2013-10-20

Oct. 20, 2013: Canada's bridge to Ukraine via the EU

According to a media release from the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, this year's XXIV Triennial Congress - slated for November 8-10 in Toronto - will include an address from Canada's Prime Minister.  Also, the bulletin mentions that the program for this Congress will feature:

  • Ukrainian culture, language and contribution for Canada;
  • Holodomor awareness on this, the 80th and most solemn anniversary;
  • Ukraine - one year after its elections. [1]


However, there is no specific mention of some monumental and historic events and happenings - some positive, some negative - relating to Ukraine.  For example:

  • the European Union's Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius starting on November 28th, which will hopefully see the signing of an Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine;
  • the worsening political, economic, cultural and social atmosphere in Ukraine, brought upon by the president's authoritarian regime and its influence or control over the other branches of government, including many high-level related agencies and institutions.


My hope is that delegates to the XXIV Triennial Congress will find a way to bring these issues to the forefront at some point in the program.  I would like to think that this historic opportunity facing the UCC should not be missed … imagine if there had been a Congress of this magnitude and significance in the 1930s in Canada - perhaps with responsible diaspora action, the tragedy of the Holodomor could have been militated or at least mitigated.  While a phenomenon of the magnitude of the Holodomor may not be threatening Ukraine at present, there is certainly enough treachery and malice present in Ukraine's leadership and governance to cause serious concern and worry for its citizens - a feeling that should agitate all Ukrainians around the world and lead them into organized community action to send a message to the thugs and bandits running/ruining Ukraine today.

Last week, Canada and the European Union announced the successful conclusion of negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.  Canada, especially its Ukrainian community, now has a great reason to help see Ukraine enter into the EU family of nations - properly and with esteem.  In doing so, it is important to respect and promote the recent positions taken by the European Union and its constituent organizations, such as the European Court for Human Rights, the European Parliament's Cox-Kwasniewski Mission to Ukraine and the Council of Europe's Venice Commission.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress and this year's XXIV Triennial Congress are being presented a great opportunity to address some serious and disturbing trends in Ukraine today - I hope the opportunity is not squandered.

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Andy Holowaty - aka Andrij Holovatyj - is an IT consultant in Toronto, a media analyst in the Ukrainian-Canadian community and a contributor to Kontakt Ukrainian Television via the new media project known as #450UA … for more, please see: 450ua.blogspot.com

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Notes …

[1] UCC MEDIA RELEASE - posted on Oct. 19, 2013 … "Prime Minister to Address XXIV Triennial Congress"

http://www.ucc.ca/2013/10/19/prime-minister-harper-to-address-xxiv-triennial-congress


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2013-05-11

May 11, 2013: Anti-corruption Action Center

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Today,  #450UA  on
KONTAKT UKRAINIAN TELEVISION
featured host ANDRIJ HOLOVATYJ
and his guest DARIA KALENIUK from AntAC,
the Anti-Corruption Action Center
in Kyiv, Ukraine.



 Also, check out the Kontakt TV preview segment ...




Welcome to #450UA ... THIS WEEK, I talked to DARIA KALENIUK from the Anti-Corruption Action Center in Kyiv, Ukraine.  AntAC is a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Ukraine that brings together experts from the legal, media and political sectors, who have set a goal to reduce the level of political corruption in Ukraine.  AntAC believes that a key obstacle to Ukraine's development is political corruption, which has all but taken over most government processes.  Political corruption has a paralyzing effect on the work of law enforcement agencies and judicial authorities, turning them into instruments by which public officials can gain through personal enrichment.

AntAC has found that one of the key factors for the growth of corruption in Ukraine is the lack of consequences faced by people responsible for committing corruption.  Among AntAC's goals are not only to expose cases of outright corruption and to have these instances reversed, but also to bring to justice all that are involved in cases of corruption: private individuals and public officials who organize such schemes, as well as law enforcement officers and members of the judiciary that cover up corruption.

For more information about AntAC please check out these links …

Website:

Facebook:

Twitter:

Na vse dobre = All the best,
Andrij Holovatyj
(aka Andy Holowaty)

#450UA ... pronounced HASHTAG - FOUR - FIFTY - U - A ... is a unique approach to broadcasting, available as a special segment on KONTAKT Ukrainian Television and a new online media project - right here at 450ua.blogspot.com ... for an overview of this project, watch the backgrounder segment on Kontakt TV by clicking here ...


… also, please read the backgrounder transcript here …


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2013-05-04

May 4, 2013: Khrystos Voskres!


-
Today, #450UA on
KONTAKT UKRAINIAN TELEVISION
took a break from producing and broadcasting
a regular segment.  KONTAKT featured
its annual programming dedicated to Easter,
which a large majority of Ukrainian Christians celebrate
according to the Eastern Orthodox calendar.
Христос Воскрес !!!
Khrystos Voskres !!!
Christ Has Risen !!!


By the way, have you ever wondered: WHY does the date for Easter change every year & why do Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate Easter on a different day than Western churches?  Perhaps these excerpts from ABOUT.COM will provide some insight ...


