You're reading: Tyahnybok: Nationalists are popular

Q&A with Ukrainian nationalist leader Oleh Tyahnybok on his movement's growing popularity.

Oleh Tyahnybok, the 42-year-old leader of the nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) Party, surprised many when his party’s candidates won the majority in three oblast local councils, the mayoral seat in Ternopil and a smattering of seats in local councils all over the country.

Tyahnybok, the controversial leader of the party considered ultra-right by many, spoke to the Kyiv Post by phone.

Topics including his movement’s growing popularity, the clashes in Lviv between Svoboda members and those waving Soviet-era flags during the May 9 Victory Day celebration and accusations that he is the sanctioned opposition of the pro-presidential Party of Regions.

Kyiv Post: After clashes in Lviv on May 9, your party has accused police of abuse and pressure, accusations that police deny. Do you plan to proceed and take legal action?

Oleh Tyahnybok:
Of course. We have the whole legal department of the party working on this. Around 50 members have received, or are going to receive, police notices. Interrogations usually include violations from the police.

For example they often detain people at home, without any court orders or summons from the police station. It’s obvious that police, prosecutors and courts have an order from Kyiv against Svoboda.

Even members of the party who own small businesses are being pressured now. They are told – sorry, guys, but we have an order. Old-fashioned Stalin methods of intimidation are in use.

KP: Speaking about the May 9 Victory Day clashes between your supporters and those waving Soviet flags. There are witnesses and photos which prove that some members of Svoboda were hitting people and throwing stones.

OT:
There were probably only 20 percent of Svoboda members among people who gathered in Lviv. Mainly they were Svoboda members of local councils.

The rest of the crowd were Lviv dwellers who have nothing to do with Svoboda. May 9 was a clear-cut message for those in power. They have to understand that if they do not follow the law and their own court’s orders – then Svoboda or no Svoboda, the street will have its say.

We do not radicalize society, as some accuse us of. Officials radicalize society with their nonsensical actions: when they raise prices, introduce such a [punitive] tax code, pension reform. When a person is hungry and sees no future for the children, what will he or she do? Sit and wait for death to come?

KP: Svoboda has a council majority in three oblasts of the country and the mayoral seat in Ternopil. What do these people do? Many have the impression all you do is self-promotion?

OT:
Svoboda takes very concrete action. And that is the reason we are being pressured. We implemented public hearings in local councils and all the decisions about property selling and renting go through those hearings.

For the first time in the history of Ukrainian local governance, we put the list of Lviv Oblast communal property online. It stopped stealing and embezzlement immediately. Authorities do not like that. So they pressure us. The most important thing for us now is to stand up to the pressure.

KP: Svoboda is often accused of being sponsored by Party of Regions for playing the bad guy and creating the illusion of the opposition…

OT:
Svoboda did not start in 2011; we started 20 years ago. And back then we had the same principles, the same values. Nobody accused us of playing for somebody then. We have a newspaper where we print two posters from 1942-1943 about [Stepan] Bandera [leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalist until his death in 1959].

The first one was a Soviet poster and it said that Bandera was playing for Hitler.

Another one was a Nazi and said that Bandera serves Stalin and Russia. These are typical manipulations. By the way, I don’t think Svoboda is playing for the Party of Regions more than the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko [led by the ex-prime minister] and Our Ukraine [founded by former president Viktor Yushchenko] who supply the ruling coalition with votes every week.

KP: Speaking about votes. After very impressive results in 2010, what are your goals for the 2012 parliament elections?


OT:
First of all we have no law on the elections yet. The biggest problem of this law might be that only parties represented in parliament will have the right to form election commissions. In this case, we will have the same situation as last year when these parties stole other parties’ votes, including ours.

Our goal is to form a faction in parliament. If this happens, it will be the first time in Ukrainian history that nationalists have their faction.

KP: Have recent events influenced Svoboda’s popularity?

OT:
We are growing, especially after May 9 [Victory Day clashes]. I just spoke to the head of the Kyiv party division. He says the number of people willing to enter the party has tripled. We’ve also grown in eastern and central regions. During our recent protest in Lviv, 80 percent of people who showed up were not organized by us. People are ready to stand up, ready to protest. This is the most important thing.

KP: Despite the growth, ultra-right parties usually do not have support from the majority of people.

OT: Absolutely false. Take Finland. Nationalists practically won parliament elections. Take Scotland where nationalists have a majority in parliament. Hungary – second biggest faction in parliament. Belgium, France. French leader of National Front, Marine Le Pen, with whom I met recently, is leading in polls.

KP: Why do you think nationalists are growing in Europe now?

OT:
People feel financially insecure. And people are unhappy with globalization destroying their national identity. Until liberals kept the illusion of a rich life, nobody wanted to speak about it. But now it became clear that it was a soap bubble. Plus illegal immigration is threatening Europe.

KP: While you are usually quite politically correct, some Svoboda members make contradictory statements. Iryna Farion [Lviv Oblast lawmaker from Svoboda] accused children in kindergarten of having non-Ukrainian names. Is this her personal initiative or the position of the party?

OT:
I have a daughter named Daryna. And I will never call her Dasha [Russian version of Daryna]. All members of the party agree with Farion. If you name your child Jokonda or Misha – it’s alright, but everyone should know this name has no Ukrainian roots. As a political party we have to promote everything Ukrainian.

KP: Another contradictory idea of Svoboda is the nuclear status of Ukraine. Why would we need this?

OT:
Back in 1994 Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in return for guarantees from the United States, Britain and Russia. They promised to protect us from any external enemy, not to intervene within our domestic issues.

But neither of them kept the promise, especially Russia. So what we should do is to sign a new agreement with USA and Britain. No shallow promises this time. We suggest they help us to secure our borders, finance our military sphere and place anti -missile defense system in Ukraine.

If they refuse – then we have no choice but to consider obtaining nuclear status again. This is the only way we can protect our country.

KP: What do you think about the idea, voiced by some intellectuals, that Ukraine would be better off if it would become a federation or split into autonomous parts?

OT:
If we start playing with federalism and autonomy we will lose the country. Obviously many of our neighbors are interested in that. There are no reasons for separatism – Ukrainians constitute 78 percent of this country and people are the same in all regions.

Despite the fact that half of the country was under Russia and half under Poland and Hungary, I can assure you people I meet in Lviv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Crimea and elsewhere are the same and have 99 percent of the same problems. There is no division between east and west. There is a division between rich thieves and common people.

Key facts about Oleh Tyahnybok:

Personal: Born in Lviv on Nov. 7, 1968; married to physician Olha Tyahnybok; three children.

1991:
Joins Svoboda Party.
1993: Graduates from Lviv Medical Institute as a surgeon.
1991-1994: Head of Lviv student union.
1993-1996: Surgeon in Lviv emergency care hospital.
1994-1998: Member of Lviv Oblast Council from Svoboda.
1998-2002: Elected to the Verkhovna Rada (with Social National Party of Ukraine)
1999: Receives law degree from Lviv National University.
2002: Re-elected to parliament as part of Our Ukraine, former President Viktor Yushchenko bloc.
2004 – Expelled from faction for “xenophobic statements,” such as Ukraine needs to be cleared of “Russians, kikes [derogatory term for Jews]…and other evil.”
2004 – Becomes head of Svoboda Party.
2006 – Losses parliamentary re-election
2010 – Elected to Lviv Oblast Council, where he heads Svoboda faction.

Kyiv Post staff writer Svitlana Tuchynska can be reached at [email protected]