published in Eastern Economist #397, September 11, 2001
Jerusalem has its Wailing Wall, where people from time immemorial have whispered their woes to Jehovah. Kyiv now has its own version, aimed at the Mayor, Oleksandr Omelchenko. After all, there are those who say he acts like he’s God – tossing down commandments from on high and performing ‘miracles.’
The day before school started, August 31, a group called Molod’ – nadia Ukraïny or “Youth – the Hope of Ukraine” gave a second go at setting up an impromptu “Wailing Wall” in front of City Hall. The idea behind the event at Khreshchatyk 36 is to let residents of Kyiv say what they think about the work of the Mayor’s Office.
Unlike the Jerusalem Wall, which is a solid, ancient affair, much worn by wailing and gnashing of teeth – not to mention occasional head-banging –, this little “Wall” consists of several stands with oversize newsprint flip pads. Each pad has neatly colored letters saying “Wishes,” “Complaints,” “Proposals,” “Humor about the Mayor” and so on.
“There wasn’t much response the first time we tried this, on July 31,” admits Vadym Hladchuk, 28, MNU’s president. But this time quite a few officials showed up, including most of the people from the City’s internal policy department and some higher-ups from the police department, in civvies. Of City Hall’s 75 elected officials, only three found the time to make an appearance and listen to what their electorate had to say.
A Group II invalid stepped up first and wrote on the “Wishes” pad, “Mr. Omelchenko, do us a big favor and put back the old trolley stops on Saksahanskoho. The new ones are real inconvenient.”
After him, a group of young people came up and started to pen polite little thank-you notes to “San Sanych” – Oleksandr Oleksandrovych – in classic soviet style: “Thank you for supporting scouting, particularly in Kyiv,” “Thanks from the students at KPI,” “Thanks, Mayor Omelchenko, for a beautiful city and a happy childhood.”
“From what they were saying,” says Hladchuk, “it seemed that a Youth Services official with some connection to scouting had asked them to show up.” Having done their duty, the students promptly left.
Now,the regular folks began to step up and write up their thoughts. “Pay cops more than Hr 160 [about US $30] a month.” “I’m waiting for a wiser mayor, not a city wrecker.” “Please pay some attention to Podzniaky [sic], the services are lousy. It’s like living in the Gobi Desert.”
A few elderly people wrote things like “Why don’t you all volunteer to leave office?” “Why won’t the bank give me back my savings. I’m already 80 years old.”
One Kyivite who said he’s tired of the City Budget being appropriated by officials, wrote, “The expense side of the Budget should be published on the Internet. Kyivites ought to know where their kopiyky are going.” A Mrs. Kovalenko was quite categorical: “I voted for you last time but I’m not going to vote for Oleksandr Omelchenko again. Because your [sic] a liar.”
“Make the ZhEK accountable to those who use residential services,” said one request. A businesswoman wrote, “This is Entrepreneur’s Day. What can we look forward to – more fines?” and signed it “Small Business.”
Towards the end, a teacher corrected grammar mistakes in the previous comments and added, “Raise teachers’ salaries.” Altogether, 29 different issues were commented on.
Molod’ – nadia Ukraïny is mostly known for their ongoing Vybory na Maidani or Voting on the Maidan. “People can go up and register their opinions about politicians and watch the numbers being tallied,” Hladchuk explains. “It’s like an opinion poll, except our main purpose is to demonstrate a transparent democratic process. We’re convinced that, so far, every single Ukrainian election has had many violations. ”
MNU generally likes to take on unpopular government decisions, including joining the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly and raising utility rates. One action last year involved handing out condoms to tax officials when the STA wanted to create a “district tax inspector” with wide-ranging powers to drop in and inspect premises and papers at will. “This violates human rights,” says Hladchuk.
The organization also protested in favor of removing the death penalty – and against Omelchenko’s recent ruling that all outdoor signage must be in Ukrainian only. “That’s bad for business,” says Hladchuk, “and it’s an unreasonable cost for those who have invested in English or Russian signage already.”
Altogether, the non-partisan group, which has over 2,000 members, has been active about three years. “Personally, I don’t belong to any party and we want to remain independent,” says Hladchuk. “Some members were interested in Reformy i Poriadok and Batkivshchyna, so they’ve gone over to work for those parties.”
Hladchuk himself used to have his own business, he says, but it’s impossible to run a small business today. So he put together some money to start this organization instead. MNU is now getting some funding from the National Committee of Youth Organizations, which supports all such movements – Socialists, Rukh, even the Komsomol.
Meanwhile, the Wailing Wall will take place at the end of every month, although some city officials are not pleased with its “excessively” democratic nature. In particular, says Hladchuk, Liubov Blinda, the City’s internal policy head, demanded that Mayor Omelchenko be personally informed through formal channels – although the “Young Chronicles” issue announcing the event was registered at the City Council on August 29.
At the next Wailing Wall, MNU will present her with a special gift: a copy of the Constitution of Ukraine, in the hope that city officials will start fulfilling the letter of Ukrainian law. For those of you who might want to go, that’s Sept. 30 at Khreshchatyk 36. •
–from the notebooks of Pan O.
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