INSIDE: • Yushchenko fatigue in Washington? – page 3. • Holodomor teaching unit to be used in Toronto schools – page 6. • The Famine-Genocide: in curriculum, art, film – pages 10-11. THE PublishedU byKRAINIAN the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal Wnon-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXVI No. 41 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2008 $1/$2 in Ukraine Global financial crisis Yushchenko dismisses Rada damages Ukraine’s economy by Zenon Zawada so long as it was allowed to work,” said Kyiv Press Bureau Anatolii Hrytsenko, a national deputy by Zenon Zawada that is beginning in Ukraine,” said Serhii from the Our Ukraine – People’s Self- Kyiv Press Bureau Prokhorov, the first vice-president of the KYIV – With Ukraine’s elected lead- Defense bloc. “We’ve gone to chaos.” Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and ers unable to compromise and find com- In the weeks leading up to the dismiss- KYIV – The global financial crisis has Entrepreneurs. mon ground in forming a new coalition al and in the days following, leaders of ravaged the Ukrainian economy, crashing its “Big problems have emerged within the government, President Viktor Yushchenko Ukraine’s biggest factions pointed fingers fragile stock market, erasing millions in construction industry. Accordingly, these dismissed the Verkhovna Rada on and blamed each other for the govern- October 9 and set new elections for wealth from the nation’s billionaires and very problems emerged as well in all manu- ment’s collapse. December 7. pummeling the hryvnia to its lowest levels facturing branches that serve construction,” The Presidential Secretariat and the ever. In a nationally broadcast statement on Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense par- he noted. the eve of his decree, Mr. Yushchenko laid Shares of Ukrainian companies plunged The crisis’ blistering effect on Ukraine liamentary faction, which abandoned the 72 percent this year, while the hryvnia has full blame for the government’s collapse on Democratic Forces Coalition on has fulfilled warnings from international “the human ambition of one person,” lost nearly 20 percent of its value since its authorities such as the Fitch Ratings agency, September 3, blamed Ms. Tymoshenko implying Prime Minister Yulia for conspiring with the Party of Regions peak of about 4.50 hrv per U.S. dollar this which reported in May that Ukraine was the Tymoshenko, and on the “thirst for power of Ukraine. summer. second most vulnerable country to inflation Ukraine’s business and investment com- and divergence of values and the priority of This week, Ms. Tymoshenko countered and a currency crisis. The agency surveyed munity expects conditions will only deterio- personal interests above national interests.” with her own conspiracy theory, suggest- 78 countries in late September. Fitch down- “The coalition agreement and under- rate, expecting harsh aftershocks of infla- ing that the Presidential Secretariat collud- graded its assessment of the Ukrainian econ- standings are ruined, economic reforms tion, stagnation in the real estate market and ed with the Party of Regions to ensure the omy from stable to negative. are not carried out, electoral calculations diminished industrial production. Democratic Forces Coalition’s collapse have grown into social populism, which “These are the first signs of a recession (Continued on page 22) and hold a new election. led to the highest inflation rate in Europe Ultimately, both the Presidential and declining social standards, wages, Secretariat, led by Zakarpattia business pensions and many other social pro- kingpin Viktor Baloha, and Ms. grams,” the president said. Tymoshenko were to blame, according to It was the second time in two years most observers of the political scene that Mr. Yushchenko dismissed here. Parliament, and these parliamentary elec- While Our Ukraine’s formal reason for tions will be the third in three years, leaving the coalition was the Yulia becoming an annual ritual that has made Tymoshenko Bloc’s refusal to condemn Ukrainian voters despondent, polls the Russian Federation’s war in Georgia, revealed. as well as its refusal to repeal laws cur- The majority of Ukrainians oppose tailing the president’s authority, the another round of elections, including 72 Presidential Secretariat began undermin- percent of Donetsk residents, 68 percent ing Prime Minister Tymoshenko’s gov- of Lviv residents and 64 percent of Kyiv ernment on its first day. residents, according to a survey of 2,379 “I rebuke the colleagues of my faction, people conducted on September 4-5 by a group of 39, who irresponsibly engaged UNIAN the Razumkov Center for Economic and in this conflict at the president’s order, Political Research. Donetsk residents line up at a PromInvestBank ATM machine on September 26 some on their own convictions,” said Mr. to withdraw their deposits after hearing local rumors the bank would go bank- “I was in the Vinnytsia region last Hrytsenko, a former member of the presi- rupt. PromInvestBank was the first financial institution in Ukraine to suffer week and in the Chernihiv region, and from the global financial crisis, shutting its doors to its customers. they would have accepted any coalition (Continued on page 12) Site for Ukrainian Genocide Memorial in D.C. is approved NEW YORK – The National Committee to lic land on which to memorialize the Commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Holodomor. Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-1933 on October 6 Several public hearings before the National announced that a site for the U.S. national Capital Memorial Advisory Commission – memorial to the 10 million victims of the comprising the National Capitol Planning 1932-1933 Ukrainian Famine-Genocide has Commission, the Historical Preservation been approved. The memorial will be located in Society, the Commission on Fine Arts, the Washington at the intersection of North Capitol Architect of the Capitol, the D.C. Planning Street, Massachusetts Avenue and F Street, in Commission and others – examined in detail the the northwest quadrant of the District of suitability of 24 potential sites throughout the Columbia, five blocks north of the U.S. Capitol. city. These hearings necessitated the hiring by On October 13, 2006, President George W. the national committee of a private firm to pre- Bush signed into law the authorization for a pare various presentatons and a comprehensive Holodomor memorial in Washington. Ever environmental impact assessment of the sites at since then, the national committee, in conjunc- a cost of nearly $100,000. tion with the Embassy of Ukraine, has worked At a hearing of the National Capital Planning diligently to choose a suitable site in the heart of Commission (NCPC) on Thursday, October 2, a the nation’s capital for this solemn memorial. brisk discussion ensued regarding the location Over the past two years, the national com- of the Ukrainian Genocide Memorial. Though mittee and the Embassy of Ukraine have been two sites were considered, the Massachusetts in constant negotiation with the U.S. National Avenue site was judged to be an ideal location Park Service and numerous other federal and EDAW, Environmental Assessment Agency local agencies to select a prominent site on pub- (Continued on page 17) A photo of the site where the Holodomor monument will be located. 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2008 No. 41 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFS Is Yushchenko’s Ukraine Stock exchange suspends trade political forces’ leaders did not let them come to an agreement.” Mr. Yushchenko ready for a NATO MAP? KYIV – The PFTS Stock Exchange in said that he backs those voters who want a Ukraine suspended trade at 10:55 a.m. on renewal of the democratic coalition. by Pavel Korduban NATO’s MAP. “I do not know what else October 8, five minutes before the opening However, he said he is convinced that of the main trade session. The head of the Eurasia Daily Monitor my country should do to put an end to dis- “efforts of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc to cussions on this issue,” he said. He urged PFTS information and analytical depart- return to a democratic format of the coali- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko NATO to “expand the area of security fur- ment, Andrii Kolomiyets, said that PFTS tion is nothing but a stroke of policy to pre- paid two visits to the United States at the ther east” in the wake of the Russia- index would not be calculated that day and serve powers.” Mr. Yushchenko said call- end of September. Among the main goals Georgia conflict. would remain at the previous day’s level. ing another pre-term election is stressful of his visits was to confirm Ukraine’s hope The lack of popular support for NATO On October 7 the PFTS index fell by 8.15 for the country, but he said he would have to secure a Membership Action Plan membership has been one of the strongest percent to 319.67 points. Total trade vol- to follow this “radical, but constitutional (MAP) for NATO ahead of the NATO for- arguments in Europe against a MAP for ume fell by 55.1 percent to 60 million hrv. and fully democratic way” of settling the eign ministers’ meeting scheduled for Ukraine, especially in France and Germany. (Ukrinform) crisis situation if political forces fail to December. Mr. Yushchenko admitted that this was a Somali pirates reduce ransom come to an agreement on the establishment Mr. Yushchenko had failed to secure a problem, as there “have been discussions in of a coalition. (Ukrinform) MAP for Ukraine at the NATO summit in Ukrainian society,” but he promised that KYIV – The pirates who are still hold- Bucharest in April, and he will probably Ukraine would hold a referendum on ing the Ukrainian ship Faina reduced the Tymoshenko seeks to renew coalition fail again. Ukraine has hardly moved any NATO entry in due course, as the pro-Rus- ransom for the vessel, the pirates’ represen- closer toward this goal since April.