Lvivans downplay killing of nationalist composer

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Subject: Lvivans downplay killing of nationalist composer

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Lvivans downplay killing of nationalist composer 



Lvivans downplay killing of nationalist composer

By Evgenia Mussuri, Kyiv Post Staff Writer

LVIV - The Tsisarska Kava cafe in downtown Lviv doesn't look like an
ethnic battleground. The bar itself is hardly bigger than a kiosk. Its
most outstanding feature is a spacious outdoor patio where, on one
recent Sunday, several dozen people sat lazily sipping cocktails and
chatting in the hot, late-afternoon sun.

It could be any outdoor cafe in any city in the world.

But on the night of May 20, Tsisarska Kava became the scene of a fight
that, according to media outlets both inside and outside Ukraine, has
ignited ethnic tensions between Russian and Ukrainian nationals in
Western Ukraine's largest city.

The fight began when several Russian speakers attacked some people
singing Ukrainian songs, among them composer Ihor Bilozir. Severely
injured in the brawl, Bilozir died in hospital six days later.

His death sparked a brief flame of anti-Russian sentiment in western
Ukraine. Sympathizers, many nationalists among them, showed up en
masse at Bilozir's funeral, after which an angry mob vandalized the
cafe.

Since then, dozens of media reports from Russia, Ukraine and the West
have cited an increase in tension between Ukrainian and Russian
nationals in Lviv.

The people of Lviv, however, tell a different story. Tension does
exist between ethnic Russians and Ukrainians, but the conflict has
been overexaggerated for political reasons, some say.

"The death of Bilozir, who has been turned into a martyr for Ukrainian
culture, played a favorable role for extreme [Ukrainian nationalist]
parties like UNA-UNSO and Rukh," said Sergey Yevseyev, head of the
Russian Movement of Ukraine, a local group dedicated to preserving
Russian culture. "Now they're trying to manipulate the masses."

The scene of the crime itself, where patrons still converse freely in
both Russian and Ukrainian, hardly seems like a flashpoint for ethnic
hatred. That would appear to lend credence to the claims of many that
the Bilozir killing was an isolated incident that various demagogues
are intent on blowing out of proportion. 

Both Ukrainian and Russian nationals have latched onto the issue -
Ukrainians angry at the killing; Russians wary of what they describe
as a city-mandated crackdown on their culture.

Politicians on both sides are the ones making the most noise. On the
Ukrainian side, the Lviv city government passed a vague ordinance
banning the loud playing of "vulgar" foreign music for six months in
city cafes - a measure clearly targeted at Russian music. That
prompted a wave of criticism from none other than the Russian State
Duma, or parliament, which denounced what it described as Ukraine's
"policy of discrimination against the Russian language."

But all the hype has angered some local Russian leaders, who claim the
city of Lviv is playing up the issue to focus people's attention away
from the region's declining economy.

Yevseyev, of the Russian Movement of Ukraine, is one proponent of that
theory.

"Since [President Leonid] Kuchma won a second term as president, the
price of bread has doubled; the city has problems with water and
electricity; we have the highest unemployment rate in Ukraine,"
Yevseyev said. "I think the authorities have intentionally blown up
the language issue so that people forget their many social problems -
for which the authorities bear much of the blame."

Yevseyev accused the city authorities of playing into the hands of
Lviv's handful of extreme Ukrainian nationalist groups, who are
dedicated to what he calls the "de-Russification" of the region. Those
groups by no means represent the majority of Ukrainian nationals in
the region, he says.

"What de-Russification are they talking about?" Yevseyev says.
"Everything is [already] Ukrainian here. Even hospitals have signs,
'Here one must speak Ukrainian.' Yet the [de-Russification] meetings
attracted only some 60-80 people."

Few would deny that there is real tension between ethnic Russians and
Ukrainians in Lviv, which has long been a hotbed of the Ukrainian
nationalist movement. The Russian Cultural Center is constantly being
daubed with anti-Russian graffiti. Radical groups like UNA-UNSO hold
meetings in which leaders launch fiery diatribes advocating
de-Russification.

But local Russian leaders contend it's not as bad as it's been made
out to be by recent press reports. Nationalism in the region is on the
decline, they say, as evidenced by the ever-declining numbers of
people attending ultra-nationalist rallies.

"Sure, you can get insulted on the tram for speaking Russian," said
Oleg Petrov, the head of the Russian Societies Council said. "But
that's not a widespread phenomenon."

Ultra-nationalists use the language issue as their main call to arms.
After 10 years of Ukrainian independence, Russian is still the
language of choice of about half of all Ukrainians. Russian is even
more popular in the cities. All that is evidence, nationalists say,
that the forced Russification of the Soviet era is alive and well
today.

But the miserable state of Ukraine's economy has taken many peoples'
minds off nationalist issues, and the passing of time has healed old
wounds somewhat. The result is that average Lvivans want to let
bygones be bygones and get on with life.

"Learn from other cultures and do not neglect your own, [Ukrainian
poet Taras] Shevchenko used to say," said Polinka Kozachenka, a
Ukrainian national. "I think that the main task for Ukraine is to
build its own strong economy and eliminate poverty."

- from Kyiv Post, 3 August 2000
  http://kpnews.com/main.php?arid=3748



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