Ukraine still undergoing revolutionary changes

By RENO DOMENICO
For the Courier-Post

As Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko prepares to arrive in Philadelphia to receive the prestigious Liberty Medal this weekend, a shadow has been cast over his political fortune.

Since political infighting forced him to sack his government, the sense of unity has vanished from his Orange Revolution.

Last month, Stephan Bandera, one of the most influential media personalities during last winter's revolution, agreed to discuss the political situation in Ukraine and talk about his family.

Bandera, 35, works as an English-language correspondent for the independent TV Channel 5 in Ukraine, but he also is the grandson of the Stephan Bandera who led the Ukrainian National Army (UPA) and was assassinated in 1959 in Munich by the KGB, the Soviet secret service. No name stirs more emotions in Ukraine than Bandera. When the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union in 1939, the elder Bandera's organization declared the independence of Ukraine. Eventually, he was arrested by the Nazis and placed in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. With the Nazis losing the war, Bandera was released and helped organize liberation activities against the Soviets in hopes of achieving Ukrainian independence. The result was a prolonged campaign against the Soviet Union that continued into the mid-1950s and ended in the last officially ordered KGB political assassination.

Taint of fascism

During the Orange Revolution, government forces continually used the Bandera name to paint the Yushchenko team with the broad brush of fascism. Bandera disputes the connection.

"My grandfather was imprisoned by the Nazis and his two brothers died in Auschwitz," Bandera said. "I'm sure my grandfather would rather have had independence by a peaceful revolution. But it was total war, and it was kill or be killed. It was very Machiavellian and, in the end, my grandfather and the UPA fought both the Nazis and the Soviets."

Bandera's father, Andriy, didn't know the family's history until after the 1959 assassination. The family had moved to Canada and in 1961 settled in Toronto. His father continued the struggle against the Soviet Union in a more diplomatic fashion.

"In 1973 my father organized a hunger strike at the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa, and in 1976 he embarrassed the Soviet Olympic officials by disclosing that they were living it up at the "bourgeoisie' Playboy Club in Montreal. Very exciting," Bandera said.

When true independence came to Ukraine in 1991, the younger Stephan Bandera could not resist. With his own family fretting, Bandera joined a group who went to Ukraine and campaigned in pro-Soviet eastern and southern oblasts for the independence referendum. Returning for the Orange Revolution, Bandera reported in the most dangerous regions of eastern Ukraine.

Bandera sees the current situation as a "tough one." But he is even more concerned about the prospects of fascism in Russia that could spill into Ukraine. It's an ironic twist for a man whose family was accused of being in league with fascists.

As our region prepares to honor Yushchenko with the Liberty Medal, it is worth remembering that the goal of the Orange revolution was not so much to elect Yushchenko.  The goal was to remove a corrupt, gangster regime.  A democratic government can always be fixed.

The writer, a vice principal at Sterling High School in Somerdale, was an international observer of the Ukrainian presidential election in December. He returned for another visit in August.

Published: September 16. 2005 6:00AM