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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Politics

13 November, 2012 - 00:00

A Regimented Funeral

Had Vyacheslav Chornovil seen his own funeral, he might well have said,
"Look how our authorities never miss a thing for themselves."

An ocean of people, moving in huge waves toward the place of last respects,
was breaking on a C-shaped metal fencing, thus leaving an open, well observable,
space before the House of Teachers entrance. What The Day's correspondents
first heard after forcing their way to the police cordon was the attempt
of their television colleagues to explain that they had accreditation (!)
and they should be on the lists. But neither these TV reporters nor some
people with a huge wreath, who were trying to bring home that they had
come from a place 300 km. away, were let in by the guardians of law-and-order.

The indignant people were shouting, a man with a wreath said in desperation,
"There is such chaos in this state because this kind of organization and
order is universal! Even here they mock people." Only there, in a narrow
hall where a flower-decked body was lying in state, did it become clear
why the sincere cry from the heart of the thousands, who thought in necessary
to pay there respects to their great compatriot, was turned into such torture.

It turned out they were waiting for the President to arrive. So everything
had to be done according to the rules of tight-security for with the one
being guarded in place. The top leaders - the President, Prime Minister,
and Speaker - who then turned up were "greeted" with shouts of "shame";
perhaps people had forgotten those great leaders' contribution to Ukraine's
modern history but resented the games they organized in front of the coffin
of someone who really had inscribed his name in the annals of the struggle
for Ukraine. The people did not understand why the coffin was not placed
out on the square, why the top leaders had not paid the last respects before
the common people gathered at the announced time, and why the feelings
of gratitude toward Vyacheslav Chornovil that brought thousands to him
should be exploited by the rulers.

Our colleague Serhiy Naboka, once a dissident himself, told The Day,
"They should not have turned this tragic function into an officious act
that eases the life of high-placed officials to the maximum and inconvenienced
to the maximum that of the common people who had come to pay tribute to
a man worthy of being called an outstanding Ukrainian. Those rogues and
nameless nonentities whose names no one will ever recall arranged a poorly-organized
run of the mill top-security show."

People wept from their tragic pain and hurt feelings. "You see," a well-mannered
old lady explained to our reporter, "he was a true Ukrainian, like Taras
[Shevchenko]. He loved not only his people but also its spontaneity. And
Ukraine had a specific aroma for him, it smelled to him like land does
to a plowman, while others only swear they are democrats and reformers;
they, including the President, are really just Communists colored over."

The old lady was standing with a group of people who had brought soil
from Zvenyhorod district, Mr. Chornovil's birthplace. "The soil was dug
out next to the threshold of his home, and his sister Valia was so grateful
and full of feelings for that," some people said...

Anatoly Matviyenko could not conceal his tears: "This signifies a great
tragedy. And there will be a great woe if all of us do not show reason,
honesty, and take well thought out action after this. We are always waiting
for something until we lower Ukraine into a grave."

"Gone is a great and tragic politician, who barely survived a split
in his own party, which he himself conceived. And I am sure his ideological
and political followers should now go together in memory of him," Dmytro
Tabachnyk shared with The Day.

It is just this that may bring on major problems. The fact that the
Kostenko-led Rukh faction was debarred from organizing the funeral inspires
little optimism. Moreover, on the eve of the event, Mr. Chornovil's followers
announced they did not recognize the "Kostenko's" congress: "...what is
clear is that Vyacheslav Chornovil was putting out a fire kindled by Rukh
dissenters and died on the way."

In other words, the wheat has not yet been separated from the chaff,
Rukh-1 is trying to win over the masses using as a banner and argument
the tragic death of their leader. Mykola Zhulynsky, without any connection
with this, expressed a hope worth pondering: "It seems to me God looked
down at Ukraine from above and took away the best of the best so that those
who are not aware of the challenge Ukraine is facing today understand at
last: only united we stand."

Given the necessity of such unification, we must note as we do the sad
words of one "dissenter:" "Now the President will actively begin to conduct
the Rukh orchestra..."

Yevhen Marchuk told the press, "If nationwide mourning were declared
today, this would be appropriate to the role Mr. Chornovil played in the
history of Ukraine."

But, apparently, this did not fit in with the way the authorities interpret
the historical mission of this "last of the Mohicans." For the standards
of those power, as well as their populism, are limited by their "security
framework."

By Tetiana KOROBOVA, The Day

 

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