Tuesday, November 22, 2005
SENT NOV. 22, 2004, or DAY 1 of OR
Greetings on this, the first anniversary of the first day of the OR!
Let us hope that this day will serve as a powerful reminder to the YuGov (thanks Leopolis for this coinage), or the current powers-that-be that are of the "Orange" persuasion, of the need to cooperate going into parliamentary elections this Spring. . .
Here is my post to my list-serve one year ago today, followed by pictures:
IS THE REVOLUTION BEGINNING?
Greetings Friends,
My hands are shaking, my head is spinning, and things are moving fast. The authorities in this country are beyond shameless. They have dared to repeat again what they did the first round, but to an even greater and more fantastic extreme. There has been violence, there have been police actions, it is all rather unimaginable and simply absurd. But it appears that the people of Ukraine are not taking it. There are demonstrations everywhere today. People are heading en masse for the capital.
Early in the day yesterday the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the EU's human rights watchdog, the descendant of the Helsinki Commission) simply threw up its arms in disgust yesterday. All other watch-dogs (beside the CIS, of course) have confirmed the absurdity of the situation here as well. Abuses, violations, and falsifcations are rampant, at a level much worse than in the first round (I will try to provide a catalogue below, if time remains before I need to catch a bus). This is the objective situation in Ukraine right now: anyone who denies it is a shameless liar, ignorant fool, or power-drunk apologist. Any Western newspaper or reporter (such as the Wall Street Journal who published the Yanukovych letter, or the Washinton Post that printed an article by US Democrats who stated that the first round was overall fair) are not objectively reporting an objective situation but are subjective apologists for a power-drunk oligarchy that is keeping its people in poverty and which looks like, at the moment, it just may fall.
I am writing to you from the town of Berezhany (pop. approx. 25,000), which is close to Pidhajtsi, and which is also a county seat in the state of Ternopil. A town-hall meeting turned into a street march to the seat of the county govenment with maybe 3,000+ in attendance. Berezhany is one of the places in which authorities have been biligerent in their demands that budget workers turn-over their right to vote. Demonstrators shouted "Shame! Shame!" They demanded that the county authorities come out and explain their actions. Shouts were made, "Show your Faces!" as well as "Face the Power of the People!" Authorities did not come out, so the call went out: everyone return tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM, the start of the working day. Before departing, we sang the national anthem, "Shche Ne Vmerla Ukrajina" (Ukraine has not yet died). In fact, today and tonight, Ukraine is WAKING up!
There are 150,000 people in the capital city of Kyiv and more coming every hour (in fact, the last I heard any figures was earlier today, and there was a steady stream of people coming into the capital; people are expecting upwards of 500,000, possibly 1 million).
Earlier today it was reported that a tent city is forming in Kyiv. There are kitchens serving kovbasa (sausage), salo, and hot drinks. People already began gathering last night in Kyiv. 100,000 were on Independence Square last night protesting the government's actions, listening to speakers and dancing in the streets to the music of pop stars who have declared support for Jushenko. At the end of the night, the call came out for all to return at 9AM. It is now winter in Ukraine--a front arrived this weekend, bringing snow and cold. Regardless, a few hundred remained on the square overnight. A kitchen-tent was set up to support them last night. The 100,00 people returned this morning, and the movement to Kyiv continues.
Viktor Jushchenko, Julija Tymoshenko, and Oleksandr Moroz (the three biggest names in the opposition) as well as others have called for a nation-wide strike tomorrow.
They have called on all those who can to come to the capital. Those who can not, they have asked to go to the bigger cities and regional centers, and then if one cannot, to demonstrate at home, to stike at home. Reports are of huge movements of people. Students right now in Berezhany are here in this club writing to friends and making plans to go to Kyiv. Many are planning to take the regular night train from nearby Ternopil to Kyiv tonight.
There is a huge demonstration in L'viv. Similar demonstrations as what happened here in Berezhany are happening in towns, small and large, all over Ukraine: Pidhajtsi, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk (I heard at least 5,000 demonstrated), Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, Kyiv, everywhere.
Now to the anecdotes of things that have been happening, both good and bad:
To repeat, the OSCE last night made a forceful declaration that this situation is absurd. Why?
All over eastern Ukraine international observers were refused entrance to voting centers, and a speaker at the demonstration here in Berezhany said that Ukrainian observers from this town were blocked from going to voting centers by police who refused to let them leave their hotels in the city of Kherson.
There are reports of wide-spread ballot stuffing, especially in Donetsk, where Janukovych once was governor. Also in Donetsk are suspiciously high voter-participation counts. Supposedly 96% of eligible voters in Donetsk voted. Also from Donetsk are reports of people being caught trying to vote more than once. And one more thing about Donetsk: the town last night held a huge concert and festival to celebrate Janukovych's victory.
