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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

WEEKLY ROUNDUP 

10 April, 1999 - 00:00

Easter Eggs and Willow


Willow branches were consecrated on Palm Sunday in Zhytomyr as throughout
Ukraine. The ceremony also took place by the cross erected by the faithful
of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Patriarchate) in place of the Church
of the Epiphany ruined by the Soviets in the 1970s. Those who still remember
the church say it was beautiful, built of timber without using a single
nail or screw. It never caught fire and withstood all calamities except
a manmade one. The local party committee and executive authority gave the
order and the church was wiped off the face of the earth overnight (they
used bulldozers). Now believers visit bureaucratic offices asking permission
to rebuild the church in the same place. This will take awhile admit some
of those in authority, but then perhaps the coming elections will prod
the local authorities to lend a sympathetic ear.

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

 

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