Форма входа
Читем онлайн ГУЛаг Палестины - Лев Гунин
Шрифт:
-
+
Интервал:
-
+
Закладка:
Сделать
pogrom-prone, and Christian (to the question "What kind of Christian?" we almost expect Mr.
Safer to ask "You mean Ukraine has more than one kind?"). And so when Mr. Safer speaks, he does
not report what he has recently observed in Ukraine, but rather reads off from his internal
image. He goes to Ukraine not to study it, not to report on its reality, but merely to provide
a backdrop for the proclamation of his own preconceptions, of his own prejudices so deeply
rooted that confirmation scarcely seems necessary, of his own stereotypes so apparently
unchallengeable that the anticipation that they might be in error does not enter consciousness.
(13) Peasants with nuclear weapons. Mr. Safer states: "Uneducated peasants, deeply
superstitious, in possession of this bizarre anomaly: nuclear weapons capable of mass
destruction thousands of miles away!"
This is one piece of information that I did find both newsworthy and disquieting. Although it
requires us to lay aside data indicating that American education is inferior to Ukrainian, we
cannot but be persuaded that the farmers shown in the broadcast were indeed both uneducated and
deeply superstitious - one look at their weatherbeaten faces and deep wrinkles and I was
convinced.
The information is so alarming and the threat to world stability so great that I expect Mr.
Safer must have immediately telegraphed President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine to inform him that
the uneducated and deeply superstitious peasants had seized control of Ukraine's nuclear
weapons, and to urge him to recapture the weapons and place them back under the control of the
educated and less-deeply-superstitious peasants.
Who can argue with Mr. Safer's syllogism here? - Old and wrinkled people are uneducated and
deeply superstitious. Here is an old and wrinkled person who may or may not be Ukrainian.
Therefore, it is dangerous for Ukraine to have nuclear weapons. Out of respect for Mr. Safer's
personal vulnerability, I will refrain from demonstrating the retargetability of this syllogism.
But to be fair to Mr. Safer, he did not really say that the peasants were in possession of the
nuclear weapons - what he actually said was that they were in possession of an anomaly. This is
an unfamiliar concept, and I cannot get my mind around it - what does it mean to say that
someone is in possession of an anomaly? Perhaps what it means in this case is simply this
that Mr. Safer sensed that even the uncritical 60 Minutes viewer at whom he was aiming his story
wasn't going to believe that the Ukrainian peasants had gotten control of the nuclear weapons,
and so the thing to do was to speak gobbledygook - to suggest that they did but without actually
saying it.
(14) Why leave Ukraine? Mr. Safer suggests that the explanation of Jewish emigration from
Ukraine is anti-Semitism: "The [anti-Semitic] message is clear to Lvov's Jews. They're leaving
as quickly as they can get exit permits."
I can think of an alternative interpretation. It is that given the catastrophic and
deteriorating economic situation in Ukraine, practically everybody in the country wants to
leave, but it is disproportionately Jews who can afford to and who are allowed to. Anybody who
is emigrating from Ukraine today is, in comparison to the average Ukrainian, both wealthy and
influential. Iosef Zissels, co-president of the Association of Jewish Organizations and
Communities of Ukraine as well as co-president of Va'ad (Confederation of Jewish Communities of
the Former Soviet Union) has stated that: "Many Jews are emigrating from Ukraine, not because of
anti-Semitism, but because of the unstable situation in Ukraine. They see instability in
Ukraine, as well as in all the former republics of the Soviet Union, as lasting a long time"
(Ukrainian Weekly, January 26, 1992).
(15) Symon Petliura. Mr. Safer tells us that "Street names have been changed. There is now a
Petliura Street. To Ukrainians, Symon Petliura was a great General, but to Jews, he's the man
who slaughtered 60,000 Jews in 1919."
But that is not what happened and it is irresponsible to broadcast such an accusation.
Of course here as elsewhere, the 60 Minutes numbers may be somewhat inflated - Orest Subtelny
gives us a more moderate range of 35,000 to 50,000 Jewish fatalities (Ukraine: A History, 1994,
p. 363), though even the lower bound of 35,000 is still a horrendous number. The main point,
though, is that in 1919, Ukraine was in a state of civil war. Two Russian armies - the
Bolshevik Red Army and the anti-Bolshevik White army - were rampaging through the country, and
both were killing Jews. The White Army, in particular, had an official policy of killing Jews,
proceeded to do so in an organized and methodical manner, and can be credited with the majority
of the victims:
The Ukrainian pogroms differed from those of the Whites in two ways: in
contrast to the premeditated, systematic undertakings of the Russians, they
were spontaneous outbursts of demoralized and often drunken irregulars, and
they were committed against the express orders of the high command. Unlike the
White Russian generals such as Anton Denikin, the Ukrainian socialists,
especially the Social Democratic party to which Petliura belonged, had a long
tradition of friendly relations with Jewish political activists. Therefore,
the Directory renewed Jewish personal-cultural autonomy, attracted prominent
Jews such as Arnold Margolin and Solomon Goldelman into its government,
appropriated large amounts of money for pogrom victims, and even negotiated
with the famous Zionist leader Vladimir Zhabotinsky about the inclusion of
Jewish police units into its army.
