The Ukrainian Weekly 2010, No.24
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www.ukrweekly.com InsIde: • Taras Kuzio on Yanukovych’s first 100 days – page 3. • Wrap-up of the UNA’s 37th Convention – pages 4-5. • 184 teams at Ukrainian Nationals soccer tournament – page 15. THEPublished U by theKRA Ukrainian NationalIN AssociationIAN Inc., a fraternal Wnon-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXVIII No. 24 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JUNE 13, 2010 $1/$2 in Ukraine Hillary Clinton to visit Kyiv The first 100 days: Yanukovych USUBC firmed with high-level U.S. govern- makes his mark on cultural policy ment sources in Washington by the WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of USUBC. State Hillary Clinton will pay an offi- “Ukrainian Foreign Minister cial visit to Kyiv on July 4-5, Ukraine’s Kostyantyn Gryshchenko and U.S. Foreign Affaris Minister Kostyantyn Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today Gryshchenko announced in Kyiv on held a telephone conversation, during June 4. which she confirmed her intention to The news of the visit by Secretary make an official visit to Ukraine on Clinton was reported on the radio July 4-5,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry Friday evening in Kyiv according in Kyiv stated. to U.S.-Ukraine Business Council During their June 4 conversation (USUBC) staff there. The information about her visit to Kyiv has been con- (Continued on page 26) Quebec passes bill recognizing Holodomor as an act of genocide QUEBEC CITY, Quebec – Members 1933 where millions of Ukrainians per- Andrii Mosiyenko/UNIAN of the National Assembly of Quebec on ished as victims of a famine deliberately June 2 unanimously passed Bill 390 – An induced by the Soviet regime under President Viktor Yanukovych has relied on a neo-Soviet ideology as the founda- Act to Proclaim Ukrainian Famine and Joseph Stalin to quash the aspirations of tion for his administration’s cultural policies, observers say. Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day. the Ukrainian people for a free and inde- The bill, which was introduced in by Zenon Zawada “The humanitarian policy of the new pendent Ukraine.” Ukrainian government can’t only be November 2009 by Member of the The bill further builds on the 1998 Kyiv Press Bureau National Assembly (MNA) Louise called pro-Russian, but ‘sovkovyi,’ ” said Ukrainian presidential decree, the law The first 100 days: The Ukrainian Volodymyr Viatrovych, a historian who Beaudoin and received unanimous adopted by the Parliament of Ukraine in Weekly will examine the activity of the approval at its first reading, commemo- served as the director of the Security 2006, legislation unanimously passed by administration of Viktor Yanukovych in Service of Ukraine (SBU) archives before rates victims of the Holodomor, the engi- the Parliament of Canada in 2008, as well Ukraine’s cultural life, economy, and for- the new administration restricted access. neered Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine, as statutes adopted by the provincial leg- eign policy. This is the first article in the [Editor’s note: “Sovkovyi” is a pejorative, in which millions were killed. islatures of Alberta, Saskatchewan, series. adjectival slang term referring to anything The legislation recognizes the Manitoba and Ontario that recognize the Soviet.] Holodomor as “the famine and genocide KYIV – De-Ukrainianization. Russifi- “It’s ‘sovkovyi’ in its meaning, eroding that occurred in Ukraine in 1932 and (Continued on page 26) cation. Neo-Sovietism. Eurasianism. any national meaning, and it’s absolutely Political observers have coined various ‘sovkovyi’ in its form, such as its inherent terms to describe the policies pursued dur- absence of public discussions and author- ing the first 100 days of the administration itarian methods of leadership,” Mr. of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Viatrovych added. At the essence of these concepts on the cultural front is an aggressive campaign Education that seeks to dismantle the gains made The government of Prime Minister during the Orange era in reviving Mykola Azarov, formed on March 11, Ukrainian culture following 70 years of was immediately greeted with public out- Soviet-perpetrated ethnocide, particularly rage when it was revealed that reviving use of the Ukrainian language Ukrainophobe Dmytro Tabachnyk was and offering a balanced interpretation of tapped to serve as minister of education. Ukraine’s history. Few politicians in Ukrainian politics “Today’s government doesn’t have an are as polarizing as Mr. Tabachnyk, who understanding of the state as an entire has denigrated the Ukrainian people and spiritual, humanitarian, identification the Ukrainian state repeatedly throughout complex, rather than an instrument of his political career. He reserves special violence and a vehicle for making contempt for the people of Halychyna, money,” said Volodymyr Tsybulko, a Ukraine’s most Western-oriented region. leader in the People’s Committee to In recent years, he has repeatedly slan- Rescue Ukraine formed on May 5. “In dered the Ukrainian Insurgent Army essence, Yanukovych and his team (UPA) as Nazi collaborators, when this