The Ukrainian Weekly 1990

ЬзШ by thr Ukrainian National Association inc.. a fraternal non-profit assocntionj Шrainian Weekl v vol. LVIII No. 6 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, FEBRUARY n, 1990 50 cents violations reported Ukraine's March 4 elections: a guide for observers in pre-elections by Kathleen Mihalisko the Congress in favor of a directly of the seats in the USSR Congress of Special to The Ukrainian Weekly elected parliament. People's Deputies were assigned to Ukrainians, therefore, will be elect– these organizations.) Yet this point - process in Ukraine MUN1CH - March 4 will be an ing in March a 450-member Supreme and numerous other undemocratic LONDON - violations of the elec– election marathon day in the Soviet Soviet. The republic has been divided features of the draft laws - provoked tions law by local electoral commissions Union as voters in three republics - accordingly into the same number of an immense public outcry in Ukraine, are being reported in Ukraine during Ukraine, Byelorussia and the Russian electoral districts (vyborchi okruhy), leaving the current Supreme Soviet with the second stage of the electoral process federation - cast their ballots for each consisting of an average of roughly little choice but to abandon the quotas. leading up to the March 4 balloting for deputies to the republican parliaments 70,000 voters. The city of Kiev, for in other respects, too, the electoral representatives to the Ukrainian SSR and local councils. The process of instance, will be represented in the new legislation that was finally approved at Supreme Soviet, as well as elections to nominating candidates was completed republican parliament by 22 deputies; the October session of the Supreme local Soviets (councils), reported the in early January; contenders have now hence, 22 parliamentary election races Soviet represented a significant victory Ukrainian Press Agency based here. been registered by electoral commis– are under way in the capital. for democratic forces in Ukraine. February 3 was the final day for the sions. in addition, thousands of seats in the Gone, for example, was a broadly registration of candidates and by this in many parts of Ukraine, the cam– rural, city, raion and oblast councils, or worded provision that would have em- time it had become evident that the paign is shaping up as a contest be– rady,are up for grabs, but most of the powered the election commissions to electoral commissions were violating tween candidates supported the Popu– interest and attention appears to be disqualify candidates whose campaign the law on the elections. The most lar Movement of Ukraine for Perebu– focused on the Supreme Soviet con- platforms contradicted the USSR or common violation is the refusal by dova, or Rukh, and those who have the tests. Ukrainian constitutions. This was commissions to register candidates, the backing of the Communist Party ap– All seats in the Supreme Soviet and replaced by a prohibition against candi– JiîU iatfî.-Y.iM^:"'bo Ьауе Kên paratus. MKhî^n'oe ckpd!tAXrom the local councils will be contested. Esta– dates who call for the use of force to March 4 balloting, which marks the first blisUed public organizations such as the ovefui71w the Soviet state. The size of refused registration have been from the unofficial groups, as well as from opportunity in the lifetimes of Soviet Communist Party, the Komsomol, the "collectives" eh^ng "8^ to officially registered organizations such Ukrainians to choose their representa– trade unions, and so forth, have not nominate candidates was reduced truTu as the Taras Shevchenko. Ukrainian tives in contested elections? been allocated a fixed number of man- 300 to 200 people. At the closiiig of the Language Society and Zelenyi Svit First, a look at some of the basics. dates in these bodies, despite the origi– Supreme Soviet's session in October, (Green World). The Ukrainian government originally nal intentions of Kiev legislators. eminent spokesmen for 'Rukh de– in Poltava, 15,000 people gathered proposed to create a Congress of The government's draft electoral clared that the revised election laws on January 27 at the Kolos stadium to People's Deputies, which in keeping laws, published in August in the Ukrai– adopted at that session were a great step protest the way the local electoral with all-union procedures, would have nian press, provided for the automatic forward for the cause of democracy. commission was cheating with the chosen, in turn, the standing parlia– assignment of 25 percent of the seats in Now that election time is here, how– results of the nominations. The crowds ment. Popular opposition to the idea parliament and in the councils to the ever, Ukrainian voters are discovering demanded the resignation of the oblast forced the authorities to dispense with public organizations (just as one-third (Continued on