But while Petliura's attitudes towards the Jews might have been
well-intentioned, he was unable to control the otamany (the court-martial and
subsequent execution of Semesenko and other partisan leaders did not improve
the situation), and their dreadful deeds were associated with his government.
And because many Jews considered themselves to be Russians, they found it
easier to lay all the blame for the pogroms on Petliura and the Ukrainians
rather than on Denikin and his Russian generals. (Orest Subtelny, Ukraine: A
History, 1994, pp. 363-364).
The Jewish accusation against Petliura is that maybe he could have done more to prevent the
pogroms. Well, maybe and maybe not. In any case, it is not fair for 60 Minutes to describe a
man who implemented vigorous measures to protect Jewish interests and to stop the pogroms - but
maybe could have done more - as "the man who slaughtered 60,000 Jews." Further insight into
Symon Petliura's attitudes may be gleaned from the Petliura page on the Ukrainian Archive.
(16) Blessing the SS. Mr. Safer informs us that "for this reunion [of Galicia Division veterans
in Lviv recently], Cardinal Lubachivsky, head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, gave his
blessing, just as a predecessor did to the SS more than 50 years ago." The blessing of this predecessor was likely the blessing of Bishop Kotsylovskyi and was a blessing of the Galicia
Division, which as we have seen above was not quite the same thing as the German SS.
(17) The immaturity of blaming others. Mr. Safer tells us that "Western Ukraine also has a
long, dark history of blaming its poverty, its troubles, on others." Of course, no evidence of
any unusual tendency to blame others is provided - but then the sharing of hatred such as Mr.
Safer's is not an evidentiary matter, but is rather the warm feeling you get when you pass along
a stereotype and your partners in hatred accept the stereotype without asking for evidence.
But we may ask Mr. Safer just what it was that he might have had in mind. Perhaps it was the
Ukrainian Holocaust that Ukraine should accept as its own fault and stop blaming others for?
Perhaps it was the devastation wrought during the Second World War that Ukraine should start
accepting as its own fault? Or maybe it was the eight decades of Moscow's strangulation of
Ukraine's economy that Ukraine has really no one to blame for but itself? Ukraine has so many
such calamities to choose from that it is impossible to guess - perhaps Mr. Safer would be kind
enough to simply tell us precisely which of them he thinks it is that Ukraine should be mature
enough to accept responsibility for having brought upon itself.
(18) Dividing Ukraine. 60 Minutes gave the impression that its story focussed solely on Western
Ukraine, when in fact a portion of it came from Central Ukraine. Rabbi Bleich's full title, for
example, is not "Chief Rabbi for the Ukraine," but rather "Rabbi of Kiev and Ukraine," (where
Kiev is in central Ukraine) and although 60 Minutes gave the impression that he was interviewed
in Lviv, he was in reality interviewed in Kiev. Similarly, while Mr. Safer was in the middle of
interviewing representatives of the Ukrainian Catholic church in Lviv and was saying "The
Cardinal's deputy, Monsignor Dacko, denies traditional anti-Semitism in the Ukraine....", the
viewer was being shown St. Volodymyr's cathedral which unlike Monsignor Dacko was in Kiev and
which unlike Monsignor Dacko is Orthodox rather than Catholic. I suppose that 60 Minutes
committed itself to the scene-setting introduction "... and the West, where we go tonight ...",
and then suppressed the Kiev origin of some of its material so as to give the story the
appearance of having a consistent locale; and perhaps as well 60 Minutes wished to restrict its
smearing to Western Ukrainians so as to promote divisions within the country.
(19) Freedom from slavery is too much freedom (for Ukrainians, anyway). The title of the 60
Minutes broadcast, "The Ugly Face of Freedom" is puzzling. The freedom being referred to must
be the freedom from Russian rule, and so the title suggests that Ukraine would be better off
back within the Russian empire.
