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November Act: game and reality

The 87th anniversary of the November Act proclaiming the Ukrainian National Republic was celebrated in Lviv in the usual solemn manner. This year’s celebration, however, was marked by the broad participation of young people. Activists from the PORA civic association and members of the Lviv branch of the scouting organization Plast, Ukrainian National Youth, Youth Movement, Youth Nationalistic Congress, and others tried to turn it into a nationwide holiday, not without reason, since there is a regional council decision to mark this date as a national holiday on the oblast’s territory — in other words with all the necessary pomp and circumstance. The field game “November Act,” which was traditional in Ukraine until 1930, was also revived. Lviv Boy Scouts ( plastuny) once again dramatized events on the streets of Lviv, which shook the city on Nov. 1, 1918. On the night of Oct. 31-Nov. 1, the military committee of the UNR, proclaimed two weeks earlier, decided to seize power. By morning the military barracks, the telegraph and post offices, the buildings of the Sejm and police department, banks, and other buildings were captured. In the morning, on orders from the Scout and Sich Sharpshooter Captain Dmytro Vytovsky, the plastun Zenon Rusyn raised the blue-and-yellow flag above Lviv’s City Hall. The battles for Lviv marked the beginning of the long Ukrainian-Polish war that ended in the defeat of the Ukrainian Galician Army.

A few nights ago Lviv plastuny in military uniforms “captured” strategic targets, the same ones that were seized by boys and girls in 1918. However, this time the task was more complicated, as they had to demonstrate their knowledge of history. If their answer was correct, the members of the team proceeded to capture another target. That night, however, the boy scouts were assisted by modern technology: mobile phones and the Internet.

The festivities commemorating the Sharpshooters who fell in the battles for freedom began at midnight in Lviv, with Plast guards of honor posted at Yaniv and Lychakiv cemeteries.

The Lviv Opera hosted a commemorative evening that included Sharpshooters and other patriotic songs. A candlelight Mass was celebrated near City Hall, attended by young and old residents of Lviv, who paid homage to the sacrifice and heroism of the young scouts who gave their lives for the freedom of their native land.

Implemented

President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine has praised the implementation of joint work undertaken by the Cabinet of Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada, announced Iryna Heraschchenko, the presidential press secretary. “The president believes that a remarkably constructive discussion has taken place,” she said in a briefing after a meeting of the president’s Political Council. She added that in his address to the council the president noted that he “would like to see the 2006 budget as a budget of development.” Interfax Ukraine quotes the press secretary as saying: “The head of state is setting ‘two tasks for the 2006 budget: first, to bring the economy out of the shadows, and second, to implement social reforms.’” Herashchenko said that the agenda of subsequent meetings was also discussed. A meeting scheduled for Nov. 12 will discuss the implementation of a declaration of understanding and cooperation (signed in September by the faction leaders, president, and prime minister) and a joint declaration concerning Ukraine’s WTO membership will be adopted.

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