Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko’s humiliation at the polls was no surprise. It is unfortunate, therefore, that neither the patriots in Ukraine nor the diaspora have managed to influence him to make policy changes before it was too late.
Although he elevated national symbols and issues – recognition of Holodomor and OUN/UPA [Organization of Ukrainian Nationalist/ Ukrainian Insurgent Army, freedom fighters in western Ukraine], the pre-eminence of the Ukrainian language — by themselves they were insufficient to lead a country. Worse, his personal discredit dragged Ukraine’s patriotic agenda down too.
Yushchenko’s popularity first sank some four years ago after defaulting on promises of the 2004 Orange Revolution—no criminals in jail; little wellbeing for the people. It plunged over 50 percent – yet nobody could make him see the obvious: his political capital was draining through his fingers. Patriots who knew better — like Levko Lukianenko and Borys Tarasiuk — left him; those with heads buried in the sand failed to convince him to return to Orange Revolution values.
Nobody could persuade him to quit. Despite abysmal support rating, there were no calls for leadership review and no insistence that he should refrain from running. Was smart politics misplaced by irrational loyalty? What did the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists (KUN) and Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) leaders, among others, have in mind, when they called (in mid-December!) for patriotic candidates to step down and support the losing president?
Whatever the rationale was, it was too little, too late. The alarm concerning his leadership went off months after he started protecting “lubi druzi” [dear friends – a phrase Yushchenko likes to address both his close friends and the nation], his cronies, in the first of many gas fiascos and the electorate sensed betrayal. Yet his backers at home and abroad failed to prevent the political catastrophe that was looming.
Was it lack of political know-how in the president’s circle? Was the once-strong Nasha Ukraina, influenced by well-intended but amateur politics of diaspora organizations, whose mandate is not to govern a country but support Ukrainian patriotic symbols? Did the drowning president grab on and, for this, gained their fierce, albeit, misplaced loyalty? Or was there a darker plan?
For Yushchenko is not the only one defeated. Going down he dragged with him the patriotic agenda. Now the oligarchs and company who care little for national symbols smirk.
Although freedom-loving ideals form the world view of the patriotic diaspora, contributing factors are also the democratic values and political processes in countries of their residence. In Canada—like in many other established democracies — political parties or leaders who lose the people’s support are not tolerated. Consider Richard Nixon in America. The people are greater than a leader. And there is no mercy.
Why has this basic democratic tenet bypassed in Ukraine?
January’s election was a wake-up call: using national symbols as the last straw for self-preservation does not work in Ukraine.
The diaspora leadership must recognize this too: politics is not a concert where children do their best to honor fallen heroes; nor is it about endless meetings on minutiae; nor photo opportunities backed with little political consequence. It needs to admit that its expertise in governing is limited and that it is incapable of advising Ukraine on how to rule. Reigning in oligarchs’ greed, creating jobs, eliminating corruption is beyond the capacity of volunteers in diaspora structures. And recognize that there is a time and place to push for national symbols. Applauding Yushchenko’s commitment to them while Ukraine was being plundered was not one of them.
The lesson is this: leadership has consequences, for better or worse. Yushchenko has paid for his mistakes. If Ukrainian patriotic movements at home and abroad are to go forward, those responsible for their part in the president’s debacle must also pay.
But hope springs eternal and the patriotic leadership of Ukraine can yet salvage lost ground.
To begin, meet with each contender: the greatest world politicians meet with political foes all the time! Tell Yulia Tymoshenko and Victor Yanukovych that endorsement will be provided to the one who will put criminals in jail and champion the patriotic agenda. Let the world hear their answers publicly. As the candidates are courting votes, the window of opportunity is with the patriots. Grab it. Redeem yourselves and the patriotic agenda in the eyes of the electorate.
And be mindful of the next moves from Yushchenko. If he is the patriot he claims to be, he will withdraw graciously from the political scene to do other important work, like lead international organizations aiming to expose the horrors of communism.
If he is being manipulated by anti-Ukraine interests, as may have been the case since the Orange Revolution, he will work to undermine Ukraine’s free elections. His most recent irresponsible comments to support neither candidate are shameful. Such disdain for political due process must be condemned by democrats around the world; above all by patriots at home and abroad.
Oksana Bashuk Hepburn is a former executive in the government of Canada and president of a consulting company facilitating interests between Canada and Ukraine. She can be reached at [email protected].