In Vynnytjsa, someone broke into a voting center and stole ballots.
In Kyiv and Lviv, there are reports of ballots being damaged by substances spilled into ballot-boxes. Also from Lviv a report has been made of someone trying to burn the ballots, but who was stopped.
The problem of mispelling of names occured once again, as well as all the shenanigans of the first round: the dead voting, people voting twice, etc. Add to it what I wrote yesterday about reports of disappearing ink and the budget-worker scandal.
Also recall that I wrote yesterday that reporters (as well as offical observers) were barred entry into voting centers. The word still travels faster than the image, even in this postmodern age.
In an aside about something that has occured before the election, apparently a good number of people across Ukraine have been fired from their jobs for having had not voted for Janukovych the first round.
Also in Kyiv last night where about 1,000 people demonstrating in front of the buildings of the Central Electoral (Falsification) Commission. However, also present were 4 armored vehicles and soldiers guarding the building. What are they afraid of?
20 buses have arrived in the South Station of Kyiv with people in civilian clothes, but they are suspected to be soldiers. Also, there are reports of other buses arriving in the capital from the east suspected to be carrying paid provocateurs.
In general, it has been reported that buses coming to the capital from the east have had virtually no interference from police, while buses from the West are having numerous problems. Recall what I once wrote about my experience riding on a bus in western Ukraine on the day of the first-round. And then today in Berezhany a speaker said that trains out of Ternopil were blocked.
So before going, I want to make 4 quick points:
1) I could quote statistics about vote counts, but what is the use? The plain and simple and objective situation is that this election was falsified. Jushchenko already became president the first round; but for those who doubt that, there is no doubt today. Only liars, fools, or greedy-pigs deny this. Today huge masses of people all over Ukraine are at demonstrations chanting "JU-SHCHEN-KO PRE-SI-DENT!"
2) The media are crucial. The independent news channel 5 deserves respect. All those reporters in the state media and stations owned by oligarchs who went on hunger strike the first round and again today deserve respect. And here is food for thought: a major turning point in the revolution that swept Milosevic from power was when the state TV turned against him. We need that here in Ukraine. But regardless, the word travels faster than the image in a country with generations of experience with resistance.
3) Ukrainians are showing their will to fight. They are taking to the streets. Democracy is not only in the act of voting but the act of filling the streets and shouting. The people of Ukraine are voting a second and a third and fourth time, or however many days they will have to stand and demand that they be heard.
4) This election is not about whether Ukraine will head for the West or toward Russia. It's not about Ukrainian language and culture versus Russian language and culture within Ukraine. It's about Ukraine itself. It is about whether the people of this country--whether ethnic Ukrainians, Russians, Jews, Romani, German, Tatar, etc.--can uproot a corrupt oligarchy that is bleeding this country dry for its own gratification, that is manipulating and politicizing the mulitcultural fabric of this fantastic country for the purpose of divide and rule. It is about poverty, about daily bread--it's about getting rid of an oligarchy of greedy bastards who, while dividing the people by pressing them to think in terms of khlib (Ukrainian for bread) and khleb (Russian for bread), has been and is fighting to keep on stealing the dough.
Peace and Love,
Stefan
PS--as I was about to close this email, I have overheard that a student in this internet club just recieved an SMS message on his cellphone from a friend in Kyiv. The friend wrote, "Kyiv is harvesting oranges!"
Orange is the color associated with Jushchenko's campaign, and this is a humorous statement in that many Ukrainians have found work picking oranges in Portugal, as has this fellow's friend who wrote the message. . .
Back to the present: Read here an article I wrote for Toronto's New Pathway.
Some photos from Berezhany (still had a crappy camera; but I was soon to get a much better one!). . .reading the piece linked above will help with the photos. . .
This is the scene as we got to the center of town 40 or so minutes before the meeting was to begin.
Let us hope that this day will serve as a powerful reminder to the YuGov (thanks Leopolis for this coinage), or the current powers-that-be that are of the "Orange" persuasion, of the need to cooperate going into parliamentary elections this Spring. . .
Here is my post to my list-serve one year ago today, followed by pictures:
IS THE REVOLUTION BEGINNING?
Greetings Friends,
My hands are shaking, my head is spinning, and things are moving fast. The authorities in this country are beyond shameless. They have dared to repeat again what they did the first round, but to an even greater and more fantastic extreme. There has been violence, there have been police actions, it is all rather unimaginable and simply absurd. But it appears that the people of Ukraine are not taking it. There are demonstrations everywhere today. People are heading en masse for the capital.
