RFE/RL on Belarusian minority in Poland and Orthodox Church in Ukraine
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Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 19:38:49 +0200 (EET)
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Subject: RFE/RL on Belarusian minority in Poland and Orthodox Church in Ukraine
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: RFE/RL <[email protected]>
RFE/RL on Belarusian minority in Poland and Orthodox Church
in Ukraine
RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine Report
Vol. 2, No. 17, 9 May 2000
A Survey of Developments in Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine by
the Regional Specialists of RFE/RL's Newsline Team.
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HEADLINES
POLAND
* KRZAKLEWSKI HOPEFUL OF RIGHT-WING UNITY IN ELECTIONS
* POLISH-BELARUSIAN CENTER PROMOTES CIVIC INITIATIVE
IN BORDERLAND
BELARUS
* U.S. CONGRESS PASSES RESOLUTION ON BELARUS
* KGB HARASSES RFE/RL CORRESPONDENT
UKRAINE
* KUCHMA SEES NEED FOR SINGLE ORTHODOX CHURCH
* LVIV ELECTRIC TRANSPORT PARALYZED
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POLAND
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POLISH-BELARUSIAN CENTER PROMOTES CIVIC INITIATIVE IN BORDERLAND. The
Civic Education Center Poland-Belarus in Bialystok (see "End Note" in
"RFE/RL Newsline," 18 August 1998) has recently completed the program
of distributing "small grants" among the Belarusian minority in
Podlasie Province, northeastern Poland. Eugeniusz Wappa, program
director of the center, told "RFE/RL Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine
Report" that the "small grants" program was a success. The center
distributed the $25,000 that it obtained from the Ford Foundation
among more than 20 grant seekers - organizations and individuals -
that had submitted various projects oriented toward promoting civic,
educational, cultural, and publishing activities in the region.
Belarusians inhabit the eastern strip of Podlasie Province along the
border with Belarus. Major urban centers of Polish Belarusians are
Bialystok (the center of the province), Hajnowka, and Bielsk Podlaski.
Estimates of their number vary from 100,000 to 250,000, but these
figures are based on estimates of the number of Orthodox Church
believers in the region rather than on their ethnic identity (Polish
Belarusians are almost exclusively of the Orthodox faith). The region
is primarily agricultural and poor, even according to Polish
standards. A potential political, economic, and ethnic conflict in the
region may ensue because of the recent decision of the central
government to enlarge the Bialowieza National Park to include the
whole area of the Bialowieza Forest. Residents of some 10 local
communes, primarily Belarusians, who are mostly dependent on
businesses exploiting that forest's resources, fear the enlargement of
the park will strip them of their livelihood. When Environmental
Minister Antoni Tokarczuk visited the region in March, he was pelted
with eggs by people holding posters in both Polish and Belarusian
protesting the park's enlargement.
The ideas sponsored by the center included several educational
projects oriented toward promoting national awareness of young
Belarusians in the province's schools as well as in one kindergarten,
where children are taught the Belarusian language. The center also
supported a project to launch a bilingual, Belarusian-Polish monthly
in the Hajnowka district (the first issue has already appeared). Two
projects will also involve Belarusians across the border. The center
gave money to support the annual Belarusian song festival "Autumn of
Bards" in Bielsk Podlaski, which features performers> from Poland and
the Republic of Belarus. And the center subsidized the distribution of
the local Belarusian-language weekly "Niva" among readers in Belarus.
Readers in Belarus are too poor to pay subscriptions, and "Niva,"
which itself is subsidized by the Polish government, has no funds to
meet the costs of mailing to Belarus.
"We regret that there were only a few projects presented jointly by
Belarusians and Poles. This shows that interethnic relations in the
region are not very good, and that we still have a lot to do to
improve them," Wappa noted. "But on the whole, I'm satisfied with the
implementation of this small grants program. It showed us that we have
a lot of untapped civic initiative in the region and many people who
are eager to do something for their native land."
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UKRAINE
KUCHMA SEES NEED FOR SINGLE ORTHODOX CHURCH. Ukrainian President
Leonid Kuchma told journalists on Easter Sunday (30 April) that
Ukraine "desperately needs" a single Orthodox Church. Answering a
question as to when Ukraine's three Orthodox Churches might become
one, Kuchma said: "Taking into account that the Church is not under
the state, it is difficult to name the date [of unification], but we
will do everything to achieve this end."
As of 1 January 1999, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow
Patriarchate) had 7,911 parishes (nearly 72 percent of all Orthodox
communities in the country), 6,568 priests, 105 monasteries, and 5,806
religious facilities. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv
Patriarchate) had 2,178 parishes, 1,743 priests, 17 monasteries, and
1,330 religious facilities. The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox
Church had 1,022 parishes, 542 priests, two monasteries, 641 religious
facilities. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic (Uniate) Church, which is
subordinated to the Vatican, had 3,198 parishes, 2,161 priests, 73
monasteries, and 2,553 religious facilities.
Kuchma - accompanied by Premier Viktor Yushchenko, parliamentary
speaker Ivan Plyushch, and Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko - attended
Easter services at three venues: a church belonging to the Moscow
Patriarchate, another belonging to the Kyiv Patriarchate, and a Uniate
one.
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Copyright (c) 2000. RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.
RFE/RL Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine Report is prepared by Jan
Maksymiuk on the basis of a variety of sources including reporting by
"RFE/RL Newsline" and RFE/RL's broadcast services. It is distributed
every Tuesday.
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