Bandera rolled over in his grave: he is no longer a Hero
On Wednesday morning, January 12, the administration of Viktor Yanukovych announced the cancellation of the decree of ex-President Viktor Yushchenko on the glorification of Stepan Bandera. However, this does not change the situation in Ukraine: the rest of Yushchenko’s decrees honoring Ukrainian nationalists remain in force.
The decree on awarding the title of “Hero of Ukraine” to Stepan Bandera was canceled by the Donetsk court. The reason was that, according to the law, the title "Hero of Ukraine" can be given only to citizens of Ukraine. But Bandera never was. In his time, Galicia was part of Poland.
The message about the cancellation of the glorification of Bandera caused a flurry of messages in the information tapes of Ukraine. The nationalist party Svoboda has already threatened with tough retaliatory steps. Party leader Oleg Tyagnibok, for example, threatens an uprising of regional councils in Western Ukraine, where Freedom has a majority.
“The further the government tightens the screws on everything Ukrainian, the stronger and tougher we will act against this regime. We use all our strengths and opportunities to protest, including appeals for civil disobedience in local governments, where there are a sufficient number of Freedom deputies, ”said Tyagnibok.
“Deprivation of the title of Heroes of the Conductors of the Independence Movement of Ukraine is a demonstration of complete disregard for millions of Ukrainians,” Roman Ilyk, leader of the Lviv organization of the Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna Party, supported him.
A different opinion is the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, Natalia Vitrenko. She notes that, even though the Bandera decree is repealed, a whole number of Yushchenko’s orders on the glorification of other nationalist figures who collaborated with the Nazis remain in force. For example, the title of “Hero of Ukraine” is still not deprived of the commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Roman Shukhevych.
“Yanukovych took the path of lesser resistance, posting on the website information about the cancellation of the decree only for Bandera. Simply, Yanukovych can no longer remain silent, but, in any case, this is hypocrisy. After all, it would be necessary to cancel all three decrees, if Yanukovych were really honest with his voters, ”she was outraged by the actions of President Vitrenko.
Viktor Yushchenko lays flowers at Stepan Bandera monument, February 2010It is noteworthy that just a couple of days ago, in the Ternopil and Lviv regions, local deputies decided to supplement the pensions of veterans of Bandera. Naturally, the cancellation of Yushchenko’s decree will not affect anything. Here, as before, Bandera and Shukhevych will be honored, and monuments should be erected to them. This is recognized in the administration of Yanukovych.
“It’s clear as day - nothing will change in relation to historical figures for many more years. Those who considered Shukhevych and Bandera heroes will remain with their conviction. Those who considered them criminals will remain with their opinions. Those who erect monuments to Stalin will love him until the end of their days. Those who blow up monuments to Stalin will always consider him a criminal. And many more centuries will pass, more than one generation will change, until people can evaluate historical figures with less emotional stress, analyzing facts and only facts, ”admits the deputy head of the presidential administration, Anna German, a native of Lviv.
Meanwhile, the abolition of the decree on Bandera has already generated a lot of speculation in Kiev. Here they are wondering - is it not an attempt to divert public attention from
something really important? Or, perhaps, Yanukovych began preparations for parliamentary elections, the date of which may be unexpectedly announced in the near future?
Another version is that Bandera was deprived of the title of hero in order to “blind” the eyes of the Kremlin, from which Ukraine seeks gas discounts. After all, on the eve of 9 in May, Yanukovych promised to cancel Yushchenko's scandalous edicts, but so far he has not done so.
Whatever it was, but there remains an intrigue around yet another trial - depriving the title of “Hero of Ukraine” Roman Shukhevych. This decree by Yushchenko is challenged by Donetsk lawyer Yuri Olentsevich. The next meeting on the case should be held 16 February.
As for the demonstrations of supporters of Bandera, the mass demonstrations of nationalists in Kiev are expected on Saturday 22 January. It is already known that thousands of activists are planning to take Yulia Tymoshenko to the streets. Representatives of other parties should also join it - the continuing arrests of “orange” officials are forcing the Ukrainian opposition to think again about unification.
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