A couple of hundred Ukrainians took to the streets of Manhattan to greet visiting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Anatoliy Hryshchenko with protest.
NEW YORK – A couple of hundred Ukrainians took to the streets of Manhattan on May 3 to greet visiting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Anatoliy Gryshchenko with protest.
Those gathered objected to President Viktor Yanukovych’s deal to extend the lease on the Russian Black Sea Fleet naval base in Crimea by another 25 years, to at least 2042. The agreement was ratified on April 27, by a 236-member majority vote in the Verkhovna Rada.
“We wanted to show the minister how angry the Ukrainian diaspora is.”
– Tamara Olexy, the president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America.
This may have been the first Ukrainian political protest in the United States since the 2004 demoratic Orange Revolution, which prevented Yanukovych from coming to power through a rigged presidential election on Nov. 26, 2004.
The demonstration took place as Gryshchenko attended a conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty at the United Nations. “We wanted to show the minister how angry the Ukrainian diaspora is,” explained Tamara Olexy, the president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, the main organizer of the rally.
Although organized by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and other diaspora non-governmental organizations, such as Ukrainian New Wave and the Union of Ukrainian Women, the rally seemed spontaneous. Many said that they learned about the demonstration from friends’ e-mails or Facebook.
First, the protesters rallied in front of the Ukrainian Mission to the United Nations, where Gryshchenko was scheduled to have a meeting with the Ukrainian-American community. After it became clear that Gryshchenko postponed his meeting, someone came up with the idea to walk to the Russian mission to the United Nations. New York police, however, blocked the protesters and prevented them from approaching the mission.
The protesters briefly managed to reach Russian diplomats with their demands: “Get out from Ukraine!” Russians left the mission after the working day with bags of spirits and in good humor, quickly running past the yelling crowd.
“It’s just like Yanukovych’s people,” noted rally participant Taras Glum, a banker from New York. “They ignore everyone, just do what they are to do, drink and make fun of protesting people.”
The crowd was mixed. There were representatives of all four waves of Ukrainian immigration, including such renowned representatives of the older generation of Ukrainian diaspora, such as Askold Lozynskyj.
Emotions ran high. “We came here today to protest against Yanukovych, who is sending Ukraine backwards from its freedom and trying to re-unite it with Russia,” said American-born Vitold Slovyanynov, 15, of Pennsylvania. One of the oldest participants, Jan Cherniavskyy, 93, from New York, said he was protesting against Russian attempts to enslave Ukraine.
The slogans of the rally were highly dramatic: “Impeach Yanukovych!,” “Ukrainian freedom is not for sale!,” “Ukrainian independence is in danger!,” “Back to USSR!?,” “Gas in exchange for independence?!,” “Moscow, get out of Ukraine!,” “Holodomor was a genocide!”, “Yanukovych – Judah!.”
Several people with the red-and-black Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists flag chanted: “Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhkevych are heroes of Ukraine!”
The young generation of more recent arrivals was less concerned about historic issues than with the future of Ukraine. “I think the gas-fleet deal with Russia is against long term geopolitical interests of Ukraine,” said Tetiana Sears, a Columbia University graduate from Dnipropetrovsk.
“[Viktor] Yanukovych has erased everything [Viktor] Yushchenko had done in five years, but Yushchenko is responsible for giving Yanukovych his political career back, which doesn’t make sense.”
-Damian Kolodiy, a film director from New York and author of Orange Chronicles.
Many were concerned about Ukrainian economic independence. The majority of protesters claimed that they didn’t support any Ukrainian politicians since all were corrupt and non-patriotic.
Some were fans of ex-President Viktor Yushchenko. Oksana Wilder from Ivano-Frankovsk, for example, voted in the recent presidential election against all – just as Yushchenko urged to do. Others blamed Yushchenko for Yanukovych’s ascendance.
“Yanukovych has erased everything Yushchenko had done in five years, but Yushchenko is responsible for giving Yanukovych his political career back, which doesn’t make sense,” said Damian Kolodiy, a film director from New York and author of Orange Chronicles. Kolodiy suggests that, although not perfect, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko – who came within 3.5 percentage points of beating Yanukovych in the Feb. 7 election – would have been a much better president.
Protesters called for Ukrainians in Ukraine to mobilize and stop Yanukovych, who many think is violating the Constitution and selling out national interests. Several demonstrators said they are prepared to go to Ukraine to protect its independence.
Kolodiy, for example, hopes for a second revolution in Ukraine. “The real revolution will allow a revolutionary to come to power, rather than someone who represents business interests, like Yanukovych or Tymoshenko,” Kolodiy said.
Taras Glum, a banker, said that “many people feel that [revolution] is a dead-end for Ukraine’s future, but we should follow the Polish way.” He said Poland’s Solidarity movement created an alternative to the government and brought to power not politicians, but regular people, who wanted change.
Myroslava Rozdolska, president of the New Ukrainian Wave, noted that Yanukovych policies are painful for Ukrainians who live abroad and dream about returning to a democratic country. “The actions of the new Ukrainian leadership make us unite. Maybe this rally is small, but this is just the beginning. We are creating a committee of organized resistance in the United States,” Rozdolska promised.
Olena Tregub is a freelance journalist based in Washington, D.C.
