December/January 2004-2005

Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC.

What We Are Fighting For

The Internet group Maidan began in December 2000 as a reaction to the Ukrainian government's efforts to block information distribution about political opposition activities. The following manifesto on the Ukrainian election crisis was disseminated in December 2004. Learn more about the group and the changing situation in Ukraine at http://maidan.org.ua.

These are not just ordinary elections.

What is going on now in Ukraine is a cold war conducted against the nation by the corrupt government. We are far from considering Yushchenko a Messiah, but in Yanukovich's doings we have already felt the breath of state gangsterism.

Student demonstration, Kiev, November 23, 2004. Photo from http://true-ukraine.com.

We are proud of our country, our people and our place in history. Ukrainians are used to democratic ways from the remotest times. Our grandparents defeated fascism, our parents defeated communism, and we will defeat Kuchmism, a feudal oligarchic system of rule shaped during the 10 years of Leonid Kuchma's presidency.

We are not divided into West and East, into leftists and rightists. The watershed passes elsewhere: the incumbent regime and a handful of its servants who want to remain in power to serve their own needs, against ordinary citizens eager to change the establishment to make it serve themselves.

We are fighting to make the administration apply the law. We want to be sure that a police truncheon or a piece of information discrediting a judge does not weigh more than the law or the presumption of innocence.

We are fighting to make the government (including the incoming one) understand that it should not consider itself a self-sufficient clan, but a temporary employee serving the people.

We are fighting for freedom of speech. Our most important mass media are now the property of a handful of oligarchs.

We are fighting for real economic stability, instead of the stable survival offered to us by the Kuchmists.

We are fighting to become a country respected by others, instead of remaining a supplier of raw materials, sex slaves, and cheap labor for subsidiary work.

We are fighting to have a government composed of true professionals able to secure the stability of national currency, guarantee the efficiency of armed forces, and provide for the financing of education and science

We are fighting to have a powerful opposition able to keep an eye on the establishment's moves whoever is in power.

We are fighting for Yushchenko's victory because all this is included in his election program. After he wins, we are going to urge him, in the same straight-out way, to fulfill his promises.

We are persecuted, beaten up, assassinated, and slung with mud in the state-controlled mass media, our families are harassed, we find unlawful stuff in our apartments, but we do not surrender. We disseminate underground printed materials, organize direct actions, and avoid police ambushes using various subterfuges. We learn to win by lawful methods and teach others to do so.

We are supported by honest people in the Armed Forces and among the judiciary, we are backed up by major political forces including Yushchenko himself, we are encouraged by athletes and musicians, students and pensioners, businesspeople and medical doctors, workers and farmers, in the East and West of Ukraine. We are supported by many Russians, from ordinary people to members of important political bodies. We are supported by Byelorussians and Georgians: the whole former USSR is watching Ukraine with hope.

However, we know little about the rest of the world. Do others support us? We hear statements made by top officials, but we hardly know what ordinary people, journalists, and activists think.

Support us! We are very close to you! Write an article about us, come to visit us, urge your governments to back us up. In the next days Ukraine is going to need your support and encouragement.

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