#45_1-8

WWW.DAY.KIEV.UA
DAY AFTER DAY No.45 AUGUST 10, 2017 3
By Ivan KAPSAMUN, Valentyn TORBA,
Vadym LUBCHAK, The Day
Yevhen Hrytsiak passed away
on May 14, 2017, several
months before his 91st
birthday. His life was long
and eventful. In fact, this
veteran inmate of Soviet prison camps
cuts a legendary figure. He was a
man of intellect and moral authority,
and an old friend of Den/The Day.
Characteristically, despite the ordeals
that fell his way, Mr. Hrytsiak was a
man of the world. He was Mahatma
Gandhi’s follower and propagated
nonviolent resistance against the
existing system, the spiritual
development of society and of each
communal member. He said that
Ukrainians should discard the
customary method of using force
against force, considering that each
time it led to their fiasco.
In an interview commemorating
the 60th anniversary of the Norilsk uprising
(2013), Mr. Hrytsiak said: “I
conceived the idea of nonviolent methods
of struggle by groping in the
dark. It was after the Norilsk uprising
that I started learning Mahatma Gandhi’s
methods and those of Hindu yogis,
and became a convinced proponent of
nonviolent resistance. I realized that
all that energy exerted by people when
destroying, tearing down, and crushing
things does not bode well for them.
It is also true, however, that most
people simply don’t know about nonviolent
resistance. When our barracks
revolted, only 2 out of 45 inmates
turned out to be scabs. The rest would
stand their ground to the end. At a certain
stage, keeping all those people under
control and preventing acts of
violence became very difficult. Otherwise
the camp administration would
have reason enough to order the guards
to open fire. Keeping people from
committing acts of violence proved the
most difficult task.”
The prison camp revolt in Norilsk
(currently in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia)
began on May 25, 1953, and lasted
until August 4, 1953, involving
some 20,000 political prisoners, including
86 ethnic groups, and served
as a graphic example of nonviolent resistance
to the totalitarian system.
Historians believe that the Norilsk uprising
triggered those in Vorkuta and
Kengir, and that it was one of the reasons
behind the [Khrushchev] Thaw,
the appearance of the Sixtiers, dissidents,
and finally the Soviet Union’s
collapse. There were over 70 percent
Ukrainian inmates during the Norilsk
uprising. They struggled for
their rights and dignity, using nonviolent
methods.
“They say we lack people with
moral authority these days. Could be
true, considering that people like my
father remain to be studied, so to
say,” Mr. Hrytsiak’s daughter Marta
Hrytsiak told The Day, adding,
“During his lifetime ordinary people
from our village, neighboring villages
and oblasts wanted to meet and
talk to my dad. They’d come from various
parts of the country. He was a
folk and faith healer for some and a
clever friend who could give a piece of
advice to others. Under the Soviets,
he worked as a lawyer, legal counsel
and consultant. People would come
from all neighboring villages with
their problems and my father would
always help them – be it a statement,
appeal, or a letter from abroad (they
would bring it even without being
sure that my father knew the language).
In some cases people were notified
of an inheritance in Poland or
Canada, so my father would help
them with the required paperwork
and tell them what should be done
next, which office door to knock on.
Everybody knew him, although media
people were markedly less interested
– except Den/The Day. The editors
LESSONS
from Yevhen Hrytsiak
took a systemic interest in his Norilsk
background, philosophy, and life in
general. Fortunately, there are still
people with moral authority, but
like I said, it is necessary to take a
closer look at them and hear their life
stories.”
Den/The Day did their best to
make the name of Yevhen Hrytsiak
known all over Ukraine and far beyond
its borders. He would frequently visit
By Mykola SIRUK, The Day
The political and economic crisis
that has been gripping Venezuela
since March was top on the agenda
of the meeting of the foreign
ministers of North and South
American countries held in Lima the
night before last. The host, Peruvian
Foreign Minister Ricardo Luna summed
up the debate as follows: “What has
happened in Venezuela with the establishment
of the Constitutional Assembly
is a definite break with what we’ve seen
up until now. That’s to say, the recent
destruction of its democratic institutions
has reached a tipping point, and what we
have in Venezuela is a dictatorship.”
Oleksandra KOVALIOVA, Candidate
of Political Sciences, Transatlantic
Studies Department, Institute
of the World Economy and
International Relations, National
Academy of Sciences, Ukraine:
“Obviously, the opposition is building
up the pressure. So the crisis is being
aggravated. And the stronger the
protests are and the more the country is
being destabilized, the more acute the
economic problems become and the more
scathing the criticism of the international
community is. We can see this by the reaction
of the Organization of Latin American
States and the US which has imposed
sanctions against Venezuela.
“In my opinion, Nicolas Maduro will
hold out to the last minute and will
hardly relinquish power to the opposition
without resistance. It is difficult to say
if the situation will come to a civil war.