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 1. Why does the date for Easter change every year?

 Have you ever wondered why Easter Sunday can fall anywhere between March 22 and April 25? And why do Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate Easter on a different day than Western churches? These are all good questions with answers that require a bit of explanation. In fact, there are as many misunderstandings about the calculation of Easter dates, as there are reasons for the confusion. What follows is an attempt to clear up at least some of the confusion.

 The Short Answer

 At the heart of the matter lies a very simple explanation. The early church fathers wished to keep the observance of Easter in correlation to the Jewish Passover. Because the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ happened after the Passover, they wanted Easter to always be celebrated subsequent to the Passover. And, since the Jewish holiday calendar is based on solar and lunar cycles, each feast day is movable, with dates shifting from year to year. Now, from here the explanation grows more complicated.

 The Long Answer

 Today in Western Christianity, Easter is always celebrated on the Sunday immediately following the Paschal Full Moon date of the year. I had previously, and somewhat erroneously stated, "Easter is always celebrated on the Sunday immediately following the first full moon after the vernal (spring) equinox." This statement was true prior to 325 A.D.; however, over the course of history (beginning in 325 A.D. with the Council of Nicea), the Western Church decided to established a more standardized system for determining the date of Easter.

 In actuality, the date of the Paschal Full Moon is determined from historical tables, and has no correspondence to lunar events.

 As astronomers were able to approximate the dates of all the full moons in future years, the Western Christian Church used these calculations to establish a table of Ecclesiastical Full Moon dates. These dates would determine the Holy Days on the Ecclesiastical calendar.

 Though modified slightly from its original form, by 1583 A.D. the table for determining the Ecclesiastical Full Moon dates was permanently established and has been used ever since to determine the date of Easter. Thus, according to the Ecclesiastical tables, the Paschal Full Moon is the first Ecclesiastical Full Moon date after March 20 (which happened to be the vernal equinox date in 325 A.D.). So, in Western Christianity, Easter is always celebrated on the Sunday immediately following the Paschal Full Moon.

 The Paschal Full Moon can vary as much as two days from the date of the actual full moon, with dates ranging from March 21 to April 18. As a result, Easter dates can range from March 22 through April 25 in Western Christianity.

 Eastern vs. Western Easter Dates

 Historically, Western churches used the Gregorian Calendar to calculate the date of Easter and Eastern Orthodox churches used the Julian Calendar. This was partly why the dates were seldom the same.

 Easter and its related holidays do not fall on a fixed date in either the Gregorian or Julian calendars, making them movable holidays. The dates, instead, are based on a lunar calendar very similar to the Hebrew Calendar.

 While some Eastern Orthodox Churches not only maintain the date of Easter based on the Julian Calendar which was in use during the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea in 325 A.D., they also use the actual, astronomical full moon and the actual vernal equinox as observed along the meridian of Jerusalem. This complicates the matter, due to the inaccuracy of the Julian calendar, and the 13 days that have accrued since A.D. 325. This means, in order to stay in line with the originally established (325 A.D.) vernal equinox, Orthodox Easter cannot be celebrated before April 3 (present day Gregorian calendar), which was March 21 in A.D. 325.

 Additionally, in keeping with the rule established by the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea, the Eastern Orthodox Church adhered to the tradition that Easter must always fall after the Jewish Passover, since the resurrection of Christ happened after the celebration of Passover. Eventually the Orthodox Church came up with an alternative to calculating Easter based on the Gregorian calendar and Passover, and developed a 19-year cycle, as opposed to the Western Church 84-year cycle.

 Since the days of early church history, determining the precise date of Easter has been a matter for continued argument. For one, the followers of Christ neglected to record the exact date of Jesus' resurrection. From then on the matter grew increasingly complex.

 source … http://christianity.about.com/od/faqhelpdesk/qt/whyeasterchange.htm

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 2. Question: How Is the Date of Easter Calculated?

 Easter is a moveable feast, which means that it does not occur on the same date every year. How is the date of Easter determined each year?

 Answer: The Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) set the date of Easter as the Sunday following the paschal full moon, which is the full moon that falls on or after the vernal (spring) equinox.

 We know that Easter must always occur on a Sunday, because Sunday was the day of Christ's Resurrection. But why the paschal full moon? Because that was the date of Passover in the Jewish calendar, and the Last Supper (Holy Thursday) occurred on the Passover. Therefore, Easter was the Sunday after Passover.

 The Church does not use the exact date of the paschal full moon but an approximation, because the paschal full moon can fall on different days in different time zones, which would mean that the date of Easter would be different depending on which time zone you live in. For calculation purposes, the full moon is always set at the 14th day of the lunar month (the lunar month begins with the new moon). Likewise, the Church sets the date of the vernal equinox at March 21, even though it can occur on March 20. Both approximations allow the Church to set a universal date for Easter.

