Ukraine’s
president is no exception.

On his
visit to the UN, he tried hard to be heard.

And seen.

Like at the
photo opportunity with U.S.President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.

For this
occasion, he even had to wait patiently in line for his turn. The diplomatic
protocol bestowed the kind of humbleness on the Ukrainian leader which he has
rarely shown to his own constituents. It has lately been a rare opportunity for
him to present himself before a Western leader and he couldn’t miss it.  

He came to
the UN to also seize the important opportunity to speak freely of his views on
the ways of the world while back home the parliament his party controls has come
ever so close to strangle free speech with the infamous defamation bill.

The
Ukrainian diaspora in the U.S. noticed and flocked to New York in droves to
demonstrate.

Not that
the recent attack on freedom of speech was the only source of the diaspora’s
displeasure with the Ukrainian leader and his rule.  Hard to fathom how the current president may
please the expatriates living here at all.

Unless, of
course, he resigns.

He is not
what they have ever envisioned for their native but distant land.

He never was.

This is
because immigrants are a special bread of patriots. When it comes to loving the
native land they rarely settle for less than a picture perfect image. Memories
of their daily struggles there tend to fade away and what is left is a quaint picture
of a “cherry orchard by the hut,” hardworking, kind people who speak your
language and respect each other.

It’s a good
picture even if it is only one’s head.

They don’t
think this president fits that image. And no efforts of the Ukrainian Foreign
Ministry on placating them could change that.

In 2005,
they overwhelmingly voted against the current Ukrainian president, turning out
in record numbers – the New York cops had to block off streets to let the excited
and exalted Ukies vote.

Now they
are here to protest the man who has led their native land to isolation, more
corruption, less democratic freedom, to political persecutions, the man who
distorts their image of the perfect, albeit poor motherland.

And they
are here now to show one more thing.

That seven
years ago they weren’t wrong.

 Oleksiy Opanasiuk is a freelance writer in Kyiv.