Entitled “Ukrainian diaspora should love Ukraine, not politics,” it is a classic example of Orwellian doublespeak which ranks right up there with some of Josef Goebbels’ masterpieces.
Pikhovshek berates the Ukrainian diaspora community in Canada and the United States (singling out former World Congress of Ukrainians President Askold Lozynskyj) for organizing demonstrations in defense of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and other former government leaders now on trial in Ukraine on trumped-up, politically-motivated charges.
The diaspora’s motivation for such protests is simply political, Pikhovshek claims.
It’s the authorities’ abuse of the justice system to persecute the opposition that is political. And it is the type of politics that are practiced by dictatorial regimes like the ex-USSR that the Viktor Yanukovych regime seems so intent on returning to.
Let’s get something straight. It’s the authorities’ abuse of the justice system to persecute the opposition that is political. And it is the type of politics that are practiced by dictatorial regimes like the ex-USSR that the Viktor Yanukovych regime seems so intent on returning to. The diaspora’s motivations are all about maintaining justice and democracy.
Pikhovshek says the diaspora expects help from Ukraine, and Ukraine therefore has the right to demand help from the diaspora. Obviously he doesn’t know his history.
Ukraine has never provided any material help to the diaspora. And the diaspora has never asked for any. In fact, for the last 20 years, it’s been the other way around. Who funded embassies in Canada and the United States? The diaspora. Who continuously raises funds for needy children in Ukraine, for educational facilities in Ukraine and for countless other humanitarian projects in Ukraine? The diaspora.
Pikhovshek says that political analyst Kostyantyn Bondarenko was correct when he wrote that an example to follow would be the Israeli diaspora. “Jews who live in the U.S. would never allow the State Department to take any steps in the Middle East that were not friendly toward Israel. They consider it their duty to improve the image of their historical homeland in the U.S., regardless of what passport they carry in their pocket,” Pikhovshek quotes him as saying.
Well, it’s very interesting that Pikhovshek should use this example. Because the Israeli government respects its country’s constitution, respects democracy, respects an independent judiciary, respects freedom of expression, respects the Jewish faith and culture, respects the Hebrew language and venerates its historical tragedies. The Yanukovych regime does none of the above as far as Ukraine is concerned.
Would the Jewish diaspora sit back idly if the leaders of Israel created an unconstitutional government then browbeat the courts into approving such a move? But that’s what the Yanukovych regime did.
Would the Jewish diaspora sit back idly if the president of Israel went before an international forum and declared that the Holocaust was not a genocide against the Jewish people because Hitler killed other groups as well?
Would the Jewish diaspora sit back idly if the president of Israel went before an international forum and declared that the Holocaust was not a genocide against the Jewish people because Hitler killed other groups as well?
Well that’s what Yanukovych did when on April 27, 2010, in Strasbourg, France, he stated to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, “We consider it incorrect and unjust to consider the Holodomor a fact of genocide of a certain people.”
Would the Jewish diaspora sit back idly if the Israeli Minister of Education decided to rewrite the textbooks used in schools in order to downgrade the significance of the Holocaust? Well that’s what Ukraine’s Education Minister Dmitri Tabachnyk has done with the Holodomor.
Would the Jewish diaspora sit back idly if the prime minister of Israel addressed an official North American delegation in German instead of Hebrew?
Well that’s what Prime Minister Mykola Azarov did during Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s visit when he addressed the delegation in Russian.
Would the Jewish diaspora sit back idly if the Israeli Minister of Education decided to cut back on Hebrew language education in order to promote German? But that’s what Tabachnyk has done in downgrading Ukrainian in favor of Russian.
The list goes on and on.
The diaspora loves Ukraine. We love the Ukraine that is epitomized in the poetry of Taras Shevchenko.
We love the Ukraine that countless freedom fighters gave up their lives for. And because we love Ukraine, we dream of a truly independent, democratic and prosperous Ukraine. It’s the ruling elite that doesn’t love Ukraine. For them Ukraine is just a piece of real estate to be plundered at will while paying homage to their masters in Moscow.
If the Yanukovych regime doesn’t like criticism from the diaspora, then clean up your act!
As for the diaspora – keep demonstrating, keep protesting, keep signing petitions. Obviously it’s having some effect.
Marco Levytsky is the editor and publisher of Ukrainian News, an independent bi-weekly newspaper based in Edmonton and distributed across Canada.