haven’t come to lead a state, but to army in fact fought against both the expand the Donetsk Oblast to the bound- Soviets and the Nazis and suffered large aries of the Ukrainian state.” casualties at their hands. The Yanukovych administration’s As education minister, Mr. Tabachnyk humanitarian policy resembles a neo-Sovi- has continued denigrating Halychyna’s et model in which close cooperation with Ukrainians, for example as recently as the Kremlin will significantly Russify all June 4 in a statement on “How History aspects of Ukrainian cultural life, includ- Textbooks are Supposed to Be,” pub- Louise Beaudoin (front row, center), member of the National Assembly of Quebec, ing film, television, education and state- with representatives of the province’s Ukrainian community. sponsored events, observers said. (Continued on page 9) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JUNE 13, 2010 No. 24 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFS EU hosts Eastern neighbors Yanukovych on closer ties with U.S. by National Deputy Arseniy Yatsenyuk, analyzed the first 100 days in power of the ahead of Russia summit KYIV – Ukrainian President Viktor team of President Viktor Yanukovych. Yanukovych on June 3 advocated closer According to Mr. Yatsenyuk, people’s lives by Ahto Lobjakas Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski “strategic cooperation” between Ukraine did not improve, because the authorities RFE/RL pointedly thanked Mr. Fuele for attending and the United States. “Strategic coopera- have not complied in full with their promis- and confirming that the Eastern tion between Ukraine and the United States es to increase minimum wages and pen- BRUSSELS – Leading diplomats rep- Partnership remains “a priority for the is an imperative of the modern times. sions. Referring to the president’s reform resenting the 27 European Union govern- European Commission.” Ukraine stands ready for more extensive program presented on June 2, Mr. Yatsenyuk ments met their counterparts from the six Ms. Ashton’s absence meant that none relations and mutually advantageous eco- called it “very interesting analytical materi- members of the bloc’s Eastern Partnership of the EU representatives present in Sopot nomic, political, cultural and security proj- al,” which, unfortunately, is at odds with – Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, would attend the EU-Russia summit at ects,” Mr. Yanukovych said in his first state reality. He added that not a single step was Armenia, and Azerbaijan – in the Polish Rostov-na-Donu on May 31. Among the of the nation address. “Such projects may be made in the fight against corruption, the Baltic resort of Sopot. EU’s senior foreign-policy figures, Ms. multilateral as well with the participation of costs of bureaucracy had increased, and the The May 24 meeting, co-hosted by Ashton alone was to travel to Russia. European Union countries and Russia,” he adopted budget, in his view, allows uncon- Poland and the current holder of the EU’s The partnership was launched in May said. He also said Ukraine’s foreign and trolled growth of the public debt and the rotating presidency, Spain, was the first 2009 at the joint initiative of Poland and security policy called for pragmatism in budget deficit. However, Mr. Yatesenyuk senior EU-Eastern Partnership gathering Sweden, but has struggled for profile defending “our interests.” (Interfax-Ukraine) also addressed criticisms to his colleagues in in more than half a year. within the bloc. The EU’s southern mem- President on cooperation with Russia the fractured opposition. He said the opposi- It was seen as symbolically very ber-states see in it an unwanted competi- tion should fight not for power, but for the important in a number of EU capitals tor to EU southern outreach across the KYIV – Ukraine and Russia should real- country, and truly protect the interests of keen to ensure that the rejuvenated Mediterranean, while Germany and ize a number of strategically important proj- people. Only then will society believe in the EU-Russia relationship – expected to France appear worried it could compli- ects in various sectors that benefit both usefulness of the opposition. (Ukrinform) progress with a long-term deal on visa- cate what they see as the bloc’s strategi- countries, said President Viktor Yanukovych free travel at the Rostov-na-Donu summit cally crucial relationship with Russia. during his meeting with Russian Prime Court bans anti-Yanukovych protest the following week – does not overshad- A number of EU foreign ministers sent Minister Vladimir Putin in Istanbul. “Very KYIV – A Ukrainian opposition party ow partnerships with smaller neighbors. lower-ranking officials as stand-ins to the soon, we will consider our cooperation in a Afterward, Spanish Foreign Minister said it was barred from holding a protest in meeting in Sopot. Among the neighbors, wide range of industries, where neither Kyiv on June 3 against President Viktor Miguel Angel Moratinos said the meeting Armenia and Azerbaijan were represented Ukraine nor Russia can achieve the effect had confirmed that the European Union Yanukovych’s policies, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian by deputy foreign ministers.