Commentary

Larysa Zariczniak, Kyiv

It was a cold, foggy, and rainy night. The concert was set to begin at four in the afternoon, but by 16:20 it was clear that it would be delayed. People wandered about Khreschatyk Street not knowing what the planned schedule was. Nor did they know what to do with themselves: are we commemorating or celebrating the two year anniversary of the beginning of Euromaidan? November 21, 2015 was – weird.

The day began with a 10:00 “meeting” (the kind they had during the Maidan) but it did not generate many attendees. Those who did come out walked up Institutska Street to protest the government. There were shouts and angry cries, but this peaked after a few hours and people melted away. Evgeny Afineevsky’s “Winter on Fire” also premiered in Kyiv and included replica barricades outside the movie theatre. The action, or inaction, occurred later, at Independence Square.

Two stages were set up, big yellow European Union stars were placed in front of them along with images of broken chains. “Freedom is our Religion” was headlined in Ukrainian and English. Around noon the sound checks began for the bands that would be playing later that day, but the weather was not giving up. It was still rainy and foggy and it was getting colder. The hundred or so people milling around the square were visibly looking confused. After 16:00, when the concert should have started, everything was still quiet. Asking a police officer what the schedule was, the reply came, “Well, it should have started at 16:00 but I guess they’re pushing it back, maybe to 21:00.”

Walking up Institutska Street while waiting for the concert to begin, people were paying their respects to the Heavenly Hundred by the newly renovated Heavenly Hundred memorial on the top of the hill, outside of Khreschatyk metro station. Some people were discussing politics but most were silent.

Around 17:00 the concert began but before it got into the swing of things, protesters broke the metal barricade and confiscated the microphone. Those who led the charge seemed to be those who have taken to mounting the Independence Monument (or “Stella” as it is also called) almost on a daily basis. About a hundred or so people were standing in front of the stage listening to their cries of anger against the government. However, after hearing some of what they are angry about – it became clear that there was no consistency in what they wanted: impeachment of Poroshenko, impeachment of other politicians, new elections, an end to the war, Europe, or isolationism? It was all vaguely packed together.

In the middle of Khreschatyk Street the OUN Battalion pulled up their truck, an Auto-Maidan flag was placed on it, and Ukrainian pop music started playing. A couple minutes later, there were soldiers on top of the truck, again demanding the government be accountable for its actions. Volodymyr Parasiuk - a Euromaidan activist, volunteer soldier, and now an independent Ukrainian Member of Parliament - even made an appearance. He too criticized President Poroshenko but did not propose any clear solutions to any of the vast problems faced by Ukraine today.

This confusion and general ambiguity as to how to act towards Ukraine’s government is an overarching problem for a large majority of Ukrainians: how does one live in a democratic state when democracy has only recently been experienced in Ukraine? Over half the population participated in the presidential and parliamentary elections but how many of them have petitioned their own elected representatives for an explanation on the policies that were made and why? The government’s failure to educate its people leads to additional confusion when the people do not understand how democracy works and why Parliament votes in certain ways (i.e.: the anti-discrimination package that needed to be voted in in order for the visa-free regime with the EU to be implemented). Parasiuk, for example, abstained from the anti-discrimination vote. If one of the main pillars of the Maidan was inclusion, Parasiuk’s move seemed rather alarming.

Furthermore, modern Ukrainians have a very short term, inaccurate memory: Russia has invaded Ukraine numerous times in the last hundred years, so this latest invasion should not have been that big of a shock. But it was, and memories of what the Maidan was about have also slowly begun to dissipate. In addition, the majority of Ukrainians also do not remember what happened in the early 1990s to their neighbour Poland, a country that has become a paradise for many here. What many do not remember is that Poland had to go through years of economic hardship to get to where it is today.

Poland’s economic shock therapy released economic control, withdrew state subsidies, and liberalized trade in the early 1990s which caused great traumatic damage to its population. There was widespread unemployment and a drop in living standards. These traumas are only now being repaired, and some regions and occupations are still struggling. This is not known in Ukraine – for many here, they want immediate change without realizing that this change will be difficult; economically they will have to go through much hardship in order for their industries to align to European standards. All this needs explaining though – something the Ukrainian government has not done properly or successfully. Unfortunately, there is a general misunderstanding on how governance, democracy, and a market economy work in Ukraine.

This general misunderstanding is possibly what led to the end of the two year celebration of the beginning of the Euromaidan that evening. A crowd consisting of half protesters and half spectators walked up Institutska to protest in front of the Presidential Administration building on Bankovska street. The protesters were mostly holding Right Sector flags while the National Guardsmen protecting the dark and clearly empty Presidential Administration building looked on. After an hour or so, this crowd also dispersed into the cold, foggy and rainy night.