Early in the day yesterday the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the EU's human rights watchdog, the descendant of the Helsinki Commission) simply threw up its arms in disgust yesterday. All other watch-dogs (beside the CIS, of course) have confirmed the absurdity of the situation here as well. Abuses, violations, and falsifcations are rampant, at a level much worse than in the first round (I will try to provide a catalogue below, if time remains before I need to catch a bus). This is the objective situation in Ukraine right now: anyone who denies it is a shameless liar, ignorant fool, or power-drunk apologist. Any Western newspaper or reporter (such as the Wall Street Journal who published the Yanukovych letter, or the Washinton Post that printed an article by US Democrats who stated that the first round was overall fair) are not objectively reporting an objective situation but are subjective apologists for a power-drunk oligarchy that is keeping its people in poverty and which looks like, at the moment, it just may fall.
I am writing to you from the town of Berezhany (pop. approx. 25,000), which is close to Pidhajtsi, and which is also a county seat in the state of Ternopil. A town-hall meeting turned into a street march to the seat of the county govenment with maybe 3,000+ in attendance. Berezhany is one of the places in which authorities have been biligerent in their demands that budget workers turn-over their right to vote. Demonstrators shouted "Shame! Shame!" They demanded that the county authorities come out and explain their actions. Shouts were made, "Show your Faces!" as well as "Face the Power of the People!" Authorities did not come out, so the call went out: everyone return tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM, the start of the working day. Before departing, we sang the national anthem, "Shche Ne Vmerla Ukrajina" (Ukraine has not yet died). In fact, today and tonight, Ukraine is WAKING up!
There are 150,000 people in the capital city of Kyiv and more coming every hour (in fact, the last I heard any figures was earlier today, and there was a steady stream of people coming into the capital; people are expecting upwards of 500,000, possibly 1 million).
Earlier today it was reported that a tent city is forming in Kyiv. There are kitchens serving kovbasa (sausage), salo, and hot drinks. People already began gathering last night in Kyiv. 100,000 were on Independence Square last night protesting the government's actions, listening to speakers and dancing in the streets to the music of pop stars who have declared support for Jushenko. At the end of the night, the call came out for all to return at 9AM. It is now winter in Ukraine--a front arrived this weekend, bringing snow and cold. Regardless, a few hundred remained on the square overnight. A kitchen-tent was set up to support them last night. The 100,00 people returned this morning, and the movement to Kyiv continues.
Viktor Jushchenko, Julija Tymoshenko, and Oleksandr Moroz (the three biggest names in the opposition) as well as others have called for a nation-wide strike tomorrow.
They have called on all those who can to come to the capital. Those who can not, they have asked to go to the bigger cities and regional centers, and then if one cannot, to demonstrate at home, to stike at home. Reports are of huge movements of people. Students right now in Berezhany are here in this club writing to friends and making plans to go to Kyiv. Many are planning to take the regular night train from nearby Ternopil to Kyiv tonight.
There is a huge demonstration in L'viv. Similar demonstrations as what happened here in Berezhany are happening in towns, small and large, all over Ukraine: Pidhajtsi, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk (I heard at least 5,000 demonstrated), Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, Kyiv, everywhere.
Now to the anecdotes of things that have been happening, both good and bad:
To repeat, the OSCE last night made a forceful declaration that this situation is absurd. Why?
All over eastern Ukraine international observers were refused entrance to voting centers, and a speaker at the demonstration here in Berezhany said that Ukrainian observers from this town were blocked from going to voting centers by police who refused to let them leave their hotels in the city of Kherson.
There are reports of wide-spread ballot stuffing, especially in Donetsk, where Janukovych once was governor. Also in Donetsk are suspiciously high voter-participation counts. Supposedly 96% of eligible voters in Donetsk voted. Also from Donetsk are reports of people being caught trying to vote more than once. And one more thing about Donetsk: the town last night held a huge concert and festival to celebrate Janukovych's victory.
In Vynnytjsa, someone broke into a voting center and stole ballots.
In Kyiv and Lviv, there are reports of ballots being damaged by substances spilled into ballot-boxes. Also from Lviv a report has been made of someone trying to burn the ballots, but who was stopped.
The problem of mispelling of names occured once again, as well as all the shenanigans of the first round: the dead voting, people voting twice, etc. Add to it what I wrote yesterday about reports of disappearing ink and the budget-worker scandal.
Also recall that I wrote yesterday that reporters (as well as offical observers) were barred entry into voting centers. The word still travels faster than the image, even in this postmodern age.
In an aside about something that has occured before the election, apparently a good number of people across Ukraine have been fired from their jobs for having had not voted for Janukovych the first round.
Also in Kyiv last night where about 1,000 people demonstrating in front of the buildings of the Central Electoral (Falsification) Commission. However, also present were 4 armored vehicles and soldiers guarding the building. What are they afraid of?
