The Real Ukraine

By Volodymyr Kish

 
For the past several weeks, I have been sharing my views on the sad state of affairs that I observed in Ukraine during my recent visit there to attend a world conference of Ukrainian diaspora organizations.  Since the election of Viktor Yanukovych as President almost two years ago, Ukraine has significantly regressed in its efforts to become a modern democratic state where human rights are respected, freedom of opportunity exists, and rule of law prevails. 

I must admit that the week I spent in Kyiv was more than a little depressing, and it was only when I left this capital of kleptocracy and headed for Western Ukraine that my spirits began to revive. It is in Halychyna, in Lviv and in the countless towns and villages in the western half of this country that the legacy of the real Ukraine still survives.  Kyiv may be the political battleground where the future of Ukraine is being determined, but it is no more representative of Ukraine and Ukrainians than Washington is representative of the true ethos and culture of the average American.

Life in Kyiv is dominated by a frenetic pursuit of wealth and power that distorts values, principles and culture.  In Kyiv, only the present matters – history is either swept under the carpet or rewritten to serve political expediencies.  Further, the future is too unpredictable and fickle to spend too much time worrying about it.  Above all, despite an official facade of Ukrainianism, the working language is Russian and the ruling elite is strongly Russophile in character.

It is only when one leaves the political chaos and rampant materialism of Kyiv and the other large cities of Central and Eastern Ukraine and heads west that the original Ukraine comes into view.  Here the Ukrainian language still rules. Here the people and the land are still inextricably linked into a thousand-year continuum of history, culture and religion.  Here the past is well remembered – a past that though at times tragic, reminds Ukrainians that they once had a glorious history, and are capable of it again in the future.  In particular, they remember the recent past, that is to say the turmoil and suffering of the past century since the Tsarist Russian Empire crumbled in 1917.  They remember it well and will not allow the authorities be they in Kyiv or elsewhere to forget either.

I came across one example of this when I visited my father’s ancestral village of Sokoliwka just west of Brody.  A dedicated group of local activists initiated a massive research effort almost a decade ago that finally culminated this year in the publication of a 900 page history of the village.  Although this hefty tome encompasses more than 800 years of history, the majority of the content deals with the past century and specifically the involvement of locals in the various nationalist liberation movements that took hold in Ukraine in the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution, and all the way through to Ukraine’s final achievement of independence in 1991.  For a small selo whose current population numbers only some 700 souls, this is truly a remarkable achievement and striking testimony to the strong desire of Ukrainians to once again be masters of their own history.

I came across yet another example in my mother’s village of Potelych near the Polish border northwest of Lviv.  The village is home to an historic old wooden church (Sviatoho Dukha – Holy Spirit) originally built some five hundred years ago.  The interior of the church contains some very unique and priceless religious frescoes, and has a storied history.  Bohdan Khmelnitsky attended mass in this church over the period of weeks when his Kozak army bivouacked near Potelych during their successful campaign against the Poles in 1654.    

During Communist times the church was boarded up and essentially left to deteriorate.  In recent years, the villagers undertook the task of repairing and restoring the church, the end result of which saw the church once again become a live and functional parish.  It now stands testimony to the fact that regimes may come and go, but the faith of the Ukrainian people in their history and traditions transcends all efforts to suppress them.

No doubt, the near-term future of Ukraine looks challenging and problematic.  However, as they have done countless times in their history, Ukrainians are once again showing their determination and resilience, and I am sure that once again the Ukrainian phoenix will rise from the ashes.