Dnipropetrovsk oblast residents raising funds for Shevchenko monument

Residents of Verkhniodniprovsk, the homeland of Volodymyr Shcherbytsky, former First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine, are demanding that a monument to Taras Shevchenko be erected in the town. They have raised almost half the required amount on their own, drawn up a design, and hope to finish this work by the 200th anniversary of the Bard’s birth. There are two mo­nu­ments left in this small town since the Soviet era – to Shcherbytsky and Lenin – but there is no monument to Shevchenko. “The local authorities do not seem to oppose this idea but are behaving passively,” says Valentyna Novodon, chairperson of the town’s Prosvita association. “We have already held three [fund-raising] rallies, written and sent 185 letters, including one to President Viktor Yanukovych and one to Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. We are asking factory managers and entrepreneurs to donate money for the monument. Some of them have not only remitted money but also got actively involved in drawing up a project.” Verkh­nio­dni­provsk residents want the monument to the Bard to be erected in the town’s thoroughfare named after Lenin. “We searched for a good place so that the bronze Taras looked at the Dnipro from a cliff,” Novodon says. “We will also be demanding later that Lenin Avenue be also renamed after Shevchenko.” Four years ago the town’s Prosvita branch suggested removing the monument to the leader of the world proletariat from the town center, but the authorities rejected the “seditious” idea. Nevertheless, Prosvita believes this time will come sooner or later – not only in Verkhniodniprovsk. The coal­mi­ners’ city of Pavlohrad is also going to erect a monument to Shevchenko on the occasion of the great poet’s anniversary. A pressure group from this city has submitted a relevant proposal to Mayor Ivan Metelytsia. Besides, without waiting for a response from the authorities, the initiators have begun collecting the grassroots’ donations. This activity of ordinary people is in sharp contrast to the indifference, if not irresponsibility, of the officials. For example, in Samarsky district of Dnipropetrovsk, a prewar mo­nu­ment to Taras Shevchenko by the well-known Ukrainian sculptor Ivan Znoba was ruined in October 2007 ostensibly for reconstruction pur­poses. The old monument was barbarically torn down by means of metal ropes and a bulldozer. The municipal authorities promised to erect a new monument to the Bard a year later, but things haven’t got forward an inch. Local residents are saying this area on the Dnipro’s bank has caught the eye of the bosses who intend to build cottages here: they (the bosses) are waiting for the scandal to blow over and public opinion to calm down.