Bracia Ukraincy! Polska jest z Wami

With great courage and wisdom, the Ukrainian people display their love for freedom and democracy.
We Poles fully support your peaceful struggle.
The Polish Government and the Polish people have rejected the official results of last week's presidential elections in Ukraine. There are demonstrations throughout Poland in support of your struggle for freedom and for new elections in Ukraine. There have been demonstrations and open-air concerts in Krakow, in Warsaw, in Wroclaw, in Gdansk. There is a mass petition of support organized by Polish students. Your country is front page news in Polish nespaper and on Polish television.

We in Poland have our own earlier experiences of the difficult struggle for freedom. In particular 20 years ago we had the Solidarnosc movement. We chanted "Solidarnosc" just as you all chant "Juschenko". Many supporters of Solidarnosc in this country, Polish, British, Latvian, Ukrainian are in this crowd with you today. The Solidarnosc experience taught us that when the people pluck up the courage to stand together firmly but peacefully, Tyrannies cruble, the tanks are silent, the riot shields are laid down and power is surrendered to the people. We saw this in Poland, we saw this in Czechoslovakia, we saw this in South Africa, at the Berlin Wall, in Moscow and St Petersburg after the Yanaev coup, and most recently we saw this in Georgia.
There have been commentators, both in Russia and here, who say "Ukraine is not really a nation". It has no history. It is not ready for full independence.
That is a lie! No history? We stand before the statue of St Vladimir, christian prince of Kiev 1000 years ago! While Kiev was then one of the great cities of European civilization, London and Paris were only small towns. 1000 years ago, there was no Berlin or Vienna or Warsaw or New York. One thousand years ago there was no Moscow.
And was not Ukraine's nationhood forged in many centuries of repression, blood and suffering. In the Twentieth Century alone, many millions of Ukrainians died for their country. Who can forget the 7 million Ukrainian men, women and children delibertaly starved to death by Stalin in the great hunger of 1932 while grain collected from them rotted in the village silos?
Of course Ukraine is a nation with a history. And it deserves its independence as well as its right to choose its own leaders and its own foreign policy.

Some people say that the Ukrainians have no traditions of democracy. That is another lie! In the sixteenth century while Henry VIII, Catherine de Medici and Philip II and Ivan the Terrible were butchering their own subjects, and their own families, what the Ukrainian Cossacks doing? Electing their own leaders! That democracy was the hallmark of Ukrainian political culture through the centuries of repression.

The Russian Foreign Minister has accused Western countries of seeking to interfere in Ukrainian elections. Excuse me? Here in England we love quizes. This is a quiz question. Which foreign head of state twice visited the Ukraine during the elction campaign and urged support for one of the candidates? Was it the US President? Was it the French president? Was it the Queen of England? Was it President Putin? Well done. You win a million pounds. No comment.

Now there is more dangerous talk. Russians and some Western commentators have been saying. Divide up Ukraine. Apparently a demonstration yesterday in Dnetsk said exactly the same thing. That is worse than alie. That is treason. Why should Ukraine be denied its access to the Black Sea, and its industrial base? And its historical heartland - the Zaporozhe? Because it now wants democracy and independence? No, Ukraine must remain free united, from Lviv to Lugansk.  And that is what Poland wants for Ukraine as well.

Dear Ukrainian friends. Ignore the lies: ignore the threats. Stay steadfast with your great democratic leader, Victor Yuschenko. Our Polish hearts beat to the same rhythm as your Ukrainian hearts. We know your victory is near. And we know that your victory will be sweet. You have proved by this week's events not only that Ukraine is a nation (we knew that alrady) , but that it is a courageous and mature nation, and Poles are proud to have Ukraine as a close neighbour.

To conclude, nobody except Ukrainians should decide Ukraine's future. However if you decide that your future destiny is to work closely with Europe, then Poland will everything possible to wellcome you to the ranks of a united and democratic Europe, where you belong.
Niech zyje wolna niepodlegla demokratyczna Ukraina.

Wiktor Moszczynski

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