By Vladimir Bogun, published on the website of the Communist Party of Ukraine, April 20, 2016, translated to English by New Cold War.org, May 15, 2016
The reformatting of the Ukrainian government’s coalition in the Verkhovna Rada [Parliament] has caused serious scandal around the new speaker of the Rada, Andriy Parubiy. As it turns out, he has previously used quite unflattering comments about the current main strategic partner of Ukraine [the United States], including uttering openly racist expressions.
The reason for the scandal is the publication on the Internet of a collection of articles by Parubiy dating from the 1990s titled ‘A view from the Right’ [text in Ukrainian can be accessed here]. The then-leader and co-founder of the far-right Social-Nationalist Party of Ukraine (SNPU, now the extreme-nationalist and right-wing Svoboda Party) is more than frank, and he doesn’t bother much with ‘European values’.
“Young people with tousled and dirty hair, dressed in ragged jeans who promote pacifism and a dissolute life is a result of the expansion into Ukraine of the American way of life and liberal ideology,” the current speaker of the Rada wrote in 1998.
He turned his attention to the historical roots of the European continent, highlighting in a quite original manner the unique – as he thought – Ukrainian role [in European history]. “Let’s remember the times of the Kievan Rus state [ninth to twelth centuries]. Ukraine at that time was one of the leading centers of cultural life in Europe, the greatest military power in Europe. Ukraine defended the white race from a total invasion of the Asian hordes. It confronted and stopped them. This was a great clash of two races in which Ukraine fulfilled its duty with dignity. This undermined the strength of our country but ensured a free development for other peoples of Europe. ”
Citing unnamed modern European philosophers, Parubiy writes about “the ending, the twilight” of today’s Europe, but he hope for a revival of a “white” Europe. “But many still do not lose faith in the Knight who will open the eyes of European nations in the new ideas that, like a fresh wind, will sweep over Europe. And then the white races will join forces again to combat Chaos and restore Order. This is the historical mission of Ukraine.”
The Ukrainian politician stoops to openly racist interpretations, claiming that, “The principle of inequality is inherent to nations as it is inherent to people. There are nations producing high spiritual values, giving the world geniuses of culture and science, and there are nations that are mainly the hotbed of crimes and debauchery.”
No less scandalous was another article by Parubiy titled ‘Europe of Free Nations’, published in the social-nationalist magazine Orientyry (Reference Points). It tells of the trip in 1999 of an SNPU delegation to France and Parubiy’s meeting with the then-leader of the National Front party, Jean-Marie Le Pen. (Le Pen was later expelled from the party after the saying that gas chambers were merely “a detail of the history of the Second World War”.)
“Russia and the United States are two centers of globalism that is seeking to destroy the European spirit as an enemy to [the two countries’] essence. They are seeking to destroy the identity of European nations. But they do not understand: barbarians may temporarily win, they may destroy much, but the European spirit–the spirit of the white race–cannot be destroyed. Barbarians come and go, but Europe remains Europe as a center of world civilization and spirituality, a Europe of free nations,” wrote Parubiy about his trip to France.
Later, during the ‘Orange Revolution’ events of 2004-05, Parubiy left the SNPU. But he didn’t renounce his earlier views. In 2008, he said, “Indeed, I was one of SNPU founders. Since then, my political views have not changed, nor have my ideological grounds. We had some real disagreements with Oleh Tyahnybok [the current leader of the Svoboda party and a co-founder of the SNPU in the early 1990s] during the Orange Revolution of 2004. One of the key points of difference was that I, as a politician, considered it necessary to support A. Yushchenko as president of Ukraine because I thought that his views on foreign and domestic policies were the most effective and correct for the country at that time.”
The revelations of Parubiy’s earlier views are quite scandalous and could lead to another serious loss of reputation by Ukraine in the international arena. Believe me, in any country of the European Union (which Ukraine is trying so hard to join), a politician who allows himself such racist statements would have no chance to become speaker of a Parliament.
This scandal surrounding Parubiy has received no media coverage so far. At the time of the publication of his article collection, there was no official comment from the press service of the Verkhovna Rada. The U.S. Embassy is silent, too. It would be interesting to hear what U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Jeffrey Payette would say when he learned that the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament called the people of his country “barbarians”. Will U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland meet again with Andrew Parubiy in the future?
Despite some people’s wishes, this scandal will be not silenced. Firstly, because we are talking about the second most important figure in the current state and political hierarchy of Ukraine. And secondly, Dutch opponents to the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU will not miss the chance to quote the speaker of Verkhovna Rada in the Dutch parliament, where heated debates on the results of the referendum [unsuccessful for Kyiv] have already begun.[1]
Note by translator:
[1] In a consultative national referendum on April 6, 2016, 61 per cent of Dutch voters rejected the proposed economic association agreement between Ukraine and Holland. Story here.
