JOHN MARONE, KYIV
A QUESTION OF NATIONAL PRIDE
Reports of racism and anti-Semitism in Ukraine climbed to prominence in the nation’s media last month.
Whether this had anything to do with the October 14 commemoration of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) is a matter of speculation.
On that day, a few people exhibiting Nazi symbols took part in a parade otherwise composed of Ukrainian nationalists.
It’s an historical fact that the UPA fought against the Nazis as well as the Poles and the Soviets with the stated goal of carving out an independent Ukraine.
But because some UPA leaders had served in a unit initially supported by the Germans but directed against the Red Army, the entire Ukrainian nationalist movement has been labeled as fascist - and not just by the Russians.
Some Jewish groups referred to the Oct. 14 commemoration as “a neo-Nazi parade”, and cited increasing anti-Semitism in Ukraine, including attacks on Rabbis in the regions.
Organizers of the parade said the people wearing swastikas were provocateurs, planted in the crowd to demonize the nationalists.
After decades of Soviet propaganda, demonizing nationalists isn’t hard to do in Ukraine, especially in the country’s Russian-speaking south and east.
But even in the rest of Europe, where multiculturalism has become the new creed, nationalism and even patriotism are dirty words.
The French celebrate Bastille Day, the starting point of one of the world’s bloodiest revolutions, while Americans love to wave their flags. But these independent movements – we are told – were about ideals, not ethnic groups.
The building of nations around values and principles, rather than a culture or ethnicity, is an export from the West, just like market economics and parliamentary democracy.
In Ukraine, and many other countries of Central and Eastern Europe, most feel that there is nothing wrong with the idea of a country having a ‘title nationality’.
Considering the rise of right-wing parties in Western Europe, the idea is not dead there either.
Nevertheless, when some Ukrainians want to honor those who fought against their country’s invaders – much of Western Ukraine was never a part of the Russian Empire until Stalin grabbed it – they are put in the same boat with racists, fascists and anti-Semites.
The label is given added credence by the country’s history of pogroms and, more recently attacks against people of color on city streets.
Last month, a 31-year-old Bangladeshi was murdered and robbed in Kyiv.
A year earlier, a 45-year-old Nigerian man was attacked and killed by drunken youths.
In between and before, there have been dozens of reports of non-whites being assaulted on the street.
There are also periodic reports of Jewish cemeteries being vandalized and the continual protest against xenophobic literature being handed out on the streets.
Most recently, a Jewish school in the capital was set afire.
The official police response to most of these incidents has been that they were perpetrated by hooligans.
The State Security Service, responsible for intelligence and security, announced last month that it had created a special unit to fight xenophobia and ethnic intolerance.
In August, however, the Interior Ministry announced the creation of a special unit to fight crimes perpetrated by foreigners.
As far as average citizens are concerned, an opinion poll conducted earlier this year showed that significant percentages of the population would not want to live near blacks, and think Jews don’t belong in Ukraine.
So what does all of this have to do with Ukrainian nationalism?
Everything and nothing.
Nationalism was unleashed across Eastern and Central Europe, as the Soviet empire crumbled. The same thing happened following the retreat of the Turkish and Austro-Hungarian empires after World War One.
From the ashes of these empires emerged the European states so familiar to us today. But none of this would have happened if the Croats, Poles, Hungarians, Ukrainians, etc. had not felt that they were a separate people.
They didn’t necessarily feel that they had new principles to offer the world – the way the Russians offered world communism, or the US promotes the free market.
The real engine behind the plurality we see in the modern map of Europe is a sense of identity that distinguishes one nation of people from another.
This sense of national pride doesn’t have to equate to contempt for other nationalities, particularly as most of the new states in Eastern and Central Europe encompass ethnic minorities not inclusive in the ‘title nationality’.
Nevertheless, just as Europe tries to collectively promote multiculturalism in the name of tolerance, grass-roots organizations like the skinheads and neo Nazis are springing up to challenge it.
Both Fascist youth groups and multiculturalism are imports to Ukraine, unlike the benign nationalism that fostered Ukraine’s independence movement.
Now, as the country continues to stride uncertainly along the road to reinforcing its sovereignty, the nationalist flame is always in danger of turning into a bonfire of ethnic hate.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the recent attacks against non-Ukrainians were perpetrated by young people, uncertain of their identity or place in the modern, multi-cultural world.
Of more concern are the organizations that have popped up to capitalize on this uncertainty.
The Ukrainian political party Svoboda got nearly one percent of the vote in the last parliamentary elections and already has members of city councils in western Ukraine.
Svoboda representatives make no secret of their hostility towards foreigners in Ukraine, but in this they are no different from right-wing European parties. Main stream Ukrainian youth culture is more accepting of diversity, as evidence by non-white pop stars such as the popular singer Gaitana.
But there are also more radical groups operating in Ukraine such as the Kharkiv-based Patriot organization, whose members have bragged in media interviews about rounding up illegal Vietnamese immigrants for deportation. Such rhetoric, however, speaks to a more important issue – the state of Ukraine’s law enforcement and judicial system.
If vigilantes are encroaching with impunity on the state’s executive powers, then ethnic tension isn’t the primary problem. If, on the other hand, the Ukrainian police or other law-enforcement agencies are abetting or turning a blind eye to racist attacks, then government needs to make personnel changes.
Judging by the reports on the attacks committed so far, the problem seems to be as much about official incompetence as social malaise. There could also be a geopolitical element involved, as Russian-sponsored youth groups show equal contempt for Ukrainian law. At the same time, Russian media are quick to portray nationalist groups such as the UPA as radical fascists.
It wasn’t the UPA or other fighters for Ukrainian independence who created the force of nationalism. But in helping create an independent Ukraine, they harnessed the force productively. Now the trick is to continue in the same vein. Patriotism and national pride are only as destructive as the goals they are used to achieve.
John Marone, Kyiv Post Staff Journalist, Ukraine
November 15, 2007
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