> >> Subject: 2/4/00: Emergency alert on pro-NATO coup in Ukraine >> Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 12:16:14 -0500 >> >> EMERGENCY ALERT! >> >> PRO-NATO COUP D'ETAT IN UKRAINE; US-BACKED >> PRESIDENT SURROUNDS PARLIAMENT WITH TROOPS; >> OPPOSITION LAWMAKERS ON HUNGER STRIKE >> >> IAC Delegation Back from Kiev Charges US Gov't Role, Calls for >> Protests to Break US Media Information Blockade >> >> Feb. 4, 2000�Troops have surrounded Ukraine's parliament. Inside >> the main hall are nearly 200 opposition deputies, some of them on >> hunger strike. They oppose rightwing president Kuchma's plan to >> abolish Ukraine's elected legislature (Verkhovnye Rada) and replace it >> with a body more compliant to his wishes. Those include bringing >> Ukraine into NATO as well as privatizing land and other measures >> demanded by the International Monetary Fund. On Feb. 1, protesters >> gathered to defend parliament were attacked by rightwing groups >> organized by the regime. >> >> US ROLE >> Before moving against his country's parliament, Kuchma held a private >> meeting with US vice president Al Gore in Washington, D.C. Kuchma >> was first elected in 1996 with considerable financial aid from the >> Soros Foundation. He was reelected last November in a vote the >> opposition charges was plagued with fraud. European Union electoral >> observers confirm many of their charges. >> >> The current confrontation began Jan. 21, when pro-NATO, pro-IMF >> deputies and their allies held an extralegal gathering in a non- >> government building at the same time as an official Rada session was >> in progress. The unconstitutional meeting voted to oust elected Rada >> speaker Oleksandr Tkachenko and deputy speaker Adam Martynyuk >> and replace them with Kuchma supporters. Attempts to remove >> Tkachenko and Martynyuk by constitutional procedures had failed in >> the Rada. Today armed guards escorting Ivan Plyush, the pro- >> Kuchma grouping's choice for speaker, forcibly seized the speaker's >> office from Tkachenko, who had refused to leave. >> >> OPPOSITION LEADERS SPEAK TO IAC >> International Action Center representatives Larissa Kritskaya and Bill >> Doares were in Kiev last week, where they visited the Rada and met >> with Tkachenko and other opposition leaders. "This crisis comes not >> from the deputies but from the president," Kuchma told the IAC >> representatives. "There is an attempt to forcibly Westernize Ukraine. >> The presidential election was determined by force, and now the >> president is using force against parliament. Kuchma's rule has brought >> ruin to our people. Now he is staging a coup d'etat to concentrate >> absolute power in his hands. Our constitution has been violated at >> every step." >> >> "Kuchma is trying to make a coup to gain absolute power," said >> Ukraine Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz. "He is acting on >> behalf of powerful private groups that support him. Since Kuchma >> came to office, Ukraine has gotten poorer but his friends have gotten >> rich. They now want to get even richer by selling shares in land and >> grabbing control of basic industries like steel, petrochemicals and even >> oil and gas, which is now forbidden to be privatized." >> "It is obvious that the United States has designed the Ukraine's >> political landscape," Oleg Grachev, Kiev regional secretary of the >> Communist Party of Ukraine (KPU), told Kritskaya and Doares. >> "You cannot speak about injustice and electoral falsification in this >> country without speaking of the domination of the International >> Monetary Fund." >> >> INTERNATIONAL ACTION CENTER CONDEMNS US ROLE >> "The US-backed presidential coup in Ukraine is of a piece with the >> bloody war against Yugoslavia and the occupation of Kosovo," the >> International Action Center charged in a statement issued today. "It is >> part of NATO's drive to the east. The White House and Pentagon >> want to bring Ukraine into NATO, which is a dangerous step toward >> a new and larger war. This must be seen in the context of the revival >> of Star Wars and the plans to base nuclear weapons in Hungary. >> Washington also wants to crush any opposition in to the dictates of the >> International Monetary Fund in Ukraine and the other former Soviet >> republics. We must not allow a repeat of the events in Chile in 1973, >> with Kuchma as Pinochet." >> >> WALL STREET RULES >> With nearly 50 million people, Ukraine is the second-largest former >> Soviet republic. It was one of the USSR's most productive agricultural >> and industrial regions. Today, like other former Soviet republics, it has >> been devastated by "economic restructuring" dictated by the >> International Monetary Fund. Since the fall of the USSR, Ukraine's >> industrial production has dropped 70 percent. Its population has fallen >> by 2 million in just the past two years. The old-age pension is $13 a >> month and millions of workers are not being paid. While hunger stalks >> many regions, one-third of the state budget goes in interest payments >> to Western banks. The country's debt has risen 30 times since >> Kuchma took office in 1996. >> >> The Kuchma regime has tried to create a fascist-like atmosphere by >> exploiting divisions similar to those used to break up Yugoslavia. It >> has tried to whip up bigotry against the large Russian minority (one >> quarter of the population) among the Ukrainian majority. Soviet-era >> books have been burned in public squares and opposition activists >> attacked by fascist gangs. The regime's nationalist pose does not stop >> Wall Street from dictating its economic policy. It has agreed to raise >> food and fuel prices, rents and gas and electricity rates on a schedule >> dictated by the International Monetary Fund. >> >> MARKED BALLOTS AND HAND GRENADES >> KPU general secretary Petro Simonenko, who calls for Ukraine to >> withdraw from the IMF, was the runner-up in November's >> presidential election. He got an official 38 percent of the vote. The >> KPU brought evidence of marked ballots, ballot-box stuffing and vote >> buying to Ukraine's criminal court but was told such matters were >> outside the court's jurisdiction. In the first round of the presidential >> election, Progressive Socialist Party candidate Natalia Vitorienko, >> who also condemns the IMF, was injured by a hand grenade tossed >> into a rally she was addressing. >> >> IAC CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL PROTESTS >> "The US corporate media, which so obediently repeated Pentagon- >> State Department lies about Kosovo, appears to have imposed an >> information blockade on the events in Ukraine and US involvement >> there" the IAC statement concluded. "We must break that blockade. >> The democratic forces in Ukraine deserve the support of antiwar and >> justice-loving people in this country and around the world." >> >> The IAC called for protests to be sent to President Kuchma via the >> embassy of Ukraine in Washington at telephone 202-333-0606 or fax >> 202-333-0817. >> >> International Action Center >> 39 West 14th Street, Room 206 >> New York, NY 10011 >> email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> http://www.iacenter.org >> phone: 212 633-6646 >> fax: 212 633-2889 >> >> ______________________________________________________ >> >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >Cuba SI: http://www.egroups.com/group/cubasi/ >Imperialism NO! Venceramos! >Information and discussion about Cuba. >Discussion of the path of Ernesto Che Guevara. > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >Valentine's Day Shopping Made Simple. 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