Light a Candle to Remember



LETTER TO BUSH CALLS FOR SUPPORT FOR ‘REAL DEMOCRACY’ IN UKRAINE
In an amazing show of support for democracy in Ukraine, more than 300 scholars, civic activists, and students from Ukraine and the United States, and across the world, signed the first-ever letter to President George W. Bush calling for his administration to link U.S.-Ukrainian relations to real democracy in Ukraine Among those who signed the letter to President Bush are renowned scholars Francis Fukuyama, Michael McFaul, Anders Aslund, Peter Reddaway, Ronald Grigor Suny as well as academics from Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Georgetown, University of California, Berkeley, University of Chicago, George Washington University, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, State University of New York, University of Pennsylvania, Hudson Institute, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Rutgers University, Reed College, University of Alabama, Oakland University, Tulane University. After two years of attempting to bring to justice those who committed the murder of independent journalist Georgiy Gongadze, we recognize that Ukraine and its people will not be able to enjoy the fruits of democracy while the Kuchma administration remains in power. The Gongadze Foundation and the Forum of Ukrainian Students in America calls on President Bush and his administration to help bring democracy and peace to Ukraine,” says the letter. The commemorative events “Requiem-2002: Face the Truth!” are scheduled to take place on September 15-16, 2002, in Washington, DC and other cities across the U.S. and Europe. These various events are organized by the Gongadze Foundation and the Forum of Ukrainian Students in America, with the support of the Ukrainian student organizations in Western and Central Europe. Requiem-2002 will commemorate two years since the disappearance and murder of the Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze. It is also a tribute to the Ukrainian journalists and political activists, who perished over the last decade while performing their professional activities. “We are carrying out the ‘Requiem 2002: Face the Truth’ events because we want to encourage people to pause, think, and realize that until every single crime against a human being in Ukraine is brought to justice, we will not be able to bring others to respect us as a nation,” said Myroslava Gongadze, wife of the murdered journalist.