Many friends have been asking me this week for more details about what exactly is going on here in Ukraine. I decided to put as much as I can all together here, with the disclaimer that I will try specify what I have seen with my own eyes, heard with my own ears, and what I have been told by others.
As I mentioned in a post last week, President Yushenko has dissolved the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) in response to Prime Minister Yanukovych’s attempts to literally buy deputies (members of parliament) so his Party of Regions (PoR) can get a super-majority which would allow them to override Presidential vetoes. The PM and his party’s deputies refuse to accept the presidential order and are continuing to “work” or whatever it is they do there. Since most of what they seem to have done this past year is just block anything and everything from happening, it’s hard to believe they are doing anything more productive right now.
The PM and his party bussed in thousands of people to Kyiv to participate in demonstrations and to camp out around the main government buildings, purportedly to show the President how much they disagree with his decision to dissolve the Rada as well as to show their support for the PM. Rumors have abounded from the beginning that they were all being paid as much as 100 hrivnas (about $20) a day. Looking at the people, it seems like a strange mix to me – young men and women in their 20’s, and old men and women in their 50s and 60s. I can more or less understand the elderly population’s support for the PoR since many of them are nostalgic for Soviet-era stability and the pro-Russian stance PoR claims to stand for. But the teenagers and 20-somethings? Hell, they certainly have no first-hand memories of the so-called “stability” of the Soviet Union. What the heck are they doing out there? Wednesday night, I watched the news and myself saw a man admit that “all of us are being paid to be here.” It’s one thing to hear the rumors, it’s another to hear one of these “supporters” blatantly and almost proudly admit this. He smiled, and seemed not the least bit embarrassed or ashamed to share this fact on national television.
I myself have noticed what I can only call a lack of passion among these so-called protesters that further convinces me they are all paid lackeys. They just don’t look engaged – they are sitting around eating, drinking, drinking, drinking, talking, drinking. I don’t hear them talking about politics at all.
My Ukrainian teacher told me she has noticed this, as well, and she recalled for me at length the differences between the current situation and the Orange Revolution. In 2004, people spontaneously gathered in Kyiv, she told me. They organized themselves, orchestrated their own demonstrations. They were civil and peaceful and purposeful in their acts of peaceful demonstrations. They lived 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in their tents on Independence Square and other areas of central Kyiv. Many Kyiv residents spontaneously prepared food and brought it and hot tea to feed and warm those living in the Square. There was a feeling of unity, of brotherhood, and of the importance of the actions being taken.
Now, she told me, is completely different. As she exited the metro station near Marinskiy Park, where many protesters gather each day, she walked through an unusually large crowd. As she listened to the chatter around her, she realized most of them were from out of town, and many where in the capital for the first time. “Did you see that building”, one young man said to another. She understood that they were in awe of being in Kyiv, not of being a part of history. As she walked by Marinskiy Park, she saw a man with a clipboard checking off names – making sure everyone showed up for work today? On the news the night before, she had watched a report from one of the PM’s rallies. The camera spanned the crowd of thousands, and the journalist worked through the masses trying to interview people. The young people were dancing – dancing to the music on their MP3 players. They weren’t even listening to the speeches. The journalist got a couple people to take out their earphones, and they all recited the same exact words of support for Yanukovych, as if they all had been coached in what to say. One man seemed to forget what he was supposed to say – “We’re for, uh, we’re for, uh uh uh. We’ll, we’re not for Yushenko.” That was the best he could come up with on his own.
My friend Michael witnessed the unloading of dozens of new sleeping bags and pads from a Toyota Land Cruiser, not exactly the kind of vehicle your typical underpaid Ukrainian villager drives. How much money has the Party of Regions pumped into this action? And where, exactly, is that money coming from? My teacher told me about an interview she watched on TV with the director of the Party of Regions during which he swore that all the financing for these events is coming from the Party. “Can you show me the budget and other financial documents that prove this money was raised by PoR alone and in no way comes from the state coffers?” the journalist asked him. He couldn’t respond.
The question of the legitimacy of the dissolution of the Rada has been sent to the Constitutional Court. Five judges have already publicly expressed their fear about the pressure being put on them regarding this case. Twelve judges are needed for a quorum, so with these 5 afraid to participate, that leaves a just-barely enough thirteen who will make a decision. My teacher told me that she heard on the news that PM Yanukovych called the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court. What they discussed, we can only imagine. But the impropriety of the PM calling the Chief Justice about anything right now, with such an important and controversial case in front of the court, is beyond belief.
The Speaker of the Rada, Oleksandr Moroz, has made public and not-very-veiled threats against the Head of the Elections Commission warning that the Commission is not to go ahead with election planning. In response, the youth party Pora is camping out in front of the Elections Commission’s office building.
Pora was a very popular and very instrumental organization during the 2004 Orange Revolution. Pora members were die-hard supporters of Yushenko and his “Our Ukraine” party, they were a large percentage of those camping out on Independence Square, and they were very effective in getting out the youth vote. By 2006, they had officially registered as a political party and they ran for the Vekhova Rada; however, they did not receive the minimum percentage of votes needed to actually gain seats.
In response to Pora’s members setting up camp to protect the Elections Commission, the Party of Regions sent a delegation to camp out there as well. The numbers from either side are not particularly large, but the contrast is noticeable. The Pora members stand quietly and attentively all day long in front of the entrance gate to the territory of the EC’s building, holding their flags and wearing their party’s colors. The PoR members mill about, drinking beer and vodka, playing cards, kicking a football around, eating, drinking more, and just hanging out. Young couples line the benches making out. They don’t give any appearance of having a purpose there. Last Saturday morning about 10:00 am, a friend and I walked past the EC building on our way to the swimming pool. A young man with PoR threw some litter on the ground as we walked past him, and my friend politely informed him that he had dropped something. He turned towards her, with some of the blurriest eyes I’ve seen in ages, and slurred “oh, it’s nothing, don’t worry.” She gave him a dirty look, and he clumsily bent down to pick it up (nearly falling over in the process). He was completely sloshed at 10 o’clock in the morning. And he wasn’t alone. The shops in the center of Kyiv have been selling out of alcohol every day. Now there is a moratorium on the sale of alcohol in the center of the city – although I still see a plethora of empty beer and vodka bottles on the streets – where are they getting it from?
The president held a press conference yesterday and was uncharacteristically firm, clear, and decisive. He reasserted his determination to hold elections in May, per the timeline required by the Constitution in the event of the dissolution of the Rada.
Opposition to the PM and his Party of Regions, namely supporters of the President’s “Our Ukraine” party and Yulia Tymoshenko’s party (cleverly named “Party of Yulia Tymoshenko”), have been noticeably absent from Independence Square and other sites of the PoR’s mass gatherings. I’ve been told that Tymoshenko specifically instructed her party’s members to NOT engage in the demonstrations. She has held some rallies, but has not wanted her supporters camping out in the city.
More demonstrations are expected this weekend. An American friend yesterday expressed his concern that as tensions continue to rise, the likelihood of violence breaking out increases. I assured him that it seems highly unlikely, as the first side to throw stones (or punches) will destroy the legacy of the 2004 Orange Revolution, when absolutely no one was injured or killed – a legacy Ukrainians are rightfully proud of.
I am hopeful that the Ukrainian population will maintain its record of peaceful opposition and non-violent demonstrations, whatever other outcomes may occur.
Anka in Kyiv 