'Khamokratiya' Describes the State of Viktor Yanukovych's Ukraine
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INSIDE: l WFUWO delivers letters in support of Tymoshenko – page 3 l Andriy Semotiuk analyzes the John Demjanjuk case – page 5 l Interview with filmmaker Roxy Toporowych – page 8 THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal W non-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXX No. 14 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, APRIL 1, 2012 $1/$2 in Ukraine ‘Khamokratiya’ describes the state Ottawa conference on Ukraine of Viktor Yanukovych’s Ukraine delivers tough messages by Zenon Zawada “Unfortunately, there’s quite a large stra- Special to The Ukrainian Weekly tum of our population who are known as ‘zhloby’ (Russian for goons) in the east, or KYIV – Ukraine’s “khamokratiya” has ‘rahuli’ (the Ukrainian equivalent) in the been much in evidence in the first months west,” explained Ihor Losiev, an assistant of the new year as top political leaders professor of cultural studies at the National made comments and engaged in actions University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy. “In that not only embarrassed the government Ukraine, these types often get the kind of and demeaned Ukrainians, but also dam- authority that they shouldn’t have been aged the nation’s image internationally. even allowed to get close to, and they A “kham” is a boor, or ill-mannered per- behave as people with this mentality,” he son with offensive behavior. President said. Viktor Yanukovych’s prison nickname was The most recent display of khamokrati- “kham,” according to his acquaintances, ya occurred on March 18 in the Kyiv Oblast and “khamokratiya” has emerged as a term town of Obukhiv, where an election was to describe his current government. It was held for City Council chair. Party of Regions coined by author Oksana Zabuzhko during of Ukraine National Deputy Petro Melnyk the Orange era. violently grabbed Iryna Herashchenko, a Alexander Balaban national deputy of the Our Ukraine- At the conference “Ukraine at the Crossroads” (from left) are: Valentyn People’s Self-Defense Bloc, in his attempt to Nalyvaichenko (former head of the Security Service of Ukraine), Amanda Paul remove her from the polling station before (European Policy Center, Brussels), Ariel Cohen (Heritage Foundation, Washington), the vote count. Ihor Kozak (retired Canadian NATO officer) and James Sherr (Royal Institute of “Deputy Melnyk began our communica- International Affairs), all speakers during a panel chaired by former Canadian Ambassador to Ukraine Derek Fraser. tion with the phrase, ‘What are you doing here? Decent women are at home sleeping with their husbands,’ ” Ms. Herashchenko by Jars Balan Ukrainian Canadian Congress a member of the Polish Sejm and a former told the UNIAN news agency in an inter- HumanCabinet Rightsminister and who Labor; for fourMarcin years Święcicki, served view published March 19. OTTAWA – A major gathering of interna- as the director of a European Community “This phrase is the quintessence of the tional experts assembled at the Chateau Advisory Center in Kyiv; and Peter van ruling party’s attitude towards women in Laurier Hotel in Ottawa on March 5-8 to Loan, leader of government in Canada’s politics, constantly imposing the notion discuss the current situation in Ukraine, House of Commons. onto society that a woman’s place is in the where human rights and democracy are International Development Minister Bev kitchen and constantly using force against showing troubling signs of continued Oda brought greetings, and Treasury Board women and degrading them. This philoso- regression under the government of President Tony Clement was among the phy of degrading women in politics is President Viktor Yanukovych. They met to more than 20 politicians in the audience, extrapolated by colleagues in politics onto take part in “Ukraine at the Crossroads,” a which also included five current and for- all of Ukrainian society and we are witness- conference held under the auspices of the mer Canadian ambassadors to Ukraine, ing this wave of violence, brutality and Ukrainian Canadian Congress and orga- staff from Ukraine’s embassy in Ottawa and aggression against Ukraine’s women,” she nized by the Canada Ukraine Foundation, representatives of other diplomatic mis- commented. the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the sions. Politicians behaving as obnoxious boors University of Ottawa and the Center for The day after the banquet a series of ses- are a holdover from the Soviet era, U.S.