Do Not Forget about the Dreams
Do Not Forget about the Dreams
Published on Friday, 21 November 2014 14:40
Category: Articles and Commentary
Written by Paweł Pieniążek
On November 21st 2014 on Kyiv’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) people will meet once again. This time, however, they will not organise another protest against the government. They will gather to commemorate the events that took place at that square a year ago. On November 21st 2013, a well-known journalist Mustafa Nayyem (today member of Ukraine’s new Parliament) posted the following note on his Facebook timeline: “We will meet under monument of Independence at 10.30 pm. Wear warm clothes, take umbrellas, tea, coffee, good mood and friends.” This year, somebody wrote on Facebook to do it the same way – to set up a spontaneous meeting, without political symbols.
Few days ago, minister of culture Yevhen Nyshchuk (he was the main speaker at Maidan, also called the “voice of the EuroMaidan”) announced that there would be a rally and a concert at the Maidan. But the founders of the Facebook event changed it. Instead, Ukrainians chose to commemorate EuroMaidan and its victims (officially: more than one hundred; unofficially: about eight hundred) with candles in a more intimate atmosphere of reflection. War in Eastern Ukraine (officially: more than four thousand victims; unofficially: much more) will also be a very important part of the EuroMaidan’s first anniversary.
I often hear that nothing has changed in Ukraine since the EuroMaidan, hence there are no reasons to celebrate it pompously. Thus, candles are the best option to memorise this day. But I still wonder whether really nothing has changed since then? Has there really been nothing positive in what happened in Ukraine in the last year?
First of all, we should not think that the war in eastern Ukraine is a result of the EuroMaidan. The war is a result of sick ambitions of one man in the Kremlin. Even if there was no EuroMaidan, Putin would have found a different way to take control of these territories. He simply does not want a free and democratic Ukraine. He wants Ukraine that is heavily dependent on Russia.
Second, for the first time since gaining the independence, Ukraine has had a real chance to implement serious changes. Not like during the Orange Revolution when different parts of the country’s elite just changed their seats. The EuroMaidan gave also a chance to change everything what Ukrainians really hated – corruption, poverty, weak and ineffective state. This change is possible only now mainly because now people in Ukraine know what they want and they have started believing in people’s power.
But for the country to really change, the EuroMaidan cannot be remembered only as a national mourning. People must, first of all, again bring to light their aspirations. They need to remember why they came out on the streets on November 21st and on November 30th (massively). It was not because of the pro-European but anti-government moods. Thus, even in this second wave of protests people were fighting for democracy, better future and living conditions. It is around these values that people should meet once again on the first anniversary of the EuroMaidan.
Third, the power of the EuroMaidan controls today’s officials and looks at their hands. During the protests people were chanting against Viktor Yanukovych but when it was necessary they also protested against the actions of the then-opposition leaders (present president Petro Poroshenko, prime-minister Arseniy Yatseniuk, Kyiv’s mayor Vitaly Klitschko). The EuroMaidan, since its very fist day, was sceptical towards all political powers. Right now, some people might forget about this power of control and mistrust. Mostly because everybody is focused on the war and not many think about political processes. The most important thing society can really do is to control politicians, not to send unprepared volunteers to a war. In this sense, the strongest link that is connecting the EuroMaidan with the war in the East is the fact that many protesters from Kyiv’s Independence Square took guns and are now fighting in Donbas. This means that in Ukraine there are fewer sceptical citizens these days who can control political process in Kyiv and other regions.
No matter what, every anniversary of the EuroMaidan should make people remember about their dreams. In a way like it was once expressed by a Polish great intellectual, Jan Józef Lipski who wrote: “You have to dream but do not break down when your dreams do not come true. In our journey we can strive for perfection even though we will not be able to reach it”.
Paweł Pieniążek is a Polish journalist specialising in Eastern Europe. He regularly contributes to the Polish daily Dziennik Opinii and New Eastern Europe and freelances for Polish Radio. His book Greetings from Novorossiya will soon be published in Poland. Follow him on Twitter:@p_pieniazek.
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