MINELRES: RFE/RL: Largest Ukrainian opposition newspaper closed on charges of anti-Semitism

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 23, Part II, 5 February 2004 


LARGEST UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION NEWSPAPER CLOSED ON CHARGES OF
ANTI-SEMITISM

By Jan Maksymiuk

	Judge Iryna Saprykina of the Shevchenkivskyy District Court
in Kyiv on 28 January ordered the closure of the opposition newspaper
"Silski visti" after finding it guilty of fomenting interethnic
strife in an article last year on Jews in Ukraine. The article,
titled "Jews in Ukraine Today: Reality Without Myths," was penned by
Vasyl Yaremenko, whom Ukrainian media identify as a professor of the
Interregional Academy for Personnel Management.
	The court's ruling has prompted an outcry of indignation on
the part of the opposition -- Our Ukraine, the Socialist Party, and
the Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc -- which believes the presidential
administration was behind the closure of the largest opposition
newspaper, which has a circulation of some 520,000, in the
presidential-election year. While not denying that the closure might
play into the hands of the government, many Ukrainian observers agree
that the court's decision is fully supportable. Yaremenko's article,
which was published by "Silski visti" on 30 November, can doubtless
be categorized even by non-jurists as rabidly anti-Semitic.
	Yaremenko's lengthy piece of writing is in fact a follow-up
to another that he published in "Silski visti" on 15 November 2002 --
"The Myth of Ukrainian Anti-Semitism." Yaremenko quotes copiously
from letters from those readers of his first article who supported
his point of view. His main thesis is that Jews in Ukraine are a
privileged national minority and actually run the country by
controlling its mass media, finances, and key economic sectors. Any
attempts to oppose this situation or even to point out that such a
state of affairs exists, Yaremenko argues, are presented without
delay in the media controlled and/or owned by Jewish oligarchs as
manifestations of Ukrainian anti-Semitism and Judophobia. All
television channels in Ukraine, Yaremenko says, are in the hands of
"Zionists," and Ukrainians are forced to feed on "informational and
spiritual products of the Jewish ideological kitchen." He includes
oligarchs Viktor Medvedchuk, Hryhoriy Surkis, Viktor Pinchuk, Vadym
Rabynovych, and Yukhym Zvyahilskyy in a much longer list of
"Zionists" in Ukraine. According to Yaremenko, "nearly one-third" of
the Verkhovna Rada deputies are Jews. He satirizes the Ukrainian
parliament by saying that it is now in the process of transforming
itself into an "Israeli Knesset" or Ukraine's "central synagogue."
	Yaremenko's "historical" excursions are much more aggressive.
He claims that Jews "organized" the tragic 1932-33 famine in Ukraine
to take "revenge" on millions of Ukrainians. Moreover, Yaremenko
asserts that millions of Ukrainians were killed in 1937-38 by the
NKVD, which he claims was run by "leaders of Zionism" and comprised
99 percent Jews. He also says that Ukraine was invaded during World
War II by German fascists along with a 400,000-strong "horde of
Jewish SS men."
	A lawsuit against "Silski visti" was brought by an
organization called the International Antifascist Committee. The
newspaper argued in court that Yaremenko's article -- which was
excerpted from his previously published book -- was printed as a
separate leaflet in addition to the main issue to advertise the book.
Under the press law, the editors claimed, newspapers are not
responsible for the content of advertisements they print. But Judge
Saprykina told the 31 January-6 February issue of "Zerkalo nedeli"
that there was no mention whatsoever in the 30 November issue of
"Silski visti" of Yaremenko's text being an advertisement. Saprykina
added that Ukraine's press law unambiguously stipulates the closure
of publications that foment racial, ethnic, or religious antagonisms.
Saprykina also said her ruling does not mean that "Silski visti" will
cease to appear immediately -- appeals against her verdict might
prolong the life of the newspaper for at least a year, if not
overturn it altogether.
	The "Silski visti" case -- apart from the issues of
anti-Semitism and of restrictions on the freedom of expression in
Ukraine's public life -- has also brought to the fore the issue of
the democratic credentials of the Ukrainian opposition. It has not
passed unnoticed by Ukrainian observers that the opposition, while
protesting the closure of "Silski visti," did not touch upon the
content of Yaremenko's outpourings. A statement signed by Our Ukraine
leader Viktor Yushchenko says the closure is a "manifestation of
totalitarian policy" of the government vis-a-vis undesirable media
and accuses the court of following instructions of the authorities to
eliminate the opposition media outlet. "We condemn the cynical
reprisal against the opposition newspaper and express our support for
the 'Silski visti' editors," reads the concluding phrase of Our
Ukraine's statement. The statement does not include a single word of
reference to, let alone condemnation of, Yaremenko's shameful
article.
	It is not difficult to guess that if Yushchenko remains
silent on Yaremenko's anti-Semitic escapade in "Silski visti," he
will risk -- at best -- a loss of the sympathy and support of many
circles in the West that see him as a Ukrainian exponent of Western
democratic values and principles. At worst, he might be accused of
harboring anti-Semitism and trying to exploit it for his political
purposes. In a situation where the overwhelming majority of
Ukrainians live in glaring poverty and some of the country's most
notable and fabulously rich oligarchs are of Jewish origin, it cannot
be ruled out that anti-Semitism might become a political tool for
mobilizing support in the presidential election for some parties in
the Our Ukraine bloc. Then, the image of Yushchenko as a rabid
nationalist -- which is being laboriously presented to the electorate
by the Communists and pro-government forces alike -- might also be
supplemented with anti-Semitic features.

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