The harsh reality of today’s Ukrainian society is the final establishment of a cruel arbitrary rule of powerful political oligarchs, influential economic clans, corrupt governmental bureaucracy, and criminal bosses. The rest of a 50-million-strong nation is turning into economically wretched and politically oppressed proletarians of the type that existed in late 19th and early 20th century.
Here in my hands is Yevhen Marchuk’s book Five Years of the Ukrainian Tragedy published in 1999. Although this small-size but very informative book was written 10 years ago, its analytical inferences not only remain topical but also hit the bull’s-eye of the current problems. While the statistical data are as of 1999, the analytical conclusions titled “Fifteen Years of The Ukrainian Tragedy” would be right without any corrections. I would like to cite here some of the conclusions for those who have not read the book and to refresh the memory of those who have so that everybody could see how true the author’s prognosis was.
“Instead of a sovereign, independent, democratic, socially just, rule-of-law state, Ukraine has built a strange and cruel society, where officially pronounced words have the opposite meaning and the government’s actions produce the opposite result.
The making of such a society is nothing but a formidable and precipitous fall into the past.”
I think it is only the untouchable “servants of the people” who can assert that we have a democratic, socially just, rule-of-law state. Incidentally, Marchuk also emphasized this.
“There are two parallel societies in Ukraine. One, prosperous and based on the shadow economy, is for a small category of the elect. The other, strange and cruel, is for the rest of the people.”
Suffice it to recall that, when the bill on lifting parliamentary immunity was being discussed, some MPs said this should not be done because in this case an MP could be arrested, detained, have drugs planted on them, etc. Members of the highest legislative body know that lawlessness is rife in the law-enforcement authorities, but, instead of putting things in order and securing the constitutional rights of all citizens, they only care about protecting their dear selves from unlawful actions, while ordinary people can be detained, have drugs planted on them, and be beaten into giving any kind of evidence.
Marchuk made a very true observation about the source of our problems.
“All our problems are being put down to an external evil force.
“In reality, the situation is much worse. The system of government — the main factor of a state’s successful development — had degraded and turned into its ruinous opposite, thus creating conditions for all negative factors, foreign and domestic alike.
“What modern-day Ukraine has established is not a politically responsible government with a transparent and legally approved system of state-society relations but a sham structure with hidden mechanisms for influencing official decision-making.
“A shadow economy, lack of public control over the authorities, an underdeveloped system of local government and other civil society institutions, the lack of legal awareness and social security orientation of the government, and the absence of a normal, unwarped logic of state-making create an ideal environment for ‘parallel authorities’ to function.
“These ‘parallel authorities’ use official institutes of power as an instrument to achieve their goals.
“Under these conditions, the official government increasingly becomes a means for creating, accumulating, and protecting the plundered capital, as well as and a mechanism for economic and political oppression of the grassroots.”
Mind you, this was written 10 years before it became known that a “feudalist” MP and a local government official had hunted a defenseless peasant.
I would like to quote the following passage for those who are proud of their achievements in the development of democracy.
“What is called ‘democracy’ in Ukraine is just a way to furnish the ‘new Ukrainians’ and the clout-wielding economic elite with the right of arbitrariness which has become a reliable cover for clan-based and financial groupings to manipulate societal awareness to suit themselves.”
Marchuk not only offers an in-depth analysis of the situation in the state but also shows ways to overcome the crisis.
“The physical survival of the state and its citizens is no longer possible unless Ukraine manages to make up its most crucial deficit — the deficit of effective and humane public administration. It is not until this deficit is eliminated that the people will begin to trust the authorities.
“Only a strong, patriotic, and humane government can make these large-scale and, most importantly, socially beneficial changes.
“Ukraine needs to be dominated by the forces that do good and a strong government that would ensure the protection, support, and development of these forces in the interests of every individual and the state as a whole.
“Those for whom the burden of power turned out to be too heavy should leave the political stage.
“And they will do so.”
Marchuk’s book Five Years of the Ukrainian Tragedy not only prompts one to reflect on our state’s future but also answers the question about the essence of the power that law-enforcement agencies have.
For some reasons, the public mind has shaped different images of representatives of these agencies (sylovyky). Some associate these people with a big ear capable of eavesdropping on each and every, while others picture them with a black mask, wielding a rubber truncheon or an entrenching spade. Television shows us every day scores of uniformed people who fire their guns all around — they must be spending a carload of cartridges in an hour of a film.
Yes, there are different kinds of people in uniforms. Among them are intellectuals capable of processing huge amounts of information, finding regularities, making generalizations, spotting risks in good time, suggesting precautionary measures, and forecasting the development for decades ahead.
Naturally, there are analytically-minded intellectuals among other, civilian, professionals, but the main distinction of the uniformed services is that they will be able to oppose the counteraction that will inevitably emerge if professionals with a high level of statesmanship and decision-making come to power and begin to put things in order. So, in my view, the uniformed people’s chief asset is intellect, and it is around the intellectual sylovyky that all caring people should rally in order to overcome the crisis for the sake of national renaissance and a better destiny for our children and grandchildren.
In the meantime, read Marchuk’s book, which is, unfortunately, still relevant today and give it some good thinking.
Anatolii Shtanko holds a Ph.D. in Engineering and resides in Kyiv.
