As if the memorial to the Victims of Communism wasn’t bad enough. Communists in Ukraine and Russia have decided to enter the battle over memory. In response to the Victims of Communism groundbreaking last week, Leonid Grach from the Ukrainian Communist Party has proposed “establishing a museum commemorating victims of U.S. imperialism.” “American imperialism, from the extermination of native Americans to war crimes in Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq,” Grach added, “has caused substantially more deaths than the ‘orange forces,’ along with their masters over the ocean, blame Communism for.” Grach also asserted that the the Victims of Communism Memorial would certainly please the U.S.’s “vassal” Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko, whose government has sought to have the 1932-33 Ukrainian Famine declared a genocide.
Grach’s hasn’t been the only response to the Victims of Communism Memorial. Russian Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov called President Bush “a symbol of state terror” and the memorial “attempt to distract the attention of world opinion from the bloody evils of American imperialism as a whole.” That wasn’t all. Zyuganov also claimed former President George H. W. Bush was responsible for the shock therapy economic policies of the 1990s, which according to Zyuganov, “10 million people, 9 million of them ethnic Russians.”
Nothing like burnt out Communists to push the limits of absurdity. I’m sure all the massacred Native Americans will rest well knowing that they have Grach and Zyuganov fighting to preserve their memory.
Thanks to Wally Shedd for alerting me of the article.
A couple years ago a museum dedicated to American Indians was opened on the Mall in Washington DC. So the US had a national commemoration of the genocide of Native Americans before it had one for the victims of communism. Although to be fair the American Indian museum covers much more than just US government massacres and forced relocations.
So asking where one can find the US memorial to Native Americans is like asking where to find the US memorial to the Holocaust. They both have big museums in DC. The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation originally wanted a museum as well. But, it could not raise enough money for the project.
By the way the Ukrainian Famine (Holodomor) was in 1932-1933 not 1933-1934. I assume this was a typo, but these things are easy to correct on the web.
That Victims of Communism event was covered by CSPAN. Unfortunately or fortunately, I missed it.
Shouldn’t Russia share part of the blame for the shock therapy treatment of the last decade? No one put a gun to its head and said do it or else. Russia was weak at the time. It still could’ve have said nyet.
Some of those now going after that shock therapy treatment are doing so out of hind sight. What were they saying back then? There were some who got it right from the get go.
The continued non-issue about the Victims of Communism event is the bigoted anti-Russian Captive Nations Committee which is involved with it.
What does Lozansky think of this? He has commented on the CNC.
Feel free to detail how comments like the above are that of a “jingoist”.
There’ve been some really absurd comments made lately.
As someone from a multi-ethnic background, I cherish the multi-ethnic legacy of Russia and see it as a strong point of that country.
Sean
I think You are being a wee bit hard on poor old Zyuganov. He didn’t say that Bush senior was responsible for the shock therapy; he said that both Bush senior and Bush junior bear their share of the responsibility for the imposition of the policy:
??? ???????, ??? ? ??????? ??? ????? ???? ???? ??????????????? ?? ??????????? ?????? ?????????? ???????-???????????? ??????????????? ?????, ??????? ?????? ?? ????????? ??????? ??????????? ? ???????????? ??????? ???????. ?? ???? ?????? ???? ?????? ???????? 10 ???. ???????, ?? ??? 9 ???. – ???????.
Even if you disagree with the numbers, this not a totally unreasonable point of view. I haven’t the resources to work out how he arrives at his figures but there is no doubt that life expectancy fell dramatically in Russia during the nineties and has not yet recovered. Given the current mode of international political discourse on the topic, is Zyuganov the one really pushing “the limits of absurdity”?
I can’t say anything about Grach since I haven’t read what he said.