and dedicated three weeks earlier. model will look like. In order to stop the which the reformists accused establish- ing remembrance ceremony in Washington As the sun was setting that cloudy current descent into chaos, activists have ment politicians of not only indulging their for the millions of people who died in November 28 evening in Washington, a begun calling for urgent action, and among own corrupt business schemes, but even Joseph Stalin’s genocidal famine, the 1932- large group of people started gathering in the most-discussed proposals is forming a undermining their reform projects. 1933 Holodomor in Ukraine, was unique. unifying nationwide force to challenge the For the first time, the annual commemo- (Continued on page 18) oligarchs, who haven’t been able to reach a (Continued on page 8) Toronto symposium examines the Holodomor in comparative perspective spective organized by HREC. In 2014 HREC sponsored a HREC conference on “Communism and Hunger” looking at fam- TORONTO – An international symposium on “Starvation ines in China, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the Soviet Union. as a Political Tool from the 19th to the 21st Century,” held In his opening remarks, Dr. Frank Sysyn, the chair of at the University of Toronto, brought together leading HREC’s executive committee, noted “With this conference, scholars to discuss the Irish Famine, the Armenian HREC has sought to examine famine as a political tool over a Genocide, the Ukrainian Holodomor and the genocide by long period and in widely dispersed countries in order to attrition in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan, in particular to achieve a broad comparative perspective in famine and the extent to which starvation has been used, or become a genocide.” way to discriminate against, punish, or eliminate national, In the first session Prof. McGowan provided an overview ethnic, racial or religious groups. of the history and historiography of the Irish Famine of The event was organized by the Holodomor Research 1845-1852. He noted that, while British authorities had not and Education Consortium (HREC) at the Canadian engineered the famine, they exacerbated its effects through Institute of Ukrainian Studies (University of Alberta), the inadequate relief efforts and by adhering stubbornly to a International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights laissez-faire economic policy that made relief food supplies Studies (a division of the Zoryan Institute), the Canadian unaffordable for the general Irish population. Foundation for Ukrainian Studies, the Petro Jacyk Program Approximately 1 million people died in this period, while for the Study of Ukraine (Center for European, Russian, and the harsh conditions forced some 1.5 million others to emi- Eurasian Studies, University of Toronto) and the Chair of grate. At the same time, landlords were able to expel numer- Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto. ous tenants and then consolidate their holdings into larger The symposium’s speakers were Mark McGowan tracts in pursuit of animal husbandry. (University of Toronto), George Shirinian (Zoryan Mr. Shirinian examined starvation as a factor in the Institute), Andrea Graziosi (University of Naples) and genocide of 1.5 million Armenians that started in April Samuel Totten (University of Arkansas). Joyce Apsel, a 1915. He focused on the forced marches that accompanied renowned expert on comparative genocide and human- the expulsion of Armenians – ostensibly for the purpose of rights studies from New York University, served as a dis- military security – from their homes in (present-day) cussant. The event concluded with a special presentation Turkey. Food and water were routinely withheld from the by Natalia Khanenko-Friesen (University of Saskatchewan). Armenians in the deportee caravans or, when provided, The October 22 symposium was the second major aca- A poster for the international symposium on “Starvation demic event examining the Holodomor in comparative per- as a Political Tool from the 19th to the 21st Century.” (Continued on page 9) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2015 No. 49 ANALYSIS Russia warns of penalties Biden to address Verkhovna Rada Russia to charge Vira Savchenko WASHINGTON – U.S. Vice-President Joe OTTAWA – According to documents pub- on Kyiv after failed trade talks Biden will address Ukraine’s Parliament lished by Mark Feygin, attorney for Nadiya next week as part of a two-day visit to the Savchenko, Russia has opened criminal RFE/RL ly with a very, very long list of amendments that they presented at the table.” country. A senior U.S. administration offi- proceedings against Nadiya’s sister, Vira Russia is likely to penalize Ukrainian Kyiv’s sharp break with Moscow in the cial said in Washington on December 2 that Savchenko, for “obvious disrespect for the imports starting in January after negotia- last two years was triggered by its move Mr. Biden will speak to Ukraine’s unicamer- court and for the Russian judiciary.” tors failed to agree on ways to address toward closer trade with the West. al legislature on December 8 about U.S. According to the documents, Vira Moscow’s objections to Kyiv’s free-trade Ukrainian wavering over whether to opposition to Russia’s annexation of the Savchenko allegedly stated to the judge at agreement with the European Union. sign the EU trade accord in late 2013 fueled Crimean peninsula and U.S. support for Nadiya’s trial, “He is not a judge, but a “It is a very probable scenario that there street protests that toppled pro-Moscow Ukraine’s debt-restructuring agreement schmuck.” Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign will not be an agreement before January 1,” President Viktor Yanukovych, leading to with the International Monetary Fund and Affairs stated that “the opening of criminal when the EU trade pact goes into effect, and Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean other international lenders. The official proceedings against Vira Savchenko, as that will prompt Russia to end Ukraine’s peninsula and conflict in Ukraine’s east. said this will be the first time a U.S. leader well as the trial of Nadiya Savchenko and preferential trade status, Russian Economy Now, after nearly two years of sharp con- of Vice-President Biden’s rank has other Ukrainian political prisoners in Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said after unsuc- flict and a raft of tit-for-tat trade sanctions addressed the Verkhovna Rada. Vice- Russia are reprisals against free thinking.” cessful trade talks between Russia, Ukraine between Moscow and Kyiv, Ukrainian offi- President Biden has visited Ukraine several Nadiya Savchenko was serving in eastern and the EU in Brussels on December 1. cials reckon they have little to lose from the times since the 2013-2014 Euro-Maidan Ukraine, when abducted by Kremlin- While the three parties agreed to keep end of favored trading status on January 1. uprising that overthrew pro-Moscow backed terrorists in June 2014 and taken to talking, time is running out on the EU’s Ms. Malmstrom said that technical teams President Viktor Yanukovych; he also Russia, where she has been illegally yearlong bid to quell Russian opposition to from the three sides could meet again as speaks frequently with Ukrainian President the accord, which is at the root of the early as next week, and they could reach detained and imprisoned since that time.