 Reflections on Ukraine, January 2005 By Glen Willard |
A country whose state song declares that 'Ukraine has not yet died' might not seem the most uplifting destination, but don't let that deter you.
Thus begins the introduction to Ukraine on Lonely Planet, a travelogue site on the Internet. I first read it in preparation to my first visit to Ukraine in the fall of 1995. That same introduction is used today. Like a travelogue should, what's follows gets better. But, on first reading those almost 10 years ago, I immediately had a negative opinion, a whole country had been "put down". And from a company devoted to and about encouraging travel.
I don't know all the English words to the anthem. But, in Ukrainian and without understanding, the words seemed uplifting and more as they were sung with fervor and emotion numerous times by the throngs in Kyiv this January 23, 2005. And, I'm confident, as they were sung throughout most of Ukraine.
Seeing Viktor Yushchenko take the official oath of office as the new President of Ukraine was impressive too. The passing of the seal, the mace as he took it and kissed it, the ceremonial necklace accepted and placed over his head. Again the singing and President Yushchenko standing with his hand placed on his heart.
Interesting also was watching the assembled. Most clapped, some didn't. The chant ...Yush-chen-ko, Yush-chen-ko...with many participating, some not. Reminded me of a U.S. Presidential address to a joint session of congress, but with some more emotion, less perfunctory.
And then at Mariinsky Palace. The ceremony on the grounds. The military address...sword raised. Yushchenko being saluted by the various military command leaders. One noticed the new President reaching out to shake each commander's hand, interrupting the formal salute. The awkwardness adding, not detracting from the moment. The final commander, in find form... having seeming caught on, simply dropping hand to Presidential hand... grasping firmly rather than attempting a complete salute.
And then the address before the crowds at Independence Square. The cheering, the joy in the faces, some tears noticed, but not those of sadness. The orderliness of the whole thing. The fine words of the new President's speech. The promise of better, more honest times. The sense of... finally... a beginning... a real one.
I had earlier sampled walking around in the crowds. But I watched most all, both ceremonies, from TV sets in two different pubs. Both places were mostly full, the few who, for one reason or another chose the comfort of the sanctuary and closeness of view to the cold outside. They reacted, as did the crowds on the streets. They cheered; they drank toasts (ah, another apparent reason for their absence from the other milieu).
On TV one could see the faces in the crowd as selected by the camera operators. One man's face I particularly remember: older, unshaven that day and maybe a couple more, gaunt, carelessly dressed but warmly...he seemed not to look at the stage, but was nodding frequently his agreement with the words being spoken by his president. Perhaps he was one of the tent inhabitants...no maybe to old for that? Where was he from...Kyiv...or one from the many who showed up over these election times from one of the villages or towns of this large land? I wondered, as the camera stayed focused. Their was much and varied emotion in that crowd that day. And I wondered about what others in that crowd were wondering that day.
The foreign dignitaries in attendance. Eight heads of state I heard, perhaps from as many as 46 counties I heard (or was it 64?). Colin Powell was beaming, looking dapper and cheerful. The occasion of course; perhaps too, relief from the burdens of the Secretary of State position he was in the process of vacating...Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine...a myriad of other somewhat thankless duties in critical times. Of interest in thought to this American.
As the day passed, the crowds disbursed. Some to home, but enough... to fill them from my view...to the pubs, bars and restaurants. And they celebrated...I'm sure in the homes too...but in those public places where I was I saw them celebrate as Ukrainians so often do...with drink and food and song.
So what happens now?
The country has changed I'm sure.
I confess to two things: I am both an optimist and a skeptic.
When I came to Ukraine to live (though I did not know this at the time) seven years ago, I was both appalled and taken back by the political apathy I perceived. Everywhere, the young the old, in answer to my inquiries of even a remote political nature would respond: "That's politics, I'm not political." Or some such equivalent equivocation. The condition that was prevalent and so surprisingly to my uneducated in the ways of the Slav mind was even worse than apathy. The attitude, summed up: There is nothing I can do about it; it's for others to worry about it; it's the State, the elites, the authorities, someone, anyone but me to care about. No one individual had any control and therefore no responsibility. Voting was done, many participated as a civic duty, but the general feeling was that it did not, and never could matter.
In time I came to believe this was the attitude of the Ukrainian populace. And that it was ingrained. And that it would not change; at least it would not soon change.
And over time I came to see the awful degrees of high level corruption that the people lived under. It permeated down and affected all. It had stolen from them all; it had made them poorer.
The election of 2004 has changed everything from the political perspective. The people's attitudes. The power they now feel over their own, individual destinies is palpable. For reasons I do not yet understand the times have changed. Analysis will come later along with clearness and understanding. Maybe, anyway.
We are only now, if the reports are true, learning how close this "revolution" came to being bloody. How close we came to a bloody revolution. Had it come to that I do not know the result. The skeptic in me tells me the people would have lost. I do not, however, know this.
The skeptic in me told me that this election would not go the way the people voted. Gladly I was wrong. It took a great deal of courage. On the part of many leaders. But, ultimately it was the people that came through. Their courage prevailed. It was there numbers and their solidarity.
I am not one who would call our prior leader, Mr. Kuchma so courageous. I am not prepared, as some seem, to label him a hero. Yet, at some point, for whatever reason, he did step back. Many powerful, some, but not all corrupt, or completely so at least, have much at stake now. These are businessmen and political men, sometimes, even often, in the same person. What they do now is important. Hopefully, they sort themselves and their affairs out between themselves. That is, they don't further harm the people.
An aside: In the pub that afternoon I had a political discussion with some Ukrainians. It was lively, several matters discussed. At one point freedom of speech was the topic. I pointed to two excerpts from a local English language paper I had been reading. Two items had caught my attention. One, datelined Bratislava: a court had sentenced three members of a Slovak rock band to three years in prison for using racial (fascist) lyrics and thus inciting racial hatred. The second was a Polish criminal defamation charges against a man charged with saying bad things about Polish-born Pope John Paul II.
The Ukrainian consensus of opinion on those cases, at my table at least, was that the government had to protect the people from certain matters; otherwise there could be anarchy.
Speech itself, by itself, of course should never be the subject of a state criminal prosecution. Ukrainians hopefully will begin to learn and appreciate the derivative benefits to all, the individual liberty that flows through to each person, of living in a society with free speech. Even that which is inherently evil, vile, vicious, whatever must be protected speech, if it is only (emphasis) speech.
But they may be no further behind on this than the examples set forth in Poland and Slovakia, and perhaps from some other recent examples I could cite in supposedly more "advanced" and "sophisticated" countries of Western Europe. And too, I think the Ukrainians may have gotten hung up on the pejorative nature of the term "fascist" and its inherent historical implications for Ukrainians.
So, the optimist in me concludes only: We had a discussion, it was lively. And that we, the people, are at a beginning.
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Read also previous issue' articles:
What it Was, Was Football
An American in Perish
The Baseball Way to Pleasure and Wisdom
What a Fine Mess
At My Table
The King is Gone- and So are You
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