I'm forwarding the below which was posted to Crtnet (the Listserve of the National Communication Association). I'm forwarding it a) to raise awareness of the issue, and b) as an example of how email can be a tool for social change, activism and digital empowerment. Ulla ---------------------------------------------------- Ulla Bunz Assistant Professor Department of Communication Rutgers University 4 Huntington Street New Brunswick, NJ 08901 Email: bunz@scils.rutgers.edu ---------------------------------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: Communication Research and Theory Network [mailto:CRTNET@lists.psu.edu] On Behalf Of Automatic digest processor Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 12:05 AM To: Recipients of CRTNET digests Subject: CRTNET Digest - 22 Nov 2004 to 23 Nov 2004 (#2004-167) November 23, 2004, Number 8419 Communication Research and Theory Network a service of the National Communication Association --------------------------------------------------------------------- Editor's note: CRTNET is taking a Thanksgiving break and will return Monday, November 29. Crisis in the Ukraine (Lance Strate) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tues 11/23/04 From: Lance Strate STRATE@FORDHAM.EDU I just received this message from a Ukrainian communication scholar associated with the Media Ecology Institute in Lviv. Lance Strate Department of Communication and Media Studies Fordham University Bronx, NY 10458 (718) 817-4864 (718) 817-4868 (fax) strate@fordham.edu Hi, Lance please pass my e-mail to all who want to know what is going on in my country now. Today is the first day after the second tour of our elections. You cannot imagine what is going here right now! I think nobody knows what can happen in the nearest future. Almost all of my friends and relatives didn't sleep at all last night watching TV. We have something like information blockade on the real facts. The only independent channel here is The Fifth Channel, its journalists gained their right to tell the truth by going on hunger-strike but the president and premier tried to block it up. Many journalists of other channels quit their jobs because they did not want to be engaged in falsifications and tell lies to their audience.. You cannot imagine what kind of falsification our premier (imprisoned for two times for violent acts and rape!) resorts to. Now we have various military troops round Kyiv and inside it as well as in Lviv. Last weekend the train with BTR and tanks arrived to our city. But the worst was during the calculation of the voting. The regime forced people to go and vote for their candidate, they would beat people, there were numerous attempts to steal boxes with bulletins. The voters organized by themselves guarding of their election districts. Two policemen were cruelly beaten and one killed when they tried to resist to groups of bands organized by premier who try to become PRESIDENT. In Donets'k (an Eastern region where Yanukovych's rating is the highest) more than 100% (!!!) of voters participated in the elections. There were attempts to steal election boxes, to burn them or to destroy them. Those who work in public offices were ordered to vote for Yanukovych under the threat of dismissal and some person on high public level were ordered to vote for him under the threat of death. Many students were kicked out of universities for their participation in the pre-election activities on the side of Yuschenko. Many journalists were beaten and their cameras were broken just because they wanted to be present at the elections districts. Even in Lviv where 93% voted for Yuschenko, some people tried to burn the boxes with bulletins and somebody put acid into the box which also destroyed the bulletins. All these things were organized in the regions where people voted mostly for Yuschenko. I couldn't remember such things even during the period of Soviet regime. Revolution is about to burst out in our country. All over Ukraine people are going on meeting and strikes to protect their choice. The world doesn't have any moral right to stand aside keeping silent. This is not a conflict between two personalities, this is a clash of two worldviews, of criminals and honest people, of the Ukrainian nation, which has made its choice and the ruling clique, which doesn't want to give up the power. Nearly to the last days we had the lack of information about everything going on in our country in world press. This is the kind of problem that cannot be handled by our country single-handedly, since freedom of speech in Ukraine leaves much to be desired. That is why we really lack truthful, balanced and reliable information about what is going on in our country. Your President says that your country is against terrorism. And what about crime as a state policy? Does he think it is less dangerous? I want to ask you to pass my e-mail to all the people in your country who can have influence on the situation in our country. Hope everything would be not so terrible as it looks now. Nataliya Gabor. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Assistant Editor: Jennifer Peltak, NCA Editor-in-Chief: Tom Benson, Penn State University SUBMISSIONS: Readers are encouraged to contribute abstracts, articles, book reviews, announcements, comments, questions, and discussion on all topics relating to the general area of human communication. There is no charge for posting announcements, but they will be posted one time only. Send submissions to crtnet@natcom.org SUBSCRIPTIONS: Subscriptions to CRTNET are free to all. 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