-Ukrainian Relations. sions were held during which expert pan- explained Serhiy Hrabovsky, a respected Invited speakers included prominent els addressed four major thematic areas: political analyst who has written about activists in Ukrainian NGOs and former democratic governance, rule of law, human Ukraine’s khamokratiya, including a book to government ministers, as well as senior rights and media freedom; the new elec- go on sale this week, “Ukraine – Not Africa? officials and representatives of agencies tion act and the 2012 parliamentary elec- ‘White Negroes’ in Search of Ourselves.” from member-states in the Euro-Atlantic tions; economic issues, including energy, Although Marxist theory embraces the community. economic freedom and corruption; and advancement of women in career and politi- The program was kicked-off on the eve- geopolitics and national security. cal life, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin broke ning of Wednesday, March 7, with a well- Among the speakers who presented on with those notions and reverted to the patri- attended banquet followed by a panel dis- these topics were: Judge Bohdan Futey and archal traditions of Russian society, he said. cussion moderated by New York-based Drs. Anders Åslund and Ariel Cohen from “European-oriented Marxism was over journalist Chrystia Freeland of the Washington, Amanda Paul from the in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, replaced Thomson-Reuters media group. European Policy Center in Brussels, Nico by Marxism-Leninism based on Stalinist The opening forum featured presenta- Lange from the Konrad Adenauer dogmas,” said Mr. Hrabovsky. tions by former Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Foundation in Kyiv, and Valentyn “It became absolutely a matter of princi- Minister Borys Tarasyuk; Thomas Melia, Nalyvaichenko, past head of the Security ple to distort the fundamental positions of deputy assistant secretary of state and Service of Ukraine (SBU). A distinctly Marx. But at least they maintained some rit- head of the U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Canadian perspective on the issues was pro- uals with regard to women, stating there vided by Zenon Potoczny, Markian Shwec, were equal rights and giving them posi- Ihor Kozak and Danylo Bilak, the latter now Setting the tone for discourse in today’s Jars Balan is chair of both the organizing tions, at least on a token basis. All these peo- a long-time resident of Kyiv. Jars Balan, chair Ukraine are (from top) President Viktor committee of the conference “Ukraine at the Yanukovych, Prime Minister Mykola ple in power now are an even greater deg- of the UCC’s Canada Ukraine Committee, Azarov and Verkhovna Rada Chair radation than the Stalinist era,” he noted. Crossroads” and of the Canada Ukraine acted as the host of the conference. Volodymyr Lytvyn, all of whom have Committee of the Ukrainian Canadian made comments insulting to women. (Continued on page 3) Congress. (Continued on page 22) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, APRIL 1, 2012 No. 14 ANALYSIS Party of Regions uses populist promises Yulia cannot get treatment abroad The party noted that the governments of the United States and leading European coun- KYIV – Ukraine’s State Penitentiary tries, as well as European institutions, had and acquires new allies to win election Service has said that former Prime Minister repeatedly called on Ukrainian authorities to Yulia Tymoshenko, who is serving her pris- areas where more than 10 percent of the amend this article of the Criminal Code, as by Pavel Korduban on term in Kharkiv, cannot be sent abroad well as to ensure the release of political pris- Eurasia Daily Monitor population regards Russian as their mother for treatment without changes being made tongue. In order to pass a law on this, Mr. oners and their participation in the parlia- to existing legislation. “This would be mentary elections in 2012. On January 31 Opinion polls show that although the Yanukovych will need only a simple majori- unprecedented, as no prisoners from other ruling Party of Regions of Ukraine (PRU) ty of votes in the 450-seat unicameral legis- charges were brought against Mr. Avakov countries come to us for treatment, and under Part 3, Article 365 of the Criminal remains the most popular party, it may lose lature, which is dominated by the PRU. A our prisoners do not travel abroad. [This Code of Ukraine. He is accused of illegally the parliamentary election scheduled for state language status for Russian would cannot happen] unless the legislation is transferring 55 hectares of land near October 28 to the combined forces of the require two-thirds of the votes in order to changed,” the head of the health depart- Pisochyn in the Kharkiv Oblast. On March opposition. Economic growth has slowed change the country’s Constitution. ment of the penitentiary service, Yevhen 20 the Chervonozavodsky Court refused to considerably of late so the ruling party can- Considerably more than half of Ukrainians Poliakov, said at a press conference on cancel an order on the opening of a crimi- not boast of a strong economy ahead of the speak Russian fluently, around one-third March 27. According to Mr. Poliakov, Ms. nal case against Mr. Avakov, and he was put election. Neither has the government man- prefer Russian in everyday communication, Tymoshenko is already moving with the on Interpol’s wanted list the next day. aged to improve relations with Russia and and most newspapers come out in Russian. help of a walker within her cell. Recently, (Interfax-Ukraine) the European Union, as PRU leader Viktor Yet, Russian has no official status in she has been moving much more, he said.