20 buses have arrived in the South Station of Kyiv with people in civilian clothes, but they are suspected to be soldiers. Also, there are reports of other buses arriving in the capital from the east suspected to be carrying paid provocateurs.
In general, it has been reported that buses coming to the capital from the east have had virtually no interference from police, while buses from the West are having numerous problems. Recall what I once wrote about my experience riding on a bus in western Ukraine on the day of the first-round. And then today in Berezhany a speaker said that trains out of Ternopil were blocked.
So before going, I want to make 4 quick points:
1) I could quote statistics about vote counts, but what is the use? The plain and simple and objective situation is that this election was falsified. Jushchenko already became president the first round; but for those who doubt that, there is no doubt today. Only liars, fools, or greedy-pigs deny this. Today huge masses of people all over Ukraine are at demonstrations chanting "JU-SHCHEN-KO PRE-SI-DENT!"
2) The media are crucial. The independent news channel 5 deserves respect. All those reporters in the state media and stations owned by oligarchs who went on hunger strike the first round and again today deserve respect. And here is food for thought: a major turning point in the revolution that swept Milosevic from power was when the state TV turned against him. We need that here in Ukraine. But regardless, the word travels faster than the image in a country with generations of experience with resistance.
3) Ukrainians are showing their will to fight. They are taking to the streets. Democracy is not only in the act of voting but the act of filling the streets and shouting. The people of Ukraine are voting a second and a third and fourth time, or however many days they will have to stand and demand that they be heard.
4) This election is not about whether Ukraine will head for the West or toward Russia. It's not about Ukrainian language and culture versus Russian language and culture within Ukraine. It's about Ukraine itself. It is about whether the people of this country--whether ethnic Ukrainians, Russians, Jews, Romani, German, Tatar, etc.--can uproot a corrupt oligarchy that is bleeding this country dry for its own gratification, that is manipulating and politicizing the mulitcultural fabric of this fantastic country for the purpose of divide and rule. It is about poverty, about daily bread--it's about getting rid of an oligarchy of greedy bastards who, while dividing the people by pressing them to think in terms of khlib (Ukrainian for bread) and khleb (Russian for bread), has been and is fighting to keep on stealing the dough.
Peace and Love,
Stefan
PS--as I was about to close this email, I have overheard that a student in this internet club just recieved an SMS message on his cellphone from a friend in Kyiv. The friend wrote, "Kyiv is harvesting oranges!"
Orange is the color associated with Jushchenko's campaign, and this is a humorous statement in that many Ukrainians have found work picking oranges in Portugal, as has this fellow's friend who wrote the message. . .
Back to the present: Read here an article I wrote for Toronto's New Pathway.
Some photos from Berezhany (still had a crappy camera; but I was soon to get a much better one!). . .reading the piece linked above will help with the photos. . .
This is the scene as we got to the center of town 40 or so minutes before the meeting was to begin.
People watch and listen to the speech made earlier in the day by Yushchenko in Kyiv. I believe this is one of the most important moments or speeches in Ukrainian, and also in Eastern European, history. It was the statement that began a revolution, much like the famous statement that began the Bolshevik coup (i.e., "All power to the Soviets," which was a lie, or not what Lenin really meant; he should have said, "All Power to the Almighty Party!").
To paraphrase what Yushchenko said that afternoon to the multitude assembled on Independence Square in Kyiv: "The time has come to build on this square a tent camp, and I want to say to each one of you: have no fear. Be here on the square, and to all of you throughout the country, come to us, by train, by car, by bus. Come here and be tens and tens of thousands of people."
So the Guardian writer who wrote that the OR was a meticulously planned event was partially right: they had planned for, or anticipated, tens of thousands of people, based on the precedents of the Ukraine without Kuchma and the other anti-Kuchma campaigns in 2001. But then suddenly, unexpectedly, without a plan, without even a hope, the incredible happened, beginning on November 22, 2004 and continuing for the next 17 days: approximately 1 million people streamed into the capital! And millions all over the country participated in demonstrations! This was, if anything, spontaneous, unplanned, and in no way motivated nor determined to happen by US tricks.
But also, isn't it strange that a leftist writer would criticize fellow progressives in Ukraine for doing what it is that leftist activists and progressives are supposed to be really good at? That is, organizing? For it was Ukraine's truly progressive community that rallied and organized around the OR, and they should be commended for a job well done. (Note: Vitrenko's party and the Communist Party, which some critics have tried to paint as anti-free trade, anti-neoliberal progressives, are nothing but unreformed, authoritarian and dogmatic Soviet communists; and by the way, the people who tried to paint the critical mass of the Orange Revolution's organizers as neo-Nazis are nothing but ignorant assholes. . .)
The next few photos were of the scene before the county administration building in Berezhany, where people shouted "Shame!" at officials and demanded that they come out to explain themselves. . .
