Introduce people to Rhea Clyman!

MP Hanna Hopko, who chairs the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Affairs, initiated an appeal to the Mayor of Kyiv Vitalii Klitschko, requesting him to consider initiating activities to commemorate Clyman, as well as to popularize her contribution to unveiling the Ukrainian people’s experiences in the Soviet Union.
 

Lately, Kyiv hosted a presentation of the documentary Hunger for Truth, made by the French-American director and producer Andrew Tkach. The film tells the story of Rhea Clyman, a Canadian journalist who worked in the Soviet Union for four years until expelled by the secret police as a “bourgeois troublemaker.” In 1932, Clyman drove through Ukrainian villages that suffered in the throes of hunger, and most importantly, went on to accurately describe it in her reports. This story is intertwined in the film with the story of Serhii Hlondar, a soldier of the Ukrainian Armed Forces who has spent over two years in captivity of the so-called ‘Donetsk People’s Republic.’ In this way, Tkach shows the continuity of Russian leaders’ efforts to destroy the free Ukraine (more on the film in the article “Unstoppable hunger for truth” on page 6).

Unstoppable hunger for truth

The screening was poorly attended, but it has had some impact. MP Hanna Hopko, who chairs the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Affairs, initiated an appeal to the Mayor of Kyiv Vitalii Klitschko, requesting him to consider initiating activities to commemorate Clyman, as well as to popularize her contribution to unveiling the Ukrainian people’s experiences in the Soviet Union. Hopko reported on this appeal on her Facebook page. By the way, it was nice to see the appeal citing Den’s article about the film. The appeal has been signed by about 20 MPs.

In a comment to Hopko’s post, Den/The Day’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna noted that the city government of Kyiv ought to promote the work of Gareth Jones and James Mace as well, “provided these names mean something for them.” After all, Jones and Mace, each in his own time, also stubbornly stuck to writing the truth about the Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-33 despite the unpopularity of the subject and people not understanding them. It is really doubtful whether most Kyiv city councilors know anything about them. However, we will continue to tell the stories of such individuals who were “hungry for truth.” Meanwhile, the authorities have before them an example of clever response to it.