Black Ribbon Day Conference at University of Toronto

By Oksana Zakydalsky

 “Black Ribbon Day” seems to go together with “Soviet Union” and “Captive Nations” – back to the days before nations such as Ukraine, Estonia or Latvia threw off their Soviet shackles and joined the family of independent countries. But it turns out that, in former Soviet countries, “the legacies of empire and totalitarianism are more deeply ingrained” than expected and for some countries, as Taras Kuzio proposed - “the Soviet past is not over”. It was the examination of this “Soviet past” and its influence on the present that was the topic of the conference entitled “History, Memory and Politics in Eastern-Central Europe”, held at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, to mark the first Black Ribbon Day on August 23, 2010.

Last fall, the Canadian parliament unanimously voted to designate August 23 to be “Black Ribbon Day” – an annual day of remembrance – one with a new expanded reach to include the commemoration of victims of crimes of both the Nazi and Communist totalitarian regimes. The date of August 23 marks the anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939 that led to World War II and division of Eastern Europe into Nazi and Soviet spheres of influence.

The conference featured an array of international panellists and the keynote speaker (by Skype) was former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov – co-founder of the opposition Union of Right Forces and the Russian Solidarity movement. For a while, there was some doubt about his appearance as he had been arrested the day before for staging an unauthorized pro-democracy demonstration in Moscow.

The morning session was begun by Robert Amsterdam (also via Skype), Canadian international lawyer, who pointed out that, although Russia has a functioning government, the prerogative rights of the state and elites are unlimited while there is nothing but silence from the West. He said that United States foreign policy towards Russia under the current Obama administration is totally driven by a domestic agenda and called it “appeasement”.

Dr Iivi-Anna Masso, an Estonian-born political scientist and journalist, based in Helsinki, described the anti-Estonian propaganda unleashed in Finland after the affair around moving “the Russian soldier statue” from the centre of Tallinn. Estonians have long regarded the monument to be an unwelcome reminder of 50 years of Soviet oppression while Estonia’s ethnic Russian community regarded the monument as a symbol of Russia’s sacrifice during World War II and a tribute to the Russian soldiers who died fighting Nazi Germany.

The topic of democracy in Russia was addressed by Vladimir Kara-Mural, journalist and Washington Bureau Chief of RTVi television network who had served as campaign chairman for presidential candidate Vladimir Bukovsky and is currently a member of the federal council of the democratic opposition movement Solidarity. Mr. Kara-Murza said democratic institutions in Russia are being abolished through “authoritarian consolidation”. He pointed out that there are widespread pro-democracy demonstrations in Russia which receive little publicity as the non-print media is totally state controlled.

Dr. Taras Kuzio, political scientist, focused on the situation in Ukraine after the presidential elections and elaborated on his statement that “the legacies of empire and totalitarianism are more deeply ingrained than had been assumed”. He said that the current situation is the result of a belief in the myth bought into by Western Ukraine (as well as the diaspora) that “there is no difference” between candidates Tymoshenko and Yanukovych. He said that those who believed that Yanukovych was only “Kuchma-lite” have been proven very wrong: the Party of Regions is an ideologically driven party; most of government comes from Donetsk, the most Sovietised region in Ukraine; censorship is back; TV is owned either by the state or by oligarchs; and a former multivector foreign policy has changed into a pro-Russian single vector one in which Ukraine is ceding sovereignty. He added that Ukraine will continue to stagnate under “reform equilibrium” – a little reform, but not much. He called the situation in Ukraine today “the last gasp of the Soviet Union.” In the afternoon session, he discussed the Russification policies of Yanukovych within Ukraine.

Other speakers in the afternoon were historian Dr. Lee Edwards, Chairman of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (USA), which erected the Victims of Communism Memorial in 2007, and launched the online Global Museum on Communism in 2009, which now includes a virtual exhibit on Ukraine (http://ukraine.globalmuseumoncommunism.org/). Estonian Imbi Paju, an historian and filmmaker working in Finland and Estonia, appeared to further the debate on the crimes of communism and historical denial.

Boris Nemtsov (via Skype) was introduced by MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj who with MP Bob Rae both tabled the motion in Parliament to adopt Black Ribbon Day. Although the Skype connection was somewhat frustrating, as Mr. Nemtsov’s voice or image occasionally faded away, he gave a clear message about democracy in Russia: it is not fading away but being strangled by what he called Putinism.  “Putinism is a disaster for the country,” he said. “Putin is against freedom; he is afraid of the Russian people; he is afraid of the opposition and he is afraid of elections. The Russian people are just so tired of Putin and his team that they will ultimately change the system.”

Although some people, according to Mr. Nemtsov, claim that “democracy is not suitable for Russia” and ask “do Russians want democracy?”, he pointed to widespread demonstrations against the cancellation of the elections of provincial governors, and the growing “Russia without Putin” movement. The ideology of Putinism, he said, is “nostalgia for the Russian Empire”.

When asked about the 2012 Presidential Elections, Mr. Nemtsov called them “so-called elections” as he described all the impediments placed in front of the opposition such as the requirement of not only collecting 2 million signatures, but that every single signature must be verified by the authorities.

In the case of Ukraine, Mr. Nemtsev said that Ukrainian society has some immunity to Putinism: there is no nostalgia for the Soviet empire; no strong presidential tradition; and civil society is more developed. “Although the economic crisis is huge, Yanukovych is not a Ukrainian Putin – although he wants to be, he is not,” Mr. Nemtsev emphasized.