The point is that the opposition does not
have so many followers, although the
number of government supporters has
dwindled now.
the editorial office and the editors prepared
dozens of articles about him, his
lessons, his high ethical standards, intellect,
and worldly wisdom. There
were interviews and roundtables with
the man who had led the uprising in
Camp No. 4. Our journalists visited
Mr. Hrytsiak’s home village to make
several videos for Project Den-TV –
something no major channels seemed
to have bothered to do.
Photo from the private archives
This leader of the
Norilsk uprising
(Gulag, 1953)
would have marked
his 91st birthday
on August 9
Venezuela: dictatorship is a step away
An expert on how the Ukrainian leadership should
respond to the crisis in the Latin American country
REUTERS photo
“At the same time, a considerable part
of the population improved their financial
situation under the Hugo Chavez government,
gaining access to medicine and
education, which they could not have
done before. And his supporters may
lose a lot if the pre-socialist government
comes back to power.
“Let me recall that it was rather a
hierarchized country. The Creole upper
crust used to hold everything in their
hands, and a major part of the population
had no access to these social benefits. So
the situation is in fact very complicated.
“As for the behavior of the army in
this situation, there were isolated actions
of some groups of the former
military, so I do not think the army will
rise up. In the years since the 2002 military
coup, when there was an attempt
to overthrow Chavez, the army has been
purged and the top officers loyal to the
government remain behind. Besides,
the army is now better provided for
than other sectors.
“Indeed, the situation in the country
is very complicated and unpredictable.
But it will be right to say that this situation
will remain as it is until the elections
in 2018. The tension may continue to be
acute, but the international community
will be reacting in some other way during
the elections.”
Volodymyr VIATROVYCH, historian,
head of the Ukrainian Institute
of National Memory: “For me, a man
of moral authority is one who has
gone through some moral and physical
ordeals without turning traitor to
himself and his convictions – who
hasn’t cracked. Yevhen Hrytsiak was
such a man. He belonged to a special
generation that waged a struggle for
national independence under incredibly
difficult conditions. Some did
with arms in hand, others used nonviolent
methods. One would be perfectly
correct in describing that generation
as one of moral authority. Unfortunately,
people keep dying while
our contemporaries fail to appreciate
the role they played; they don’t often
contact them and often fail to properly
assess them. This situation should be
rectified. After all, we have their
works, interviews, and films.”
In fact, Yevhen Hrytsiak didn’t
need recognition. Ukrainians did, so
they could understand that personality
and get closer to his ideas. This is especially
true of the younger generation,
people who are into politics, who
need the right kind of guidelines.
Volodymyr Viatrovych: “One of
his most notable traits was his rock
solid civic stand. Regrettably, the
younger generation of politicians is
made up mostly of people who are
frail and eclectic, trying to adapt to
public preferences. Yevhen Hrytsiak
and others of his generation entertained
more solid persuasions. He
wouldn’t change course due to political
circumstances. We are now going
through ordeals caused by the war and
we can see that the situation is producing
an entirely different generation.
These people should seek inspiration
in personalities like Yevhen
Hrytsiak. This will help form a new
generation of Ukrainians where we
will find persons of moral authority…
Yevhen Hrytsiak demonstrated his
inner modesty, consideration, and
substantiveness (as did Yevhen Sverstiuk,
by the way). They never let
ambitions get in their way, just as no
one would ever accuse them of trying
to get any dividends from anything.
Thirst for freedom spells energy of
sorts. This energy is germane to
Ukrainians. On the other hand, any
kind of energy can be used in building
or destroying something. In other
words, energy isn’t enough. There
must be guidelines and outlooks that
will help people realize that freedom
has preserved the Ukrainian identity,
but that it has also led to anarchy in the
absence of inner discipline.”
Yevhen Hrytsiak regarded his
Ukrainian version of Paramahansa
Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi
as a major achievement. The book
had long been translated into many
languages, including into Russian,
but there was no Ukrainian version.
He did the translation and managed to
publish it.
Mridula Ghosh, Board Chair, East
European Development Institute
(Den No. 80, May 15, 2017): “I was impressed
by Mr. Hrytsiak’s incredible
composure. He looked like one of those
saints who are awakened, their eyes
shining with the knowledge of values
unknown on earth while remaining
clear with sincerity, the way a baby
looks at you. I couldn’t believe my
eyes. There was such a man in Ukraine
and the world knew so little about him.
He shared his ideas and his knowledge
about Hindu philosophy. He was
versed in Gandhi, Vivekananda, and
Tagore. Such knowledge is seldom
found among professional indologists
with their impressive academic degrees
– even among many people in India.
I was moved… Yevhen Hrytsiak
was an outstanding Ukrainian who
loved his country and never turned
traitor to it. His ideas concerning recent
events were also amazing. Every
word he said was filled with wisdom
and there was no desire for publicity,
power or material enrichment. His
phenomenon remains to be studied
within the academic circles. Einstein
said about Gandhi: ‘Generations to
come, it may well be, will scarce believe
that such a man as this one ever in
flesh and blood walked upon this
Earth.’ I think the day will come when
someone will say the same about
Mr. Hrytsiak.”