page 4) and local party leadership. (Continued on page 15) Zeleniukh, Gel beaten by crowd Human chain in Kiev ROME - Ukrainian Catholic Church officials in Rome have learned that on Wednesday, January 31, the Rev. Zeleniukh, a priest of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Ukraine, lvan Gel, head of the Committee of the Defense of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Ukraine, and Aleksander Kuras, a member of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, were beaten by a group of an estimated 70 to 100 persons. The incident took place in the village of Staryava, Mostyska raion (district). As recounted in a telephone conver– sation with Mr. Gel, the incident took place in the following way. Mr. Gel was traveling to the village to attend a meeting of Ukrainian Catholics and Russian Orthodox at the formerly Ukrainian Catholic church in the village. The church is now functioning as a Russian Orthodox church. The meeting was being held to improve relations between the two groups which were strained as a result of recent developments in Ukraine. The Rev. Zeleniukh was riding along with Mr. Gel with the purpose of administering last rites to two gravely ill On January 21, iOO,QOQ persons took part in a rally in Kiev's St. Sophia Square that followed formation of Ukrainian Catholics in the village. He a human chain that stretched from Kiev to Lviv. For more photos see page 2. (Continued on page 3) THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, FEBRUARY n, 1990 No. 6 GLASNOST D1ARY: Scenes of human chain, rally in Kiev recording changes Sin the USSR Banned in the USSR? The December 1989 issue of TWG News, the newsletter of The Washing- ton Group, reported the following news on the glasnost front in conjunction with the organization's recent trip to Ukraine. We reprint it here for the information of our readers. TWG President Yaro Bihun got a taste of glasnost as soon as he stepped off the plane in Moscow and tried to get a box of literature through Soviet Cus– toms. The box contained both books intended as gifts for organizations and individuals and those intended to help Ukrainians fill in some of the "blank spots" in their history and literature. The Customs officials must not have heard of glasnost and democratization. After about an hour's worth of perusal and pretending that they could read Ukrainian and English, they let most of the items in the box go through, holding back "for further study," however, such items as issues of the latest Ukrainian Weekly, Suchasnist Magazine, Robert Conquest's "Harvest of Sorrow" in Russian, a video of "Harvest of Des– pair," and a few other books. The confiscated materials were returned on demand as the group was leaving the Soviet Union. Then the customs officials cheerfully bid the group farewell, wished them a safe flight in the friendly skies of Aeroflo^ SULL hoped thaUhexaU-^иШ "have a nice tiSfF Return of ski club The Carpathian Ski Club (KLK), known here in the United States as an all-round sports organization, has been returned to its roots in Ukraine. KLK officials in the New York recently received a letter from Lviv which noted that the Karpatskyi Lesh– chetarskyi Kliub has been renewed in that western Ukrainian city. The club's renewal in Lviv was an– nounced by a group of young enthu– siasts in September 1989. Afterwards, the statutes of the original KLK were found in an old trunk owned by an elderly lady. The old gave birth to the new, as the original statutes have now been used as a foundation for a renewed KLK in Ukraine. At least 500,000 persons gathered The ski club was originally founded along the route of the human chain, in Lviv in December 1924 by a group of organized by the Popular Movement avid skiers, its first ski races were held in of Ukraine for Perebudova, or Rukh, FOUNDED 1933 1929 near Lviv; others followed in to mark the Ukrainian indepen– Ukrainian WeeH Slavske, vorokhta and Kosmach. Affi– dence anniversaries of 1918, when liatesof the club sprouted in the Hutsul the Fourth Universal declared U– An English-language Ukrainian newspaper published by the Ukrainian National and Boyko regions of western Ukraine krairre a sovereign and independent Association inc., a non-profit association, at 30 Montgomery St., Jersey City, NJ. as well., , state, and of 1919, when western 07302. and .eastern UkrînianJarids,pro–. On the eye 6? World War 11, the v Carpathian Ski CJub in Ukraine had 20 claimed their union into one ykraj,– j " ^ - Second-class postage paid at Jersey City, NJ. 07302. ^ branches and 1,000 members. nian Natfojial Republic:Ffiotos "– - - -' - (fSSN - 0273-9348) ^ - - ^ „„„„„„^„„t ?,.– ' .-. .^^^^^^ .ftx - '--^- ^ '^ abosrb show a rally in^Krev's,St.v - Sophia Square and the Hufrian dhaftr Yearly -subscription fate: ^20; for UNA members - ^10. д „; ^ ^ Z .

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