WEEKLY ROUNDUP 

Also, the closer the elections, the more frequently the oblast is visited by politicians from the capital. Thus, Kateryna Vashchuk, leader of the Agrarian Party, attended the third regional party conference and came up with a thesis that was not new but still of interest: it is ridiculous to talk about any kind of accord between the rich and the poor. This may well put her in bad odor with the President, for the way things are the current Chief Executive may count only on Zlahoda (Premier Pustovoitenko's handiwork) and a handful of other small parties like the Liberals for support in the next campaign. Viktor Razvadovsky, a People's Deputy elected from a majoritarian district in Zhytomyr oblast, met with local journalists and "consoled" them, saying that the monetary emission will continue slowly but surely, no matter what NBU Governor Viktor Yushchenko may say to the contrary. Also last week Deputies Yuri Yekhanurov, Volodymyr Zayets, and Yuri Kostenko met with their fellow party members, while there must also have been others, who stayed out of the limelight.

Zhytomyr also played host to future parliamentary and presidential candidates, and prospective ministers who gathered under the auspices of the Ukrainian office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and Leader Ukrainian International Youth Cooperation Fund to attend a seminar called Zasnuvannia (Founding) and Youth Political Organizations. The debate focused on Kosovo and the young participants tried to act like Ukrainian Solons; while Rukh asserted that NATO's operation in Yugoslavia was peacekeeping, the Komsomol activists called for immediate help to their "Serbian brothers" in their struggle against the imperialists.

To give their idea substance, seminar participants from the Socialist Congress of Youth gathered on the Maidan Rad (Square of the Soviets) in the center of Zhytomyr and proceeded to collect signatures in support of Yugoslavia. True, there were only several activists present and few of the passers-by would approach them and sign. One Zhytomyr resident who did, Oleh Muravsky, 19, when asked by The Day what he was protesting against, said he was against the war and was afraid it would affect Ukraine. It looks as though the older lefties have altogether different interests.

Last Wednesday marked a year since Volodymyr Lushkin was appointed Chairman of the Zhytomyr Oblast State Administration. Even though the production decline slowed last year and statistics show that the first quarter of 1999 saw a 1.5% increase, no fanfare was played, and the governor during public appearances, commenting on his year in office, sounded rather restrained. He may have a point here, because that 1.5% against the total collapse is but a drop in the ocean.

Last Thursday, Zhytomyr oblast library hosted a display from the St. Petersburg Waxworks Museum. Its two-headed, two-bodied, double-faced, and three-eyed figures may call forth certain associations with modern Ukrainian political life and the exhibition is eloquently titled Disasters of the Human Body. But I would rather not write further on this.

Easter is tomorrow and thousands of Zhytomyr residents will go to church to have their Easter bread, eggs, and cakes consecrated, and will bring them home to contribute to the festively laid table. And the words "Christ is risen! Christ is truly risen" will echo through the churches and the city; they will penetrate people's hearts as a symbol of hope that must always survive under all circumstances.

By Valery KOSTIUKEVYCH, The Day, Zhytomyr