Today Ukraine's parliament passed a law recognizing the 1932-1933 Holodomor [artifically created famine] as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people - ['narod', rather than natsiya - 'nation']. Public denial of this dreadful event will be consided a violation of the memory of the millions of its victims, and has been declared illegal.
The voting figures were as follows: supporting the bill were BYuT - 118 deputies, NSNU - 79 deputies, Socialists - 30 deputies, 4 independent deputies, and Party of Regions 2 - deputies. 200 deputies did not cast a vote. Interestingly, the only two PoR deputies who supported the bill were two of Yanukovych's closest advisers: Hanna German, and Taras Chornovil who even said that he may quit PoR over this most emotive of issues.
In the event 233 deputies supported the bill - a minimum of 226 votes were required for it to be passed.
PoR had proposed the famine to be considered "an evil act of the repressive totalitarian Stalinist regime, directed at mass destruction of part of the Ukrainian and other peoples of the USSR resulting in the artificial Holodomor of 1932-1933"
I guess many Ukrainians will now feel a little better whenever the Holodomor is discussed. They have done the right thing.
As the figures were flashed up on the screen in the VR I'll bet a stab of anxiety when through some of the PoR deputies. There are other divisive votes looming soon, e.g. on the budget.
PoR's leadership in the VR must have had a good idea how the vote would go. They should have been a bit smarter and allowed their deputies to vote according to their individual consciences - this would have improved their standing amongst most Ukrainians.
4 comments:
It's a good precedent and not surprising that only bigwigs with close ties to the pm would be willing to buck the party line.
dlw
ps, now hows about some news about the Kyev Mayor?
dlw
It's a good precedent and not surprising that only bigwigs with close ties to the pm would be willing to buck the party line.
dlw
ps, now hows about some news about the Kyev Mayor?
dlw
Well, given that my last comment has not appeared, it seems that this blog ruthlessly suppresses opinions contrary to the Weltanschaung of the authors. However, I just have to say how pathetic I think this law is. First, while people should be free to opine that the Holodomor was a genocide, codifying this into law is ridiculous. Worse, making it *illegal* to deny the Holodomor was a genocide downright goes against freedom of speech, and everything democracy stands for. This is a big step backwards for Ukraine. The PoR should have had the moral fortitude to stop this law in its tracks.
Are you sure they made it illegal to deny that it happened? My other sources all say they dropped that part of the bill.
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