All the previous meetings took place in New York or Toronto. However, this time it was decided to hold the congress in Kyiv, in accord with the policy of getting closer to the continental Ukraine.
The Ukrainian World Congress is an umbrella organization of the Ukrainian diaspora uniting public, religious, scholarly, and youth organizations, but not political ones. The WCU was created on the basis of the post-war Pan-American Ukrainian Confederation, which included all regional Ukrainian centers of North and South America. The First World Congress of Free Ukrainians was held in New York on November 12-19, 1967. After Ukraine gained independence, the Congress removed the word, Free, from its name, since the Ukrainian state had became sovereign.
Today over 20 million Ukrainians live outside Ukraine. Most numerous are the Ukrainian communities in Russia, Canada, the US, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Brazil, Australia, Argentina, and Poland. Recently, the number of Ukrainian economic immigrants has increased noticeably in Greece, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. According to WCU data, around 600,000 Ukrainians live in these countries. Today the WCU unites over a hundred Ukrainian public organizations in 25 countries, has a president and legislative body, the Congress, which is held once every five years. Its executive body is the Secretariat formed by Councils and Commissions. The Congress’s activity is duly recognized on the international level as well: in 2003 it was recognized as an NGO represented in the UN.
There were 246 delegates from 28 countries and 77 guests taking part in the Eighth World Congress of Ukrainians. In general, representatives of 32 countries attended. Recall that the number of potential participants was far larger: approximately 350 delegates and 200 guests from Ukraine alone. The WCU Presidium also invited the president, Verkhovna Rada chairman, and prime minister of Ukraine, but they limited their participation to greetings to the Congress and meetings on their own turf.
BEFORE AND AFTER
Thus, the first WCU in Ukrainian land was hosted by the Kyiv Teacher’s House where Mykhailo Hrushevsky’s government proclaimed Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence. One of the Congress’s press releases notes in a rather tolerant manner, “This is undoubtedly a historic building, though it’s meeting hall is small.” Add to this the fact that the hall’s ventilation system is also bad and in summer it is very hot inside. Moreover, it would be difficult to find a hall with worse acoustics. The outdated sound equipment increased the tenseness of the situation, making it impossible to hear what was said into the microphones. Sweating foreheads and strained ears represented the comfort in which Ukrainians from abroad gathered. However, “the delegates’ general impression of the Congress was positive.”
The first day of the Congress’s work was marked with the WCU Councils and Committees’ sessions, laying wreaths on the Taras Shevchenko monument, meeting of the Secretariat Presidium, and the Eighth Congress opening ceremony. In contrast to the official events, public attention was attracted to the Manmade Famine in Ukraine 1933: Through Children’s Eyes exhibition. Pupils of sixth to eighth grades from Toronto drew pictures of their people’s greatest tragedy. Their teacher wrote a text describing those dreadful events chronologically. The captions to the pictures are all in English, but the names of the authors are Ukrainian. The picture, which stuck most in my memory, was divided in two parts, a colorful abstract picture in the left part labeled “Before” and an obscure right half “After.” The whole history expressed in two words.
BOUND WITH A CHAIN
On Tuesday the “final reports of the Regional Centers’ Representations” were presented to the Congress. Ukrainian communities from of all countries, from the European Congress of Ukrainians to Australia and Uzbekistan, reported on their activities, sharing their traditional sorrows and single victories on the road to building Ukraine’s reputation abroad. To quote a popular slogan, “Our flower is the world over,” even in Vietnam. According to Zenon Kowal (Belgium), there is a rather compact Ukrainian community in South Vietnam. These people came there to work for a Russian oil production company. The best university petroleum engineering in the former Soviet Union was in Ivano-Frankivsk.
However, Wednesday’s round tables were much more useful in terms of practice. First was named, Ukrainian Communities of the Eastern Diaspora Within the WCU: Present and Prospects. The fact that up to now too little attention was given to Ukrainians living to the East of their historic motherland is a regrettable neglect. In Kazakhstan alone, to quote the data of an official 1999 census, there are 547,000 Ukrainians, many of whom are highly educated and cultured people. Now their turn came.
In fact, the process of unification or rather Ukrainians’ familiarizing themselves with their kin from other parts of the world can be called the main victory and practical attainment of the latest congress. Dr. Askold Lozinsky is of the same opinion: “I’d like to see that a Ukrainian in Kamchatka (in terms of percentage, Ukrainians are the biggest community there —Author) thinks about the New York-based Ukrainians and knows that they are thinking of him too. And not just think but are prepared to give assistance in need — as much as they can, of course, because it is impossible for one million Ukrainian Americans to provide help to eight million Ukrainians in Russia. But they should feel their unity.”
The discussions on the Status, Role, and Future of the Ukrainian Language in Ukrainian Communities Abroad and Ukrainian Youth’s Participation and Role in the Life of Ukrainian Communities Abroad appeared very interesting and emotionally saturated. Unfortunately, their participants were aged far over thirty. They reflected the opinion of those who genuinely care about Ukrainians abroad. Piotr Tyma’s (Poland) opinion can be viewed as a general summary. In his country the homogenous nation policy was actively implemented, pushing out the Ukrainian language. However, unlike other countries, Poland has Ukrainian schools, radio, and even television programs. Nevertheless, assimilation is gaining momentum, involving primarily young people.
Delegates from Russia stated that the “Ukrainian schools and classes” they have are in fact nothing but two to three language lessons a week. Everything else is taught in Russian. The other side of the coin is represented by Russian schools in Ukraine where all (!) subjects are taught in Russian. Ukrainian shows (even those recorded on video cassettes ready for broadcasting) are turned down by Russian television. Their reason is not even the shows’ quality but their “inconvenient” language. The situation in Bashkortostan, for instance, is different. There are nine Ukrainian schools there. The Bashkirs themselves have to face the problem of assimilation, which helps them to understand Ukrainians. In Kamchatka there is one class of 25 pupils and four teachers, only one of them working on paid basis. Local officials, Ukrainians themselves, drag out the process. A teacher from Przemysl says that agreements between Poland and Ukraine’s Ministry of Education are simply not implemented. The Ukrainian language lacks popularization through the arts. The delegates’ conclusion was that there is a future for the Ukrainian language, but not before it becomes a true state language in Ukraine itself.
On the last day of the congress its participants elected its president, who will function until the next congress. The Nominating Committee submitted a proposal to reelect Mr. Lozynsky, which was done almost unanimously. A resolution and a number of addresses were also passed, of which the one dealing with the Manmade Famine and removing the New York Times’s Walter Duranty’s Pulitzer Prize deserves special mention.
