<i>The Day</i> announces laureate of the James Mace Civic Stand Prize

The James Mace Civic Stand Prize was founded by Larysa Ivshyna in 2009. According to The Day’s editor-in-chief “it is always hard to maintain the civic stand, but nevertheless, it should be done, along with keeping memory and gratitude in our hearts.” It is especially hard to grow civic sentiments these days. That is why The Day puts a lot of effort into it, finds donors, and supports authors whose publications promote the establishment of historical memory, national identity of the nation, and also recognition of the Holodomor as a genocide against Ukrainians. That said, The Day continues what the outstanding scholar, Holodomor researcher, and author James Mace had been working on so persistently and unceasingly.

The first Civic Stand Prize was awarded to publicist and historian Ihor Losiev, and in 2010 to The Day’s journalist, historian Ihor Siundiukov. This year the

jury of the awards voted for Serhii Hrabovsky virtually unanimously.

“I fully support the decision to award this prestigious James Mace Prize to the prominent Ukrainian publicist and philosopher Hrabovsky,” says head of the jury, famous publicist and diplomat Yurii Shcherbak. “This is a person whose articles adorn The Day’s pages and are distinguished in their urgency and the depth of meaning. Every piece by Hrabovsky is an original political and publisictic work, in which the events are analyzed in the most unbiased way and with the profound knowledge of what is behind these events. He gives brilliant comments on historic events of the past as well as the topical problems of the present that worry the society. Hrabovsky’s answers to questions that occupy our minds are often very sharp and paradoxical, but one can see in them the words of truth which is not easily comprehended by everyone. I am very glad that this prize has been given to Hrabovsky this year. I think that this is the most adequate decision as for today. And, of course, I would like to congratulate Hrabovsky on receiving this award.”

The awarding ceremony is to take place on Thursday, November 24, and will be one of The Day’s contributions to the commemoration of the Holodomor victims.

On Monday, a Memorial Week started in Ukraine. It will culminate in the Ukraine-wide Light a Candle action, initiated by James Mace in 2003. On Memorial Saturday, November 26, commemoration events will take place everywhere in Ukraine, from Lviv to Kharkiv. Kyiv will honor the victims with a procession and an action outside the National Museum Memorial to Victims of Holodomors in Ukraine. In Lviv, people will gather around the monument to Taras Shevchenko. Kharkiv will hold a flash mob “The Holodomor Affected Everyone,” a procession to the Memorial Cross in Molodizhny Park, and commemoration events in Liberty Square. People will light candles and place them in the windows of their homes and in the squares without any orders “from above,” just because their conscience tells them so.

Unsurprisingly, the Verkhovna Rada has declined the proposal to commemorate the Holodomor victims next year, when Ukraine marks the 80th anniversary of the tragedy. However, memory cannot be curbed by laws or borders. So no wonder that more and more people are joining Ukrainians in the commemoration of those who perished in the Terror Famine.

UNIAN reports that a special atlas will be prepared at the Harvard University to mark the 80th anniversary of the Holodomor. It will show the sweep of the tragedy on maps. One of The Day’s author, history professor Stanislav Kulchytsky, D.Sc., will take part in the work on the atlas.

The press secretary of the US president issued a special statement on occasion of the Holodomor Remembrance Day, which was sent to Interfax on Saturday. The statement reads: “As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence – a testament to the spirit and determination of the people of Ukraine – we also remember the suffering they endured 78 years ago during the catastrophic famine that has come to be known as the Holodomor – the ‘death by hunger.’ This terrible tragedy, created by the intentional seizure of crops and farms across Ukraine by Joseph Stalin, was one of communism’s greatest atrocities.”

Slowly but steadily the Holodomor is getting acknowledged as genocide – as James Mace had sought it to get. In particular, this has already been done by the government of his home country, the US. While keeping alive the memory of its victims, we should also commemorate those who were the first to reveal this tragedy to the wide world. Among them are the names of Brit Gareth Jones and American James Mace. Ukraine is grateful to them, and Ukraine remembers them.