 Still, Easter isn't celebrated universally on that date. While Western Christians use the Gregorian calendar (the calendar that's used throughout the West today, in both the secular and religious worlds) to calculate the date of Easter, the Eastern Orthodox continue to use the older, astronomically inaccurate Julian calendar. Currently, March 21 on the Julian calendar falls on April 3 in the Gregorian calendar. Therefore, for the Orthodox, the Sunday following the 14th day of the paschal full moon has to fall after April 3, hence the discrepancy in the date of Easter.

 source … http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/f/Calculate_Date.htm

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 3. Video: Why do Easter Dates Change Each Year?

 source … http://video.about.com/gospain/Why-do-Easter-Dates-Change-Each-Year-.htm

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2013-04-27

Apr. 27, 2013: Help Us Help The Children

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Today, #450UA on
KONTAKT UKRAINIAN TELEVISION
took a break from producing and broadcasting
a regular segment.  KONTAKT pre-empted
regular programming to air a TELETHON
to raise money for a great cause:
HELP US HELP THE CHILDREN
(HUHTC)

To learn more about HUHTC,
please visit their website …

… and watch archived footage of KONTAKT's
HUHTC TELETHON here on YouTube …


Please give generously :)
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2013-04-20

Apr. 20, 2013: VR7 101


Today, #450UA on
KONTAKT UKRAINIAN TELEVISION
featured host ANDRIJ HOLOVATYJ
with excerpts from the inaugural installment of
VR7 101
- an opportunity to learn about
Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada parliament. 




Also, check out the Kontakt TV preview segment ...


[ The Kontakt TV link will be available soon and posted here. ]


WELCOME to #450UA ... pronounced HASHTAG-FOUR-FIFTY-U-A ... a new & unique approach to broadcasting - available as a special segment on KONTAKT Ukrainian Television and a new online media project - right here at 450ua.blogspot.ca ... for an overview of this project, watch the backgrounder segment on Kontakt TV by clicking here ...
… also, please read the backgrounder transcript here …

THIS WEEK …

Class is in session - welcome to VR7 101!  Find out about how to navigate the Kyiv Post website in order to find up-to-date English-language news and information about the current assembly of elected members - known as People's Deputies - in Ukraine's legislature, this being the 7th convocation of the Verkhovna Rada.

Verkhovna Rada … or … the Verkhovna Rada (the article in front of the name is optional, put permissible) can be translated to mean the Supreme Council.  It is the highest legislative body in Ukraine, similar to the House of Commons in Canada as well as the House of Representatives in the United States.  There are many similarities and differences between the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and other legislatures around the world which operate as a democratic assembly.

Using the Kyiv Post website and its chronological listing of published material …


… a simple strategy can be devised in order to peruse the list of material and find headlines that point to content relating to the Verkhovna Rada.  Articles can be shared on Twitter using #450UA.  Notes can be made to create a personal list of words and phrases from Ukraine's parliamentary lingo and jargon, which can be used as a glossary and index for future study to better acquaint oneself with the key people, procedures and activities of Ukraine's lawmaking assembly - the Verkhovna Rada.  Currently, this is the 7th convocation of the Verkhovna Rada since Ukraine's independence in 1991. 

Na vse dobre = All the best,
Andrij Holovatyj
(aka Andy Holowaty)

P.S.: Here is a list of people, terms, phrases and concepts for further study.  This list was compiled in order of appearance in the Kyiv Post website articles, referenced during today's installment of VR7 101 …

- Verkhovna Rada
- Batkivschyna Party leader Arseniy Yatseniuk
- Higher Administrative Court
- vulytsia Bankova (Bank Street)
- vulytsia Hrushevskoho (Hrushevskyj Street)
- President Viktor Yanukovych
- Prime Minister (or Premier) Mykola Azarov
- confidence in government
- Party of Regions
- Ukraine's European integration
- Party of Regions faction leader Oleksandr Yefremov
- political parties and parliamentary factions
- Svoboda Party leader Oleh Tiahnybok
- UDAR Party leader Vitali Klitschko
- President Yanukovych's address to parliament 
- referendum to impeach the president
- blocking parliament
- Arise, Ukraine! (or Rise Up, Ukraine!)
- Speaker Volodymyr Rybak
- Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko
- Kyiv city mayor and Kyiv city councillor elections
- number of People’s Deputies (PD) in the Verkhovna = 450 (as elected members of parliament; only 445 are currently registered)
- number of votes necessary for a simple motion to pass = 226 (one-half plus one); items in the agenda which are related to ratification by a constitutional majority require 301 votes (two-thirds plus one) to pass
- Ukraine’s obligations to Council of Europe
- attempts by the majority to deprive opposition lawmakers of their parliamentary mandates
- conflict of interest: PDs working for outside interests, not related to parliamentary work;
- possible of unification of Yatseniuk’s Front for Change Party and Tymoshenko’s Batkivschyna Party
- 174 parliamentarians signed a draft resolution expressing no confidence in PM Azarov’s government
- leaders and deputy leaders - of factions and parties
- the President signed a number of laws passed at parliament's April 4th offsite meeting

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