QUESTION OF THE DAY

Leonid KRAVCHUK:

Turning to Ukraine’s history, one can see that since roughly 1654 the country had been viewed as a colony, a frontier region of Russia. All this adversely affected the nation’s mentality. The idea of inferiority had become a part of Ukrainians’ genetic code. Even in the days of the former Soviet Union Ukraine differed from other republics by its specific primitive self-deprecation. I attended Communist Party congresses in Moscow and heard how the leaders of Georgia, Azerbaijan, or Uzbekistan delivered their “reports.” It was the usual choice of words, with typical similes involving eagles, etc. Yet you got the feeling that the speakers spoke standing on their feet. The Ukrainians used less winged words, but you got the feeling they spoke on their knees.

Now everyone is talking about who will be Ukraine’s next president. But many are somehow afraid to say it loud and clear that they intend to run. Hasn’t Leonid Kuchma declared that he is stepping down and will not run for office for a third term? Thus Kuchma will be out of the race. Still, many are frightened lest he be offended. You can’t explain this kind of servility by anything except fear or extremely low political culture, lack of self-respect, and dignity. Such politicians seem to forget that all Ukraine is looking at them.

When I deal with media people I am really happy that I can now freely communicate with you and you can ask me all kinds of questions. But I also lived in the other time when journalists would debase themselves asking, “Shall I put it this way or that? Will Shcherbytsky (then Ukraine’s Communist party boss — Ed.) like it?” It definitely takes quite some time for a nation to start perceiving itself as such and for the individual to view himself as part of the nation. And that the self-respect and the power of the nation are made up by the self-respect and power of every citizen.

I can see how my grandchildren are different from us. Andriy, who is 19, just can’t understand all this servility because he did not live under such conditions. Many who had been oppressed and cracked under pressure for various reasons cannot recover their self-dignity now. When a person becomes independent of the authorities, knows that there is the rule of law, and that a person can be judged by no other agency but the court, that’s when a person will start to realize his own power. Now officials can do whatever they want. The court and the law- enforcement agencies can subject a person to any kind of arbitrary wrongdoing and no law will protect him. As in the past, one will have to go to a high official for protection. That’s how this system continues to work.

Democratic change is an indicator of the changes that have taken place in the mentality and mission of the people, in the growing awareness that the deeds of individuals are the deeds of a nation. Had, for example, Zherdytsky (a lawmaker who allegedly embezzled public money —Ed.) realized this, he would have never made away with the money the German taxpayers allocated for the victims of the Nazis.

We could well start shooting a movie called The Specifics of National Denigration. It’s in the eyes of the Ukrainians, in the way they carry themselves, in the way they enter their bosses’ offices.

We say that the final authority rests with the people, but Ukrainians seem not to realize it. They would rather elect bosses. I have had a seat in parliament since 1979, and they also elect me as a boss because I have the power and can help build a school or road. No one believes that, as representatives of the final authority, they can dictate their terms to officials. The term public servant used to describe deputies has no real meaning for Ukrainians. On the other hand, how would a cash-strapped and hungry person view an official who is paid with taxpayers’ money and sports an expensive Cartier watch a year after taking office, a Mercedes in two, and a mansion in three?

Danylo KONONENKO, head of the Crimean branch of the Ukrainian National Writers’ Union, winner of Stepan Rudansky Award:

The roots of Ukrainian society go back to the Stalin era and period of stagnation of the Communist Party. Unfortunately, we have seen the rebirth of these things in the Crimea. The climax of servility shown to Leonid Hrach (present head of the peninsula’s government —Ed.) occurred during the festivities marking the second anniversary of the Crimean Constitution in mid-October, 2000 when Hrach was even called president of Ukraine (could this have really been a mistake?), and when a long list of citations and congratulatory telegrams from Leonid Kuchma was read from the rostrum. One got the feeling that the incumbent president’s major occupation is to thank Leonid Hrach for the latter’s wealth of “achievements.” The sad truth is that Leonid Hrach doesn’t really have that many. According to latest statistical reports, living standards in the Crimea are 30% lower than the Ukrainian average. Real work has been replaced by various festivals, shows, and celebrations where Hrach is lauded as a great statesman, guardian of peace on the peninsula despite all the intrigues of Kyiv, who managed to enact the Crimean Constitution and hymn in the face of insinuations of the Crimea’s so-called enemies.

Is this really that big an achievement?

The remedy for this illness is transparent cadre policies in the government sector and regular rotation of officials. The public must have at its disposal the levers to replace officials who sing their own praises and turn their subordinates into yes-men.

Yevhen SOKULSKY, editor-in-chief, Khortytsia Television Company (Zaporizhzhia):

Fawning over officials, like all other Ukrainian traditions, is rooted in our history. In principle, the common people never had anything: everything depended on the favor of leaders, superiors, or rulers. If you scratch their back, you will have some handouts. If not, you loose. If you get too out of line, they will take away everything you have. Much the same is happening now. We have set up a parasitic state, not a democratic one, where the doers have nothing, as there is only one god and tsar in this country — the official who, in his turn, preys to his own god and tsar, a higher-ranking official. That is why only beggars can be free in Ukraine because they ask no rulers for favors. The tactics of servility are simple — either you start making money (and for this you need the blessing of your boss) or you are poor but independent. There’s no official in Ukraine who would opt for the latter.

As to the singing praises in the mass media, there is, in my opinion, one more or less effective remedy and that is the growth of private capital, the emergence of oligarchs, something Russia has already gone through. I hope, Ukraine will go the same way. The truth is, only big business can challenge the authority of the state. And let God give Ukraine this chance. At least there is a likelihood that big business will depend less on those in power.

Ivan SHULYK, Dnipropetrovsk oblast head of the Ukrainian People’s Movement (Rukh-Kostenko): The roots of public servility or, to use a simpler word, groveling are firm, reaching into the past. Groveling is based on the primitive wish to secure material gain and was a way of survival regarding Ukrainians’ conditions of life. Unlike other European nations, Ukrainians were exposed to double pressure, social and national. This was the case whether Ukraine was under Poland, Austria-Hungary, or Russia. Living under these empires, Ukrainians have developed a slave syndrome. We should also take into account that “cleansing” society has always been an inseparable part of any imperial policy which explains witch- hunts and extermination of dissidents and revolutionaries, i.e., that segment of the Ukrainian nation which struggled for freedom and independence. Someone of the great once compared Ukraine to a tobacco field where, to make the foliage more luxuriant, the blossoms have to be cut regularly. Sadly, little has changed in Ukraine since we became independent perhaps because the old colonial nomenklatura has retained power. The system of education has also not changed, continuing to breed feeble and ambition-proof citizens, incapable of deciding things for themselves and assuming responsibility for such decisions. In all probability, it will take long to cure Ukrainians of their slave’s complex. A good fix for it would be to promote private ownership, entrepreneurship, democratic institutions along with freedom of speech and the press so that people could speak up their minds openly, rather than flatter and fawn on their superiors.