Yet another activist of the Femen movement has bared her breasts in an act of protest. In response, the community got agitated. Multiple reports were filed in newspapers, on TV and by bloggers. The community is boiling. There is a valid subject for discussion: there is beauty and eroticism, and there is plenty to talk and think about.
We’ve got to do it while we can. It’s been more than 100 days since the new administration of President Viktor Yanukovych has been wanting to take away this right for free speech and expression – the only carrot we inherited from the Orange Revolution power [of Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko].
A few weeks ago in Moscow, during an interview with Russian media, I suddenly remembered how confident I had been. I said it’s impossible to tighten the screws on civic freedoms and the return to “Kuchmism,” the practices that dominated the authoritarian decade of ex-President Leonid Kuchma, from 1994-2005.
Now I am officially admitting that I was wrong. Changes happened within weeks, and continue to happen.
Activists of the Femen women’s movement painted breasts with the design of blue buckets during their protest outside of the Russian Embassy in Kyiv on May 27. The activists, known for their trademark topless protests, joined a growing movement against the flashing blue lights on the top of cars belonging to VIPs, known for breaking traffic rules and running over pedestrians. In Russia, protesters took to confusing police by fastening blue buckets resembling the blue lights to their car tops. (AP)
Let’s take, for example, the May 17-18 visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Ukraine, which happened in exactly the opposite manner to “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
Shortly before the event, our government issued a decree banning opposition protests during Medvedev’s visit. But the sarcastic fate of Yanukovych turned against him. The whole Internet was plastered with the footage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oowdk2Xqhbg&feature=player_embedded) of the treacherous wreath attacking the president, despite his administration’s request to withhold the images. (https://archive.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/67371/)
The molehill turned into a mountain. Instead of being just another banal blunder, it turned into a big deal.
The simpleton image of Viktor Fedorovych, which often entertains Ukraine, covers tough decisions and special orders given out. Recently, one of our sources in the police department told us that there is even a special order concerning Femen: activists will be arrested in an attempt to bare themselves (in our case, it’s just baring the breasts, which is not a violation according to Ukraine’s law.)
And, as if to prove this inside information, Femen activists were arrested during a rally in support of Russia’s Blue Bucket movement on May 27. (See Kyiv Post editorial for “Blue buckets”)
Another omen is the tightening of police control over civic gatherings. Our March rally in front of the Cabinet called “Give us a briefcase!,” designed to protest against the sexism of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, was controlled by a double police cordon. (Kyiv Post, April 15, “Azarov sexism is hurting this nation” ).
To deal with a peaceful rally of dozens of bloggers on May 17 on Maidan Nezalezhnosti against the ban on public gatherings, several cars with Berkut, the riot police, arrived – but too late.
Meanwhile, the unthreatening (to the administration, at least) March of Homeless Youths, which took place in front on the Kyiv mayor’s office on May 18, was only guarded by a single police officer, just like in the good old Orange Revolution days.
What is this supposed to mean? Are we seeing the birth of home-grown, loyal-to-the-government protests that pose no threat to them, imitating civic freedoms in Ukraine?
The issue of freedom of the press has once again become so desperate that representatives of the media, for the first time since Kuchma, marched on June 6 in the center of Kyiv under the slogans “Stop Censorship!” (Journalists protest against censorship: https://archive.kyivpost.com/gallery/album/701/)
On June 17, the Verkhovna Rada was supposed to debate draft law #2450 regulating peaceful rallies. Human rights activists have already christened it the “three-is-a-crowd” law.
The authors’ idea is that every gathering has to have a person capable of dispersing them without a court decision. In the new version of the draft law, this authorized person has been removed, but notifications about rallies have to be filed four days in advance, which totally destroys the essence of every protest – spontaneity and quick reaction to events.
The bill also carries a number of limitations on the freedom of expression, but sets no responsibility for the actions of the police during rallies.
Today’s Ukraine is full of contrasts. One day, Maidan Nezalezhnosti is decorated with the tents of all European Union countries, has music playing, balloons flying and representatives of European nations talking beautifully about the most cherished dream of most countries of the third world – Euro-integration. And the next day, public gatherings are banned.
Why? Interior Minister Anatoliy Mohylev says he’s taking care of the citizens – there are people living in the neighborhoods where protests take place. The Interior Ministry also insists that today’s rallies are organized around cash, not ideas. A similar statement was made by Yanukovych during his visit to Lviv on May 27.
But this sort of attitude contradicts all democratic principles and moves our society closer to the “bright Russia-like future.” Paradoxically, many fatigued voters in the country can even vote for that.
But a successful society and a healthy democracy is built on the principle of parity of people and those in power. And we’re doing our best to preserve this parity.
So, as long as Femen activists’ breasts are shining in front of the president’s office and the Cabinet, and the images are broadcast on all channels and in all newspapers, while you’re discussing their shape and size and wonder when the new ones are coming, you will know that Ukraine is a democracy.
Anna Hutsol is the leader of Femen, a non-profit organization that promotes women’s issues. She can be reached at [email protected].
