By Walter Kish

Shortly after Ukraine became independent some ten years ago, I had the opportunity to work and live there for several years. It was a heady time. The Communist empire had disintegrated and Ukrainians found themselves in control of their land and their destiny for the first time in centuries. Hope and optimism abounded, and though the newly independent country faced a host of practical problems and challenges, most people felt that these would be overcome in short order. They felt that they too would soon be enjoying the promise and prosperity to which the rest of us in the West had become accustomed. Democracy and free enterprise had come to Ukraine and everything was possible.

I recently visited Ukraine after a seven year absence, and it did not take me long to realize that much had changed during that time. There were of course, the visible, materialistic changes which I describe in more detail in another article in this issue. What to me was more important and significant were the attitudinal and psychological changes wrought by the disappointments and unfulfilled expectations of the past decade. That once unbridled hope and optimism has been transformed into a combination of resignation, anger, cynicism and stoicism. The primary motivation of most people is simple survival. The prevailing belief now is that it will take decades before they see the “promised land”.

It is true that there has been some reform and economic progress in the past decade. However this has disproportionately benefited a small, opportunistic elite who have skillfully exploited the transformation into a free market economy to enrich themselves at the expense of the overwhelming majority of the population. The average citizen has experienced mostly the ravages of unemployment and loss of steady job and income, no matter how meager that income may have been under the Soviets. Land has been privatized and distributed, but few have access to the machinery and capital required to make these farms into feasible operations that can provide reasonable family incomes.

The lack of opportunity has caused many of the best and brightest to leave the country in droves. Some, after significant difficulty, have been able to emigrate to the West. More are to be found working illegally in the shadowy underground economies of many western European countries. Those that remain eke out a subsistence existence on their small plots of land, or engage in the uncertain and often exploitative realities of the underground economy. The expected side effects of such an environment, namely crime, alcoholism and depression are up significantly.

Most of the conversations I had with friends and relatives alike, usually centered around how difficult life in Ukraine had become and their resignation to the fact that few felt it would improve in the near future. To be fair, their gripes dealt mostly with the deficiencies in their material well-being. Most would admit when prompted that they now enjoyed unparalleled freedom of movement, expression of ideas, practice of religion and access to information that were forbidden to them during the Communist era. It is perhaps a sign of how entrenched these freedoms now are, that they can be so taken for granted.

The other recurrent theme was the general lack of faith and confidence in the capability and integrity of the government and its structures at all levels. The average Ukrainian feels helpless in the face of an entrenched bureaucracy more interested in self-enrichment than the welfare of its citizens. This extended not only to the oligarchs and power brokers currently in charge, but also to the alleged progressive and reformist parties and movements. Their inability to unite and co-operate in pushing forth a genuine reformist agenda has caused significant disenchantment and disillusionment amongst the average citizens and voters. Ukrainians have by and large lost faith in their elected representatives.

As an outside observer, I am less inclined to be as pessimistic as most Ukrainians I spoke to. True, genuine economic and political reform has been somewhat disappointing. However, I find great cause for hope in the fact that some essential core values and principles have taken strong root in the land of my ancestors. Ukraine is no longer sealed in from the outside world, and freedom of speech, religion and choice are well established. The Ukrainian language is becoming more entrenched as the official working language of the state. Despite great difficulties and rampant graft and corruption, people are starting up small businesses and farms and learning the basics of the free-enterprise system. Ukraine is steadily increasing its participation in the political, economic and cultural arenas of the world at large. Continued political and economic pressure from Europe and the West is forcing the Ukrainian government, albeit slowly, to clean up its act. These will all start paying dividends in due course, and positive change will happen at an exponential pace once the required momentum is attained. For all of the frustrations and disappointments, the vast majority agree that there is no turning back.