When do the transformations start in Ukraine?

On October 19, well-known Ukrainian public figure Bohdan HAWRYLYSHYN celebrated his 86th anniversary. We congratulated him and used this opportunity to ask a few urgent questions.

The parliamentary election day is only few days away. At the moment, political parties and separate candidates are making the final effort to win over voters. How would you describe this election campaign in general?

“This is a very bad campaign. Today we are basically observing an inflation of promises. All the parties promise a whole variety of things, but if you put some thought into it, even the most sincere promises are impossible to implement. Unfortunately, our parties do not have specific action plans, and I am concerned by this. Looking at the present pre-election campaign, I seriously doubt that the election itself will be carried out without the use of administrative resource or bribery of voters. The only matter is the scale of violations.”

Despite the opposition’s numerous statements about the need to join efforts in order to fight the government, they succeeded in this only partially. The latest arrangement between the United Opposition and UDAR on candidates in majority constituencies is another example of that. What is your opinion of the opposition and its chances to win the elections?

“Ukraine needs a set of total transformations. But the ones that are offered by political parties (including the opposition ones) during the pre-election campaign are extremely hard to carry out. The whole economic, social, and political systems need to be changed; a bit of reforms here and there will not do. I do not make short-term assessments, I am interested in transformations that will happen in seven or eight years. For example, I wonder how well our young generation studies experience of countries with absolute freedom, with no poverty, with people that learned to live in harmony with nature instead of just exhausting its resources. And if these people prepare well, and then enter the elections, they will become the critical mass on different government levels, like it happened after the elections in 1990. Back then, 25 percent of MPs were idealists, they had a clear vision of Ukraine’s future, they wanted justice. Though statistically they were a minority, they were still considered a majority in the moral sense. Laws and projects offered by them received a lot of support from MPs, even from communists. The parliamentary session started on May 15, 1990, and on July 16 MPs voted on the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine. By the way, it is a great document, it has a lot of program points.

“The oppositionists and some representatives of the government are sincere patriots, who want the best for our country. But the problem is that they have been under the impact of negative political influences for too long. That is why it is hard for them to stay fresh today.

“It should also be said that Ukraine is not the only country with so many problems; in fact, most of the world is in the same state, or even worse. In this context we need new philosophies, political architects, and total changes in the society. I think that young people will eventually save Ukraine from the awful state it is in now.”

The initiative group “December 1” said in its recent statement, published on the eve of the election day: “During the past two years, you have barely listened to your people, though they should be the primary support for any good action planned by the civilized government.” What kind of country is the present government building?

“We should remember the Orange Revolution. It showed the real mentality of our people. It was a revolution with flowers and songs, instead of swords and axes. The most important demands set by people were truth and freedom. If they had been fulfilled back then, Ukraine would have already been a prosperous country. We would have been invited to the European Union. It is a pity that the present government has led negotiations with the EU into a dead end. We seem to have good relations with Russia, but what are they based on? What price did we have to pay for them? I think our president has too much power in his hands. Is it used for the well-being of the people? No, it does not seem so at all.

“I feel sorry for a lot of today’s high-ranking officials, because they became slaves to wealth, and their greed is growing even more. They are not free and happy, because they do not like common people, they hide from them, and people do not like them in return. Though I am a happy person, and I have been especially happy during the past 25 years, when I had a chance to do a lot of good for people and for my fatherland, where I was born and partially educated. My conscience tells me: you did a good job. It would be nice, if our current government representatives had the same feeling.”

It is said that the situation in politics is a reflection of the state of society. Do you agree with that?

“Not fully. History knows a lot of examples of horrible dictatorship regimes. Can it be said that they emerged only because they corresponded to the spirit of the nations? In our case this also cannot be said. I still remain optimistic and enthusiastic, because I communicate with young people a lot. For example, I have just come back from the Ostroh Academy. Though that university is not large, there were about 450 students at the meeting I attended. As I have already said, the transformation of Ukraine depends on our youth.

“Unfortunately, today people are forced to sell their votes and lose their dignity. On the other hand, they are only following a ‘brilliant’ example of our current government. It is hard not to yield to temptation in this situation. I mentioned the Ostroh Academy, but there are so many more young people in other universities all over Ukraine. There is also another problem; a part of these students wants to leave the country. Even in a situation like this, we need to pay more attention to that other part, students that want to stay here. For example, I met leaders of the Student Republic. They play at politics to some extent: pretend that they organize the elections, print money… But sometimes they think about going into real politics and start doing something good in administrations on city or district level.

“I feel Ukraine with my heart, understand it with my mind, can see it from outside, and that is why I can say with certainty: we have fantastic potential. We have all the natural resources other countries can only dream about. We have a huge number of talented people, they just need some inspiration in order to take action and change the situation in our country.”

Recent data provided by the State Statistics Service of Ukraine shows that industrial production indices decreased by seven percent. What does it tell us? What is your forecast of the future economic situation in Ukraine?

“The situation will become worse until the climate for business, foreign and domestic investments, creation of new small and medium enterprises is improved. When we are shown that one plant was built with the use of modern technologies, we should ask: what is the general statistics? How many plants of this kind were built? It was also spoken so much about the need of the economics of knowledge. And Ukraine is capable of accomplishing that too.”

You have succeeded in a lot of things in your lifetime. And even now, at the age of 86, you still are an active participant of the country’s public life. What plans do you have? What else would you like to achieve in your life?

“I want to live till the time when the process of transformation in Ukraine takes place. And of course, I would like to put all my effort in drawing it nearer. When can it start? I think, in seven or eight years. This does not mean we need to sit idle, no; we need to use this time for active learning. I would like to see Ukraine having a complete political freedom, prosperous citizens, and social justice. I also want to see people who are already preparing for that. I have had the most fantastic dreams, a large part of those dreams came true, and I am absolutely sure that my present dreams about the future of Ukraine will come true as well.”