aaus-list @ ukrainianstudies.org -- [aaus-list] op-ed piece on Ukr election

THE UGLY FACE OF FASCISM IN UKRAINIAN ELECTION POLITICS

While we in the United States are openly enjoying our First Amendment right to express our opinions and to freely and peacefully choose our next president, the dark cloud of fascism hangs over Ukraine, which on October 31 is supposed to "elect" its new president in its 13th year of freedom from Soviet domination. The only problem is that on that date a fascist (Viktor Yanukovych) will win the election--regardless of the actual vote. This has all gone under the radar in the US because, somewhat understandably, our country is occupied with its own hotly contested political issues. But the election in Ukraine will be a watershed in Eastern European politics and demands the immediate attention of the world. It will determine whether Ukraine continues on the path to become a western-oriented democracy or a vassal of Russia's expansionist desires. For those of you who do not closely follow such things, since Ukrainian independence in 1991, Russia by means of its aggressive foreign, fiscal and cultural policy has been obsessively striving to return Ukraine under its control. It wants what Russia openly and historically has called its Ukrainian "little brother" to return to the fold. It longs for its empire to be restored--at least the Slavic part of it. If that should happen, an imperialist, fascist, colonizing Russia will become even more dangerous to Europe and the rest of the world.

Mr. Putin has swiftly destroyed democracy and a free press in Russia and has become what Zbigniew Brzezinski calls "Moscow's Mussolinni" (Wall Street Journal 9/20/04). He has consistently striven to wield Russian influence on Ukraine. He has openly supported the corrupt regime of current Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, who deserves prison or worse for his crimes against the people of Ukraine, which include stealing from the public coffers, graft, corruption, and even the beheading murder of the opposition journalist Georgiy Gongadze. Mr. Kuchma clearly fears a truly democratic government in Ukraine, because a truly democratic government might prosecute him and his cronies for their crimes, hence his support for his current Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who promises to return Ukraine to repressive Soviet-style rule.

The election politics of Kuchma and Yanukovych have taken a violent turn during the past few weeks. The pro-democracy candidate Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned, in all likelihood with ricin, leaving his face disfigured. Opposition party election offices, the voices of democracy, have been searched and trashed by the Kuchma-controlled secret police with evidence planted for future arrests and show trials. Voters are being intimidated by threats and secret goon squads; and the television press has come under complete government control with the last opposition channel (channel 5) being threatened with a shutdown in the next few days. And most recently the Kuchma/Yanukovych band of hooligans turned to violence on the night of October 24 in the capital city of Kyiv. On that night, called the Ukrainian "night of the long knives" by one Ukrainian writer, nearly 200,000 people peacefully demonstrated outside the election commission offices to demand a fair election. When the crowd had mostly dispersed, leaving about 150 mostly elderly individuals outside the offices, a band of 50 or so knife-wielding thugs wearing black leather coats attacked the remaining crowd, sending many to the hospital. Sources suggest that dozens if not hundreds of such killer squads are being trained to intimidate voters throughout the country. The violence is escalating--and promises to get worse, threatening to end up in an outright civil war.

A courageous group of twelve eminent Ukrainian intellectuals in an open letter recently wrote:

"Yanukovych would be a return to a marionette-like dictatorship, Yushchenko the promise of democracy.
Yanukhovych would be a corrupt, criminal, Russo-centric regime, Yuschenko a force for the rights of citizens and freedom.
Yanukovych is a Soviet-style opportunist and criminal, Yushchenko the possibility of cultural plurality.
Yunukovych stands for isolation from Europe and the world, Yushchenko--for the overcoming of barriers and mutual understanding.
The election of Viktor Yushchenko would be a pro-European choice, and not a pro-Russian one.
The election of Viktor Yushchenko would be the choice of free individuals, and not terrified zombies."

I urge the world to take a good hard look at what is occurring in Ukraine and do everything it can to shine the light of truth on the election politics of the corrupt Kuchma/Yanukovych regime. World opinion may be the only way to remedy the worsening situation.

Dr. Michael M. Naydan
Professor of Slavic Languages and Literature
The Pennsylvania State University