Post by Roughneck on Dec 2, 2004 7:40:25 GMT -5
Ukraine protesters buoyed by numbers, burgeoning power
By Douglas Stanglin, USA TODAY
KIEV, Ukraine — It is part Tiananmen Square, part Woodstock.
The street demonstrations that have sprung up in the aftermath of Ukraine's contested presidential election draw from a rich legacy of peaceful challenges to authoritarian rule — from the Gdansk shipyard strikes in Poland to the Czech velvet revolution that swept away communist regimes more than a decade ago.
Add to that a playful street theater aura like those that marked the '60s generation, and the scene is one of infectious enthusiasm, accurate or not, that Ukrainians can shape their own future.
Unlike the first days of the protest, when demonstrators who supported opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko feared a possible crackdown by police or the military, many here now feel victory is inevitable. Political momentum seemed to shift in their direction Wednesday when 229 members of the 450-seat parliament passed a no-confidence measure that forced the Cabinet — including Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, the other presidential candidate — to resign. Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma is likely to name parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn to head a caretaker government, said Markian Bilynskyj, a Kiev-based analyst.
Reinforcing the sense here that the rule of law would prevent a violent response to the Nov. 21 runoff election, the two candidates agreed Wednesday to hold talks on changes in Ukraine's election law to end the crisis. After negotiations with Kuchma and mediation by European envoys, Yushchenko said he would tell his supporters to immediately lift their siege of government buildings. But he said the street protests would continue until a deal is reached on a new vote.
The candidates said they would hold talks as soon as the Supreme Court rules on the opposition's appeal against the official vote results, which election monitors deemed flawed by fraud. Yushchenko said the Supreme Court was expected to rule today on his campaign's appeal to invalidate the runoff results.
The no-confidence vote and compromise should drain tension from the standoff. And with virtually all the government institutions lining up in Yushchenko's corner, Yanukovych abandoned talk of autonomy for his supporters in the Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine.
Shortly after the agreement was reached, Yushchenko appeared on Independence Square here and told tens of thousands of his cheering loyalists, "These 10 days have been critical for our country." Referring to the color adopted by his supporters, he added, "The orange revolution did a lot."
Yushchenko thanked the crowd for not resorting to violence, but stressed that he still needed the demonstrators' help in his struggle for the presidency. "You have the right to stay here to the very end," he said in a dramatic conclusion followed by the Ukrainian national anthem and a fireworks display.
The political maneuvering that took place indoors appeared to be a response to the thousands of determined Ukrainians who have gathered outside parliament since Yanukovych was declared the winner of the runoff. It seemed the only way the protesters could be dispersed would be through repressive measures unseen since before jubilant crowds tore down the Berlin Wall 15 years ago.
Tent city sprouts up
But don't talk about historic precedent to Ukrainians reveling in their own revolution, even though in an echo of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing, someone has put together a small snowman-version of the Statue of Liberty, draped in Yushchenko orange, in central Kiev — across from a McDonald's. Supporters of the opposition candidate who have erected a tent city in the center of the capital think they are making history, not mimicking it.
"I've always heard that we Ukrainians were on our knees, but now we have stood up and showed our power," says Yulia Moroza, 18, a student. Like many here, she is wearing a windbreaker and cap in opposition orange.
In many ways, she's right. The Ukrainians who have camped out in plastic tents despite temperatures below freezing and frequent snow are different. They are caught up in a new type of revolution born of the Internet, cell phone and satellite-TV generation. The sheer volume of information and the speed with which it bounces around the country have made protesters easier to mobilize and have made it harder for authoritarian regimes to get away with rigging elections or crushing dissent.
At the heart of the demonstration in Independence Square, political speakers boom from gigantic TV screens. Self-appointed stewards in orange armbands carry cell phones as they keep order and guard the tent city and its occupants. A week into this uprising, opposition loyalists roam the streets handing out a new eight-page, full-color opposition newspaper, called High Tower, that would rival any tabloid in the world in design and impact.
Protesters camped out in the tent city gathered around one big TV monitor to watch a live broadcast of parliament passing the vote of no-confidence in the current government.
The makeshift community is the manifestation of a protest that began after the Nov. 21 runoff when tens of thousands poured into the street to challenge the official declaration that Yanukovych had won the presidency. The anger from Yushchenko's camp rose after international monitors declared the vote flawed due to massive fraud.
