www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE:• GUAM establishes Organization for Democracy — page 3. • Graduate student symposium held in Toronto — page 12. • Energy roundtable in Houston focuses on Ukraine — page 15. Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXXIV HE KRAINIANNo. 22 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MAY 28, 2006 EEKLY$1/$2 in Ukraine T U TymoshenkoW bloc and Socialists UNA’sPARSIPPANY, 36thN.J. – As this Convention issue of begins The Ukrainian Weekly goes to press on unite into parliamentary coalition Friday morning, May 26, the Ukrainian by Zenon Zawada Furthermore, the Tymoshenko-Moroz National Association’s 36th Regular Kyiv Press Bureau document consisted of no specific plan of Convention gets under way at action or program, Dr. Taran said. Soyuzivka. This will be the first time in KYIV – In the latest public relations The failure of the Orange forces to the fraternal organization’s 112-year gambit in forming Ukraine’s parliamen- unite spilled into the first session of the history that its convention will be held tary majority, Yulia Tymoshenko and fifth convocation of the Verkhovna Rada at its own estate, located in Kerhonkson, Oleksander Moroz announced on May 25 on May 25. N.Y., in the scenic Catskill region. that they have united their political forces Deputies from Our Ukraine, the The convention program includes to form a coalition. Tymoshenko Bloc and the Socialist Party reports by members of the General Ms. Tymoshenko and Mr. Moroz held voted to close the session early and post- Assembly, that is, executive officers, a document that they said paraphrases the pone the Rada’s next meeting until June 7. auditors and advisors; elections of a new agreement that will be signed by the Expect further cancellations and General Assembly; voting on amend- three Orange political forces in delays throughout the summer, said Oles ments to the UNA By-Laws; a discus- Parliament, including the Our Ukraine Donii, chair of the Kyiv-based Center for sion about the development of bloc. Political Values Research, which is sup- Soyuzivka and the recently established Without Our Ukraine however, the ported by Ukrainian citizens and is seek- Soyuzivka Heritage Foundation; and a Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and the Socialist ing international financing. discussion about the future of the UNA’s Party of Ukraine don’t have enough votes An Orange coalition will eventually activity in Canada. Cover of the commemorative journal to form a majority. emerge, Mr. Donii said, and the coalition In addition, during their four-day of the 36th UNA Convention. “Without a doubt, that was a PR step will approve of a new Rada chairman. stay at Soyuzivka, delegates will have to show how they’re ready to work However, Mr. Donii said he doesn’t Sunday, May 28. an opportunity to attend a Hutsul- together while Our Ukraine is stalling the expect the coalition will approve Ms. themed dinner and program on Friday, The theme of the 36th UNA process,” said Serhii Taran, director of May 26; a “Tastes of the World” dinner Convention, which continues through the Institute of Mass Information in Kyiv. (Continued on page 9) on Saturday, May 27; and a concert Monday, May 29, Memorial Day, is and gala convention banquet on “UNA: Ukrainians United.” 100,000 buried at Bykivnia Ukrainian American’s documentary recalled at Day of Remembrance opens human rights film festival in Kyiv by Zenon Zawada mass grave on the outskirts of Kyiv. Kyiv Press Bureau “We must know the truth,” Mr. by Zenon Zawada Orange Chronicles” is unique because Yushchenko said May 21, standing BYKIVNIA, Ukraine – Western alongside his wife, Kateryna. “Why did Kyiv Press Bureau Mr. Kolodiy’s voice sets a first-person Ukrainians have long been aware of the narrative, offering the viewer his subjec- our nation lose more than 10 million peo- KYIV – More than 600 viewers gath- vicious brutality wrought by Soviet com- ple without a war?” tive, personal perspective of the events. munism, but only in recent years have ered in the Cinema Building on May 21 Aside from the historic events in Kyiv, From the early 1920s through Joseph Ukrainians from the central region of the Stalin’s murderous purges, the Soviet to watch “The Orange Chronicles,” a Mr. Kolodiy also recorded the violent documentary film about the Orange country begun to grasp their hidden past. government hauled the bodies of tortured antagonism toward the revolution In a step toward uncovering Ukraine’s Revolution produced by Damian and slaughtered political prisoners to the demonstrated by southern and eastern dark history, President Viktor Kolodiy, an American of Ukrainian pine forests outside the village of Ukrainians which he filmed while riding Yushchenko became the first Ukrainian descent. Bykivnia and buried them in a grave that with the Friendship Train. president to take part in the annual Day “The Orange Chronicles” opened the spanned 161,500 square feet. It was during this trip that supporters of Remembrance ceremony to honor the third annual Human Rights Documentary of Viktor Yanukovych pelted Mr. estimated 100,000 people buried in the (Continued on page 9) Film Days festival, organized by the Kolodiy’s car with eggs and rocks. Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union While the caravan traveled to Donetsk, and the Center for Contemporary steel jacks scattered on the road punc- Information Technology and Visual Arts. tured car tires preventing the “train” from Out of more than 70 films submitted, reaching the city. organizers selected Mr. Kolodiy’s film to Among the scenes that most compelled open the festival because it offered a the audience was Mr. Kolodiy’s tense dia- view of the revolution from an intimate logue with a Kherson man, who declared perspective, said Yaroslav Hordiyevych, his contempt for Americans because project coordinator for the Ukrainian “you’re always crawling everywhere and Helsinki Human Rights Union. going where you’re not needed.” “Even though it is a chronicle, it has a Those comments drew applause from personal touch and personal feelings,” the audience. Mr. Hordiyevych said. “It involves con- The audience turned silent when the templation, rather than showing what same fellow then expressed his desire to took place. He thinks about the events.” slit Mr. Kolodiy’s throat. “The Orange Chronicles” is a 110- Mr. Kolodiy managed to be at the right minute film in which Mr. Kolodiy, a New places at the right times, recording the York City native whose grandparents revolt’s historic moments, including emigrated from Ukraine, watches the Yulia Tymoshenko’s call to action on the Orange Revolution unfold before the lens revolution’s eve, Roman Tkach’s famous of his camera. speech in front of the Presidential President Viktor Yushchenko, flanked by First Lady Kateryna Yushchenko and Though numerous films have been acting Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov, walks toward the memorial at produced on the Orange Revolution, “The (Continued on page 8) Bykivnia, site of a mass grave of victims of Communist terror. 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MAY 28, 2006 No. 22 ANALYSIS Concerns raised about Russia NEWSBRIEFSNEWSBRIEFS New Rada to gather on May 25 meters, Mr. Yatseniuk said such an increase could lead to a 6-7 percent drop in gross chairing the Council of Europe KYIV – Prime Minister Yurii domestic product and a leap in inflation of Yekhanurov said in an interview in the 25-30 percent. (RFE/RL Newsline) by Brian Whitmore committee, which comprises the foreign May 24 issue of the Kyiv-based daily RFE/RL Newsline ministers of all the member-states, or Ekonomicheskie Izvestia that an “official Yanukovych foresees coalition in June their permanent diplomatic representa- negotiation process” regarding the creation Activists expressed concern when tives in Strasbourg. of a new ruling coalition will begin only KYIV – The leader of the Party of the Russia inherited the chairmanship of the Just last week the Council of Europe’s after the inauguration of the newly elected Regions, Viktor Yanukovych, on May 22 Group of Eight (G-8) major industrial- European Commission Against Racism Verkhovna Rada. “For the time being, it’s predicted that a parliamentary coalition ized countries at the beginning of 2006. and Intolerance criticized Moscow for just a warming-up, preparatory work – with the Party of the Regions will be estab- Moscow’s accession on March 19 to the not doing enough to combat a virtual epi- there is an exchange of opinions [and] an lished in June. “Our stance is calm and head of the Council of Europe’s demic of hate crimes. And the previous ascertaining of positions of all sides,” Mr. confident, we believe that in June the coali- Committee of Ministers, the organiza- week the International Helsinki Yekhanurov added. The Ukrainian tion with the Party of the Regions will be tion’s decision-making body, is likely to Federation for Human Rights accused Parliament gathers for its inaugural session finally created,” Mr. Yanukovych said dur- spark even more controversy. Russia of running a network of secret on May 25. Under the amended ing a talk with U.S. Deputy Assistant As he outlined Moscow’s goals during prisons in Chechnya and asked the Constitution of Ukraine that took effect on Secretary of State for European and its six-month chairmanship, Russian Council of Europe to investigate. January 1, the president has the right to Eurasian Affairs David Kramer. Mr. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s Human rights activists say that rather dissolve Parliament if it fails to form a Yanukovych said the Party of the Regions remarks alternated between reassuring than seeking to expand the Council of majority within 30 days after its first sit- has developed a draft coalition agreement and defiant.