The head of the International Movement of Ukrainians “Returning Home,” Valerii Lytvynov, founded the Ukrainian Association’s “Slavic Cultural Center” in Genoa (Italy) in 2007. A year ago it joined the Coordinating Council of the Ukrainian diaspora in Italy. In August 2008 he participated in the work of the Ukrainian World Congress that was held in Kyiv, focusing on labor migration. In his interview for The Day, Valerii Lytvynov offers his own vision of the way Ukrainians can be repatriated.
In Italy there are already a lot of organizations uniting Ukrainians. Why did you decide to establish one more?
“I’d like to start with the lines of a great poem by the poet and teacher Teodor Kukurudza of Lviv:
Come back to your home dwellings, Ukrainians,
Bring the best from all over the world!
You are what Ukraine needs, not your gifts,
Take care of your native land together!
“We, Ukrainians, are joyful and cheerful people by nature. We seem to lack nothing. A favorable climate, we have it. We also an exceptionally advantageous geographical position. All of that is topped of with abundant natural resources and generous black earth. Although we had the strongest potential at the beginning of the 1990s, we have seen nothing but impoverishment since. There were 52 million people, now there are less than 46 million left. And if we take into account the fact that during this time about 8 million people went abroad, only 38 million are left as a result. The population decreases by 300,000 people annually. Hundreds of villages have already been crossed out of the register. If the state doesn’t take appropriate measures, Ukraine will be left with nothing but its name by the end of this century.”
What solutions does your organization propose?
“One of the most urgent tasks is to encourage these 8 million people to come back home. In Europe such a population represents an entire state! But forcing them to come back is not sufficient, the state has to provide acceptable living conditions, notably by improving social standards.”
And yet our politicians, during their meetings with the Ukrainian diaspora, do not show any disinclination towards bringing those people back home.
“Indeed, our officials are unanimous in stating that the government must do everything possible to encourage their return. However, they seem to avoid implicating the government in this endeavor, despite the fact that they represent it. It’s a kind of Ukrainian idiosyncrasy.
“Moreover, the quantity of Ukrainian labor migrants is deliberately concealed. Politicians talk of only of 1.5 million people in order to ignore the problem. But they are eager to accept a yearly inflow of over €20 billion, what actually constitutes 20 percent of the gross domestic product. This money saved the country in 1998, and continues to help it now. There is another problem, the money comes to Ukraine, but relatives cannot get it from banks. Here, in Italy, people just can’t grasp how this is possible.
“A further issue concerns the authorities’ attempts to introduce the term “the fourth wave of emigration” in mass media. There is a substitution of the notion “labor migrants,” who work abroad temporarily, with “emigrants,” those who left the country for good. As a result the attitude towards them is same as towards wealthy Ukrainians from Canada, America, and Australia. They say come back to your homeland with the money you have amassed, gentlemen, you have been long awaited for!
“The government is not interested in how workers make money here. It is through hard work, and, predominantly, hard women’s work. Most Italians cannot imagine that a woman – a wife, mother, and guardian of the family hearth – has to leave her family to feed it.
“I am quite confident that without Ukrainian women our state will collapse sooner than we expect it.
“If we don’t remedy the situation quickly it’s quite possible that in 5 to 10 years labor migrants from Ukraine will indeed become the fourth wave of emigration. Then nobody will be able to bring them back. Assimilation in a foreign country, as well as the loss of linguistic aptitude, culture and national identity, all do their part. It is staggering how quickly children who came from Ukraine with their parents integrate with the new environment, forgetting their native language.”
And thus we return to the eternal question: what should be done about this?
“One should not indulge in endless discussions but take specific steps. Otherwise, as revolutionary times have shown, a man with a rifle will come to the “servants of the people” and say: “The guard is tired!” Authorities must be forced to address problems incurred by Ukrainians abroad immediately. Moreover, the people who care about their homeland and want to see something done about this problem should unite.
“We are not the first people to speak about the necessity of such steps. At the Fourth Ukrainian World Congress, which was held in August 2008 in Kyiv, people expressed their desires to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A political party which focuses on such issues may need to be established. A representative of the Ukrainian diaspora in Chicago (USA), Natalia Yarova, affirmed that Ukraine must call its citizens home. But first it should develop a social security program to facilitate their return.
“In July of last year, the Synod of the Greek Catholic Church sent a letter to the President, the speaker of Parliament, and the Prime-minister, stating the necessity of appropriate attention to the problem of labor migration. Leaders of Ukrainian communities in Italy, Spain, Portugal and other countries increasingly talk about electing their own deputy from within the diaspora who would protect their rights and interests. The same issue was discussed on October 14 last year during a parliamentary hearing in the Verkhovna Rada, in which representatives of Ukrainians in Italy took part. The representatives were Tetiana Kuzyk, the head of the coordinating council of Ukrainian organizations in Italy and advisor to the mayor’s office in Rome, and Oleksandr Sapunkov, pastoral coordinator of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Italy. It was the first time that 25 percent of the total quantity of voters, that is 8 to 9 million people, were given a chance to voice their critiques.”
Your claims about the governments actions are clear. What about specific measures that your organization plans to undertake here in Italy?
“Due to the growing activity of our citizens and the above mentioned demands, we decided to create the International Movement of Ukrainians: “Returning Home.” It was registered on August 7, 2009. The main purpose of the organization is pushing the government to stop demagogy and twaddle, and to being acting upon the following issues:
— to develop, with our participation, a national program assisting Ukrainian citizens in coming home, possibly based on the Russian experience;
— to form a parliamentary committee and a separate unit dedicated to migration policy in the Cabinet of Ministers, for constant work on the legislative and executive issues;
— to set up international employment centers that would work both for Europeans and Ukrainians, thus regulating migration trends;
— to introduce a bill that would presuppose the possibility of electing a parliamentary deputy from the diaspora;
— to solve the issue of double citizenship, so that people encounter less obstacles when migrating and returning home. This would promote a positive image of Ukraine and an inflow of advanced technologies and ideas;
— to solve the problem of including the length of service gained abroad on an international level. And most importantly, to give an opportunity for people to receive pensions (partially or fully), from the country where they worked and paid taxes;
— to take advantage of the possibilities offered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, particularly in terms of investments. Priority projects include energy infrastructure, municipal infrastructure, and projects connected to the Euro-2012 championship.”
Do you think the government will hear you from Italy?
“This depends on whether our mission is supported by all foreign Ukrainian communities, both secular and religious, as well as public organizations and ordinary citizens in Ukraine. If our intents are made known to non-governmental structures, particularly those dealing with human rights in various countries of the European Union, with which we intend to closely cooperate, then our government will have no other choice!
“The best option is cooperation on the realization of the program, particularly with the political forces engaged in the current campaign. It is our responsibility to turn Ukraine into more than just a supplier of cheap labor.
“Recapitualating, our present and our future is in our own hands. Nobody except ourselves will help us. Everything can be achieved only through unity. Only this way can we can become a force one cannot ignor.
Again, I would like to quote a poem by Teodor Kukurudza:
So unite, Ukrainian families
Love one another forever,
And that sorrow and pain:
“Has not perished yet…”
Leave in heart as history.
“I ask all Ukrainians abroad, who love their country and support the movement to provide us with your suggestions, comments, and concerns. It will be an acknowledgment that we’re doing the right job. We are open to all kinds of suggestions, and have phone services in Italy:
+39 3404844592,
+39 0108691441,
e-mail: [email protected].”
