Nov 26

Nov 26 Holodomor

Chicago, Demonstrations, Protest, Public Declarations

To everything there is a season. Or so proclaims the Bible (Ecclesiastes 3, as well at the Byrds). While demonstrations and rallies do happen year-round—take, for example, the first Woman’s March that followed in the wake of Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration—most occur before the Hawk races down Chicago’s cavernous street ways, chilling pedestrians to the bone. Organizers are usually unable to generate turnout during Chicago’s long winter, particularly in the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, when the populace is distracted by turkey, tinsel, travel, and wanton expenditures on gifts.

But then there are the Ukrainians. If their brothers and sisters in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Kherson can deal with no heat or water for days on end, Chicago’s Ukrainian community could bear the cold for a couple of hours on a Saturday night; at least that is what the organizers must have assumed when they scheduled tonight’s rally in Jane Byrne Park under Chicago’s Old Water Tower. No doubt the 250 or so people who showed up would have turned out had temperatures dropped into the teens, but tonight they received a brief reprieve from the winter chill, as the temperature hovered in the low 40’s.

Once again, the Ukrainians proved that they know how to stage an event. At prior demonstrations, I’ve heard air raid sirens, seen colorful smoke, encountered blood-splattered baby dolls, and stood among at least 100 woman dressed in white who fell to the ground on cue, simulating death in Ukraine. Tonight, the women came with white cloth covering their eyes, while holding signs demanding that we “Open Our Eyes” to Russian atrocities.

The speakers pulled no punches during their carefully prepared and forcefully delivered remarks. Unlike the speakers at many of the abortion rights demonstrations I have covered this year, the Ukrainians stuck to their knitting. No extraneous and potentially alienating demands for social equity, student debt relief, LGBQTI+ rights, affordable housing, or defunding the police. The focus was squarely on Russia’s aggression and the atrocities it has perpetrated. The speakers demanded that Russia be designated a terrorist state. They pleaded for more arms from the U.S. and its allies.

I was particularly impressed when speakers standing on the steps leading up to the Old Water Tower sang the U.S. National Anthem. Loud, joyous, and forceful—like they meant it. Many of those assembled joined in. Dual patriotism. Exemplars for American sports fans, many of whom don’t even know the words.

Much of the focus of tonight’s demonstration was on what the Ukrainians refer to as Holodomor, or “death by hunger.” From 1932 to 1933, Stalin used famine as a weapon. Although Stalin’s intentions aren’t entirely clear, he may have been trying to suppress a Ukrainian independence movement. Somewhere between 3 million and 10 million died. Tonight the Ukrainians demanded that Stalin’s effort be labeled “genocide.” They also criticized the New York Times for its contemporaneous coverage of the 1932-33 famine. Times foreign correspondent Walter Duranty put a gloss on Stalin’s atrocities, claiming that journalists had to toe the party line. For his now controversial efforts, Duranty won a Pulitzer Prize, which some people have demanded be returned in a symbolic act of contrition.

The speakers pointed out that Russian tactics have not changed over the intervening 90 years. Like Stalin, Putin is targeting civilians, achieving his objectives by destroying the country’s infrastructure, particularly the electrical grid, with the result that civilians are trying to survive without heat in the deadly cold that has already descended on Ukraine. Putin has also targeted hospitals and food stocks as part of his effort to destroy the Ukrainian national identity and the country’s borders. Not much has changed since 1932.

The rally beneath the Water Tower lasted about 35 minutes. Accompanied by a police escort, the crowd then marched three blocks west along Chicago Avenue, with Holy Name Cathedral as its destination. Inside, the worshippers, many of whom held candles, listened as religious leaders spoke; Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Illinois Division board member Dr. Maria Korkatsch-Groszko read a proclamation from Governor J.B. Pritzker; and a choir clad in traditional Ukrainian dress sang. All joined in prayers for Ukraine.

By 7:30 PM, the Requiem for Ukraine was over. People filed out of the cathedral, many heading back to Ukrainian Village on the school bus that sat outside the cathedral. No doubt many of these folks will be back in the streets sometime in January or February if the war has not come to a conclusion, which seems unlikely.

Photographer’s Notes: Would Holy Name allow photography during a religious service? That was the question of the day, at least for me. Turned out, photography was permitted—at least no one said anything. I took a “Three Prayers, No Flash” approach—technically I photographed throughout the service, but on a very limited basis.. Everyone else took a similar approach, except one photographer who just kept popping her flash. In my mind, that was pushing things a bit, particularly because the cathedral was well lit. When photographing people in prayer, I worked quickly—one or two shots before moving on.

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