We, the below citizens of Ukraine as well as foreign citizens of Ukrainian descent, are a group of researchers, journalists, editors, publicists, experts, activists, lecturers, etc.
As such, we are professionally engaged in the monitoring, analysis and interpretation of Ukrainian politics. Over the last years, we have been following the statements and actions of the former Social-National Party of Ukraine which calls itself today All-Ukrainian Union Freedom (Svoboda). Based on our and other specialists’ observations and investigations, we call upon the leaders of Ukraine’s democratic opposition to re-consider the inclusion of Svoboda into the Committee Against Dictatorship, and further collaboration with this party.
Oleh Tiahnybok’s party calls itself Freedom. Yet, it is a fundamentally anti-liberal party that has frequently, openly and explicitly rejected core political and economic freedoms.
Representatives of Svoboda regularly pose as tolerant democrats on TV: Yet, there are signs that the party’s fundamental beliefs are marked by intolerance towards minorities, and striving towards an exclusive form of ethnocracy.
Tiahnybok and Co. demonstratively cherish the resistance of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army resistance against Nazi occupation of Ukraine: Yet, some Svoboda members have been displaying a more than academic interest in the writings of representatives of Germany’s fascist movement.
Svoboda claims to be a pro-European party: Yet, its ethnocentric and homophobic world view is, in a number of ways, the exact opposite of the principles upon which post-war European integration is built.
Svoboda claims to be a typically European party: Yet, it belongs to the ultra-nationalist Alliance of European National Movements that includes some of the EU’s most extremely right-wing parties which are sources of embarrassment, disgust and shame for most Europeans.
The Union Svoboda calls itself All-Ukrainian: Yet, it remains a regionally based party that divides rather than unites Ukraine, as shown by the disparity of its electoral results in Galicia, on the side, and the rest of Ukraine, on the other.
Tiahnybok’s party poses as Ukraine’s most resolute defender against Russian irredentism and colonialism: Yet, it is indirectly helping Moscow’s neo-imperial schemes as its public activities and strident statements tend to deepen the estrangement between, and promote separatist sentiments in, Western and Southern/Eastern Ukraine.
Svoboda presents itself as the most consistent opponent of Yanukoych’s semi-authoritarian regime: Yet, its leaders are frequently invited to voice their views on TV channels linked to the Party of Regions.
Svoboda claims to support Ukrainian democracy and Western integration: Yet, its ambivalent stance towards Ukraine’s liberal tradition, Jewish heritage, relations to Poland, multicultural society as well as numerous other issues indicate that Svoboda’s understanding of democracy and the West is peculiar, to say the least.
For these and other reasons, we think that Svoboda is an unsuitable member of the Committee Against Dictatorship, and suggest to the leaders of Ukraine’s democratic opposition to re-consider their partnership with this party.
We have nothing to say to those voters of Svoboda who support this party because they hold racist, anti-Semitic or xenophobic views.
Yet, we would like to appeal to those Ukrainian voters who are in favor of Ukraine’s European perspective. We understand that you may have cast your vote for Svoboda in protest against President Viktor Yanukovych’s anti-European policies. However, Svoboda’s further rise will not help, but undermine Ukraine’s incorporation into Europe, deepen our home country’s isolation, and further damage its image in the world. It will complicate the domestic consolidation, geopolitical stabilization and international integration of the young Ukrainian state.
If Svoboda did not exist, the Kremlin would have to invent a party like it: Svoboda is Ukraine’s enemies’ perfect instrument to act according to the rule "divide et impera" (divide and rule).
Support for Svoboda’s candidates by pro-democracy opposition parties in the upcoming parliamentary elections may be used by the authorities and Party of Regions to discredit Ukraine’s democratic opposition, and to thereby reverse the declining support for Yanukovych and his party in the Eastern and southern part of Ukraine. In view of this scenario, any form of alliance with Svoboda is likely to result not in gains, but in losses for, or even in a defeat of, the democratic opposition in October 2012.
We ask Ukraine’s politicians to abstain from endorsement of Svoboda’s candidates in majoritarian races, and from forming unified electoral lists with Svoboda representatives. While participation in joint opposition rallies with Svoboda may be unavoidable, we ask all responsible Ukrainian political leaders to refrain from permanent partnerships and deeper affiliations with this political force that harms Ukraine’s fundamental national interests.
We ask all Ukrainians in favor of a democratic, tolerant, open and inclusive Ukrainian society to express their disagreement with Svoboda’s ideology.
Signatories:
Natalia Amelchenko, associate professor, Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Maksym Butkevych, journalist, co-coordinator, Social Action Centre No Borders Project, Ukraine
Vasyl Cherepanyn, senior Lecturer, Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Oleksandr Demyanchuk, professor & chair, Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Volodymyr Dubrovskiy, senior economist, Center for Socioeconomic Research CASE, Ukraine
Yevhen Finkel, doctoral researcher, University of Wisconsin – Madison, United States
Oleksandr Fisun, professor & chair, Kharkiv National V. Karazin University, Ukraine
Kyrylo Halushko, Cand. Sc. hist., Head, Ukrainian Academic Society, Ukraine
John-Paul Himka, Ph. D., professor, University of Alberta, Canada
Serhiy Hirik, Post-Graduate Researcher, M.Hrushevsky Institute of Ukrainian Archeography and Source Studies, Ukraine
Oleksandr Ivashyna, senior lecturer, Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Valeriy Khmelko, professor, Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Oksana Kis, senior research fellow, NANU Institute of Ethnology, Ukraine
Serhiy Kiselyov, associate professor, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Karyna Korostelina, associate professor, George Mason University, United States
Oleh Kotsyuba, doctoral researcher, Harvard University, United States
Nadiya Kravets, Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, United States
Ostap Kryvdyk, policy analyst, Board Member, Kyiv Independent Media Trade Union, Ukraine
Serhiy Kudelia, visiting scholar, George Washington University, DC, United States
Taras Kuzio, honorary senior fellow, University of Toronto, Canada
Viacheslav Likhachev, program director, Congress of National Communities of Ukraine
Evhen Mahda, political analyst, Ukraine
Yuriy Makarov, host TVi channel and observer Ukrainskiy Tyzhden, Ukraine
Yuriy Matsiyevsky, Fulbright Scholar, Kennan Institute, Washington, United States
Mykhailo Minakov, associate professor, Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Andriy Mokrousov, executive editor, journal Krytyka, Ukraine
Svitlana Oksamytna, associate professor & dean, Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Oleksandr Polyanichev, postgraduate researcher, European University at St. Petersburg, Ukraine
Oleksiy Poltorakov, senior consultant, People Committee on National Security, Ukraine
Kyrylo Savin, head, Kyiv Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, Ukraine
Anton Shekhovtsov, European Fellow, University of Northampton, United Kingdom
Oxana Shevel, assistant professor, Tufts University, Medford, United States
Viktoria Siumar, journalist, executive director, Institute of Mass Information, Ukraine
Ivan Soiko, associate professor, Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University, Ukraine
Inna Sovsun, senior lecturer, Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Ihor Todorov, professor, Donetsk National University, Ukraine
Vadym Triukhan, National Academy of Public Administration, Ukraine
Taras Voznyak, editor-in-chief, independent culturological journal "Ji," Ukraine
Kataryna Wolczuk, senior lecturer, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
Olena Yatsunska, associate professor, Mykolayiv Regional Center for Local Government Development, Ukraine
Volodymyr Yermolenko, senior lecturer, Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Serhiy Zhuk, associate professor, Ball State University, Muncie, United States
Tetyana Zhurzhenko, Shklar Fellow, Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, United States