SHARING THOUGHTS, VIEWS, & NEWS
For
February, 2010

As this issue of Our Life goes to print, and according to all pre-election political predictions, the Ukrainian people will be preparing for a run-off ballot to be held in February. Once again, we in the diaspora, will be awaiting the results with much anticipation. During the 2004 Orange Revolution, nationwide protests caused the results of the original run-off to be annulled and a revote was ordered by Ukraine’s Supreme Court. Many of us huddled around computers and radios to read and hear news about the recount. We cheered when the second run-off, conducted under intense scrutiny by domestic and international observers, was declared “fair and free.” In the end, the voices of the people were heard, and Viktor Yushchenko was proclaimed the official winner. With his inauguration, held in Kyiv on January 25, 2005, the Orange Revolution ended.

One of the most critical ways that individuals can influence a government is through voting. The integral role that transparent and open elections play in ensuring the fundamental rights of citizens to a “participatory” government are clearly outlined in the “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” which was unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. The role of such free elections in ensuring respect for a citizen’s political and human rights is also the backbone of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights. While this right to vote is widely recognized as a fundamental human right, this right is not fully enforced for millions of people around the world. In all too many countries, governments struggle to meet the challenge of the Universal Declaration related to free and fair elections. In order to help ensure this process takes place during the elections in Ukraine this year, Ukrainian umbrella organizations (for instance, the World Congress of Ukrainians) have organized election-monitoring groups.

While the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America is an apolitical organization as defined by its by-laws (meaning that we cannot endorse a specific candidate), we obviously stand by these fundamental principles. Much has been accomplished in Ukraine in the past five years. Clearly, much has yet to be accomplished. We have witnessed steps that have led to the resurgence of Ukraine’s national pride, prodigious efforts to fill in the blank pages of the country’s bittersweet history to Ukraine’s people, a new-found pride in the country’s magnificent culture and heritage, and a new understanding and appreciation of the heroes of its political past. This progress has occurred because the citizens of Ukraine made themselves heard through their votes, as well as by their protests on the Maidan in Kyiv. But Ukraine now finds itself at a critical point in its development as a sovereign state as reintegration into the Soviet sphere is a very real threat. The UNWLA has written to Lila Hryhorovych, President of Soyuz Ukrainok Ukrainy, encouraging its members to exercise their right to vote, to make themselves heard, and discouraging the very real dangers posed by apathy. The will of the people of Ukraine must be heard, for it is the people who will define the country’s future.

As we often acknowledge and write about in Our Life, the road to the Orange Revolution was paved with many years of personal commitment and sacrifices of those who resisted the Soviet system. 2010 marks the 40th anniversary of the death of one of these individuals—Alla Horska. As Dr. Natalia Pazuniak observed in her biographical notes on the life Alla Horska in The Contemporary Ukrainian Woman: Her Role in the Resistance Movement (1977), “ . . . The post-Stalin period, specifically the beginning of the 1960s, was marked by a renewed desire for freedom among the young generation. This attitude emerged, a phoenix of the past’s ashes, among the so-called Shestydesiatnyky (The Sixtiers),” a group of writers and poets who defied the regime’s dictates that literature must conform to state-approved socialist realism. Many artists of the time, Horska among them, followed suit.

Horska, who was born in 1929 in Yalta, was a graduate of the Kyiv Fine Arts Institute and specialized in painting. Not raised Ukrainian, she came to realize her own identity as she matured. At that time, she began to earn recognition as a noteworthy artist and eventually became a leader among younger artists, fighting for the rights of persecuted intellectuals. She was one of the organizers of the Club for Creative Young People. In 1962, together with Vasyl Symonenko and Les Taniuk, she discovered the burial places of victims of NKVD repressions in Bykivnia, Lukianivskyi and Vasyslkivskyi cemeteries near Kyiv. In 1964, Horska, together with several fellow artists, created a stained-glass window for the foyer of Kyiv’s National University. The window depicted Shevchenko protecting a woman symbolizing Ukraine; the artwork included a quotation: “I will glorify those insignificant, mute serfs, and will place my word to guard them.” The KGB promptly destroyed the stained-glass window for its “ideological inconsistency.” In 1965, many of Alla Horska’s friends and associates were arrested and she began actively participating in the dissident movement. She openly sent statements opposing the arrests to the State Prosecutor. Voicing her own conscience, values, and beliefs, sealed Alla Horska’s fate—to suffer years of persecution at the hands of Soviet authorities. She was murdered in 1970, presumably on the orders of the KGB. Today, Horska remains a symbol of the Ukrainian woman’s courage and strength of character.

Marianna Zajac,
President

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

In Memoriam

It is with great sadness that I share with our readers the news of the passing of Jaroslaw Kurowyckyj on January 1, 2010. Beloved husband of Iryna Kurowyckyj, Honorary President of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America, Pan Jaroslaw was very supportive of our organization and proved his commitment through his many years of helping Pani Iryna.

Allow me to share with you a part of UNWLA’s farewell to Mr. Kurowyckyj at the Panakhyda. “During the nine years Pani Iryna was National President, he was always supportive either by his presence or in the background. Pan Slavko was at every UNWLA Convention, at many a conference, even hosting the National Board annually in his own home. Often, he would answer Pani Iryna’s e-mails or phone calls—always with a sense of humor, a smile, and a kind word. He knew more of the history of our organization than many of our members do. At the most recent UNWLA National Convention in 2008 in Michigan, Pan Slavko was honored with a certificate of appreciation from the UNWLA National Board.

You could always depend on a good discussion with Pan Slavko—he was a valuable sounding board and advisor to all Soyuzanky, but especially to his beloved wife. To Pani Iryna, he was a devoted husband, a loving colleague, and an advisor. Pan Slavko supported Pani Iryna in all her important work, whether it was with UNWLA or her work with the NCW, the ICW, or the United Nations. He was clearly proud of all her accomplishments throughout the years.

Thank you, Pane Slavko, for your selflessness and generosity. May the memory of his full life, of his helpfulness and kind heart offer the family consolation during this difficult time of mourning. On behalf of the UNWLA National Board and all of its membership, I offer you our sincerest and deepest sympathy.” May he rest in peace!

– Marianna Zajac, President

The Cranes

Brother, do you hear,
Oh friend, do you hear
How the cranes fly in a grey string
Through the silent air.

As they sigh, sigh, sigh,
In a foreign land I’ll die,
Wings too weary for the journey
Cross the ocean far too wide.

Translated excerpt from Bohdan Lepky’s “Zhuravli”