Hryts on Revolutions

Volodymyr Kish

It had been a while since I last talked to Hryts, my mentor and guru in all things Ukrainian, so I gave him a call a few days ago to catch up on things.  Hryts, as readers of this column well know, lives in a charming little backwater town by the name of Pidkamin, nestled in a picturesque valley on the road between Brody and Ternopil in Western Ukraine.  Although the town has been around for some 800 years, Hryts has always claimed that nothing much in particular of note has ever happened in Pidkamin throughout its long history, and he is especially proud of that fact.

Pidkaminites have never striven to live in “interesting” times, he is fond of saying, preferring the world to just leave them alone to live the uneventful but peaceful and rewarding rural life established by their countless generations of ancestors.  I have on a number of occasions taken Hryts to task on this claim, reminding him that the town was ravaged several times by Mongols and Tatars, was the scene of much fighting during the Bolshevik Revolution and the Second World War, and is home to a large monastery and church that used to house a miraculous icon.

“Feh!” he would exclaim, “The Ukrainian town to which any of the above would not apply would be exceedingly rare, indeed! There is no town or hamlet anywhere in Ukraine that has not at one time or another faced the onslaught of Mongols, Tatars, Turks, Poles Russians, Germans or whoever the invader of the month happened to be.  As for icons, I think Ukraine has more holy icons than all the rest of the world put together.  It goes together with having the most martyrs than any other country in the world.”

In any case, on this occasion I was not interested in discussing history so much as the current state of affairs in Ukraine, another topic on which Hryts is never at a loss for words.

“So, Hrytsiu,” I inquired, “Things don’t seem to be getting any better in Ukraine.  Tabachnyk is continuing his Ukrainophobe policies, President Yanukovich is becoming more like Putin every day, the oligarchs are getting richer and the impoverished masses are getting poorer.  And yet despite a few grumblings here and there, the opposition to all this has been meagre.  All the Ukrainian “patrioty” here in North America are getting frustrated.  Even our own communities here are losing interest because nothing is happening.  Should we turn up the heat, protest more and pressure the Ukrainian government for reform?”

“You can protest all you want,” he replied with a sign of resignation, “But it won’t really do any good.  The Ukrainian government doesn’t really care what the diaspora thinks or wants. It never did. It believes that the Ukrainian community abroad represents an archaic and obsolete nationalist ideology that is foreign and irrelevant to modern Ukraine. Though, it does care what the Canadian government does because of its geopolitical clout, so if you want to do anything constructive then you must put whatever pressure you can on your government to hold Ukraine to task on human rights, the rule of law and a fair opportunity at having a decent quality of life.”

“But what about the people of Ukraine?” I continued, “Don’t you think that they are capable of completing the task started by the Orange Revolution?”

“Bah!’ he exclaimed, “They are more likely to grow oranges in their backyards than engage in another revolution. If you were to give the average Ukrainian a choice between a democratic government or a decent apartment or good used car, the apartment or car would win hands down. I am afraid that seventy years of Communism and twenty years of warped Capitalism have diluted the revolutionary spark in our people.”

“But then how do you explain what happened during the Orange Revolution?” I asked.

“Oh yes, that was indeed an impressive moment in history!” he replied, “But, if you consider the facts, it was the students and young people who provided the spark and the energy that provided a temporary victory.  Unfortunately, there were not enough of them, and they could not step into leadership roles in the parties and the government afterwards, so the neo-nomenklatura once again took charge and things just went back to the way they were.  And now, most of the young people have left Ukraine and are working all over Europe and indeed the world.  Too many of our best and brightest are no longer with us.”

“That sounds rather depressing.” I replied. “Is there no hope?”

“But of course!” he replied forcefully, “There is always the next generation. When you are young, and if you are blessed with some education, and you have access as we now do to global communications and the media, sooner or later, you will lose patience with those who exploit you and treat your rights with contempt.  There will be another revolution.  History moves in only one direction.  As people gain in civilization and learning, their demands for freedom and equal rights become non-negotiable. You can even see this beginning to happen in the Arab countries which have been bastions of feudalism for ages. In Ukraine, we will just have to be patient a little longer.”