But Morley Safer's suggestion is inappropriate for three reasons. First, anti-Semitism is
strong in Russia and weak in Ukraine (Ukraine has no counterpart of either Pamyat or
Zhirinovksy), and so it is unclear how falling back under Russian rule would assist Ukraine in
avoiding anti-Semitism. Second, Ukraine's current problems are more rationally seen as being
the result not of too much freedom, but of too little - specifically, Ukraine's problems are the
result of continuing to be ruled by the old Communist nomenklatura that had originally been
appointed from Moscow and that presently is robbing the country blind while obstructing economic
reform. A weak economy, in turn, affects Ukrainian-Jewish relations by inviting scapegoating
from each group against the other and by promoting Jewish emigration out of Ukraine. Thus, it
is not too much freedom, but rather the absence of freedom from rule by Moscow's appointees that
most stands in the way of good Ukrainian-Jewish relations. Third, it is surprising to hear an
American objecting to freedom from slavery. Some 60 Minutes viewers will notice that Mr. Safer
objects to it on behalf of other people and not on behalf of Americans. I expect that if anyone
were to argue that American anti-Semitism or America's low quality of education or America's
high crime rate is the result of America having broken away from England, Mr. Safer would not
agree. I expect also that if England had been guilty of the horrific crimes against America
that Russia has been guilty of against Ukraine, Mr. Safer would find the suggestion odious. In
fact, Mr. Safer's suggestion is as odious to Ukrainians as would be the suggestion that Israel
would be better off under German rule would be odious to Jews. No, Mr. Safer's suggestion is
more odious - this because Berlin today is not ruled by former Nazis, whereas Moscow today is
ruled by people who just a few years ago were ardent Communists and who today continue to be
ardent imperialists.
CONTENTS:
Preface
The Galicia Division
Quality of Translation
Ukrainian Homogeneity
Were Ukrainians Nazis?
Simon Wiesenthal
What Happened in Lviv?
Nazi Propaganda Film
Collective Guilt
Paralysis of the Comparative
Function
60 Minutes' Cheap Shots
Ukrainian Anti-Semitism
Jewish Ukrainophobia
Mailbag
A Sense of Responsibility
What 60 Minutes Should Do
PostScript
Ukrainian Anti-Semitism
Is there any? Of course there is. Anti-Semitism is universal. Ukraine has some, just as does
the United States or Canada or Israel. But is there more anti-Semitism in Ukraine than
elsewhere? 60 Minutes said so - as much as said that Ukraine leads the world in anti-Semitism
but failed to provide any evidence of this, and in fact does not seem to be aware of how to go
about obtaining such evidence.
The American Jewish Committee did a better job - it sponsored a survey in 1992 about attitudes
toward Jews in the republics of the former Soviet Union, and its findings do not support 60
Minutes' allegations:
Based on the total of anti-Jewish responses to items appearing in the
questionnaire, the rank order of the states from most hostile to least hostile
toward Jews in 1992 is as follows: Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Lithuania,
Azerbaijan, Russia, Latvia, Ukraine, Moldova and Estonia. (Ukrainian Weekly,
June 21, 1992, p. 6)
Worthy of note, too, is that between 1990 and 1992, attitudes toward Jews became more negative
in all of the above republics, with the exception of Ukraine and Moldova, in which two republics
the attitudes became more positive. The failure of Ukraine to rank high on anti-Jewish
responses in this survey should have been noted by 60 Minutes, as should the improvement in
attitudes from 1990 to 1992. Instead of applauding the reality of favorable Ukrainian attitudes
toward Jews, and the reality that they are getting even better, 60 Minutes seemed bent on
encouraging their deterioration.
And, if 60 Minutes had wanted personal testimony concerning Ukrainian attitudes toward Jews to
bolster the dry facts coming from the opinion poll, then it could have consulted any number of
На этой странице вы можете бесплатно читать книгу ГУЛаг Палестины - Лев Гунин бесплатно.
Похожие на ГУЛаг Палестины - Лев Гунин книги
- Архипелаг ГУЛАГ. Книга 1 - Александр Солженицын - Русская классическая проза
- Оркестр меньшинств - Чигози Обиома - Русская классическая проза
- Вы, доктор - Лев Гунин - Русская классическая проза
- Княжна Тата - Болеслав Маркевич - Русская классическая проза
- Дао жизни: Мастер-класс от убежденного индивидуалиста - Ирина Мицуовна Хакамада - Русская классическая проза
- Яблоки из сада Шлицбутера - Дина Ильинична Рубина - Русская классическая проза
- Камни поют - Александра Шалашова - Альтернативная история / Русская классическая проза
- Детство - Максим Горький - Русская классическая проза
- Антоновские яблоки - Иван Бунин - Русская классическая проза
- О современном состоянии русского символизма - Александр Блок - Русская классическая проза