By Douglas Stanglin, USA TODAY
KIEV, Ukraine — It is part Tiananmen Square, part Woodstock.
The street demonstrations that have sprung up in the aftermath of Ukraine's contested presidential election draw from a rich legacy of peaceful challenges to authoritarian rule — from the Gdansk shipyard strikes in Poland to the Czech velvet revolution that swept away communist regimes more than a decade ago.
Add to that a playful street theater aura like those that marked the '60s generation, and the scene is one of infectious enthusiasm, accurate or not, that Ukrainians can shape their own future.
Unlike the first days of the protest, when demonstrators who supported opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko feared a possible crackdown by police or the military, many here now feel victory is inevitable. Political momentum seemed to shift in their direction Wednesday when 229 members of the 450-seat parliament passed a no-confidence measure that forced the Cabinet — including Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, the other presidential candidate — to resign. Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma is likely to name parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn to head a caretaker government, said Markian Bilynskyj, a Kiev-based analyst.
Reinforcing the sense here that the rule of law would prevent a violent response to the Nov. 21 runoff election, the two candidates agreed Wednesday to hold talks on changes in Ukraine's election law to end the crisis. After negotiations with Kuchma and mediation by European envoys, Yushchenko said he would tell his supporters to immediately lift their siege of government buildings. But he said the street protests would continue until a deal is reached on a new vote.
The candidates said they would hold talks as soon as the Supreme Court rules on the opposition's appeal against the official vote results, which election monitors deemed flawed by fraud. Yushchenko said the Supreme Court was expected to rule today on his campaign's appeal to invalidate the runoff results.
The no-confidence vote and compromise should drain tension from the standoff. And with virtually all the government institutions lining up in Yushchenko's corner, Yanukovych abandoned talk of autonomy for his supporters in the Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine.
Shortly after the agreement was reached, Yushchenko appeared on Independence Square here and told tens of thousands of his cheering loyalists, "These 10 days have been critical for our country." Referring to the color adopted by his supporters, he added, "The orange revolution did a lot."
Yushchenko thanked the crowd for not resorting to violence, but stressed that he still needed the demonstrators' help in his struggle for the presidency. "You have the right to stay here to the very end," he said in a dramatic conclusion followed by the Ukrainian national anthem and a fireworks display.
The political maneuvering that took place indoors appeared to be a response to the thousands of determined Ukrainians who have gathered outside parliament since Yanukovych was declared the winner of the runoff. It seemed the only way the protesters could be dispersed would be through repressive measures unseen since before jubilant crowds tore down the Berlin Wall 15 years ago.
Tent city sprouts up
But don't talk about historic precedent to Ukrainians reveling in their own revolution, even though in an echo of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing, someone has put together a small snowman-version of the Statue of Liberty, draped in Yushchenko orange, in central Kiev — across from a McDonald's. Supporters of the opposition candidate who have erected a tent city in the center of the capital think they are making history, not mimicking it.
"I've always heard that we Ukrainians were on our knees, but now we have stood up and showed our power," says Yulia Moroza, 18, a student. Like many here, she is wearing a windbreaker and cap in opposition orange.
In many ways, she's right. The Ukrainians who have camped out in plastic tents despite temperatures below freezing and frequent snow are different. They are caught up in a new type of revolution born of the Internet, cell phone and satellite-TV generation. The sheer volume of information and the speed with which it bounces around the country have made protesters easier to mobilize and have made it harder for authoritarian regimes to get away with rigging elections or crushing dissent.
At the heart of the demonstration in Independence Square, political speakers boom from gigantic TV screens. Self-appointed stewards in orange armbands carry cell phones as they keep order and guard the tent city and its occupants. A week into this uprising, opposition loyalists roam the streets handing out a new eight-page, full-color opposition newspaper, called High Tower, that would rival any tabloid in the world in design and impact.
Protesters camped out in the tent city gathered around one big TV monitor to watch a live broadcast of parliament passing the vote of no-confidence in the current government.
The makeshift community is the manifestation of a protest that began after the Nov. 21 runoff when tens of thousands poured into the street to challenge the official declaration that Yanukovych had won the presidency. The anger from Yushchenko's camp rose after international monitors declared the vote flawed due to massive fraud.
Here's part of an interview that talks about some of that spin. But the outrage, I agree on. People are expressing it verbally, but few are acting on it. 
