The sudden refusal by President Viktor Yanukovych on Nov. 21 to sign a far-reaching association agreement with the European Union, and his subsequent turn towards Russia, was the spark
that ignited the massive protests. All
polls indicate that the overwhelming majority of the Ukrainian people want a
European direction for the future.
Students and the young
educated generation erupted in protest first. Yanukovych does not understand
that this generation is different from previous ones. This generation is the
product of an education that provided access to the world’s knowledge, and
opportunities to study and travel abroad. This generation is integrated with
the freedom and open communication offered by technology and social media, one
that brings Ukraine into the world community.
This generation identifies
with the West more than they do with Russia. This is critical to understand.
Not only did the students react to the loss of political and economic opportunities
when Yanukovych refused to sign the association agreement, but they also reject
the claim that Russia is closer to them. They do not identify with Russia. They identify with an integrated world
community.
The young people have hope
and expectations for a better future. They reject corruption, abuse, selective
justice, incompetence, and greed as a way of life. They want equal opportunities and
transparency for their future.
The EuroMaidan dispelled a favorite
myth from the past that keeps being promulgated by Russia and its appointees in
Ukraine, promoted by Russia’s paid spin-masters, and accepted by foreign media
and analysts, who neither know nor understand Ukraine’s history. The persistent
spin that there is a fundamental divide in Ukraine has been used to portray the
country as weak and fractured. This view is often simplistically portrayed by
analysts who draw lines, circles, and squares on a map, dividing regions of
Ukraine in an attempt to describe differences based on language, religion, and
ethnicity that supposedly cannot be overcome.
The current protest united
Ukrainians regardless of language, geographic location, or ethnicity. There are protesters from Kyiv, Odessa, Sevastopol,
Donetsk, Kharkiv, Lviv, Ternopol, and from all around the country. This picture
is a reflection of a long list of events that has united Ukrainians for a long
time.
The organization Mothers, Sister and Daughters of Soldiers
was founded in Ukraine against brutality in the military during the Soviet –
Afghan war and united women regardless of language, ethnicity or region.
The reaction to the Chornobyl
disaster in 1986 also knew no divides. In 1991, the vote for Ukraine’s
independence was over 92 percent. Even the Communists wanted to get away from Moscow.
The passage of Ukraine’s Constitution in 1996, before political corruption had
fully seeped in, was a remarkable testament to the fact that parliamentarians
from all regions of Ukraine, all parties, all ethnicities, and all languages
could find common ground.
The month-long Orange
Revolution in 2004 again was an action of civic protest that knew no barriers.
And neither does the 2013 EuroMaidan. Despite
non-stop dire predictions otherwise, Ukraine has never had a breakdown because
of ethnic or religious violence.
The differences in Ukraine
are not based on language, ethnicity or geography, but between this government
and its own people.
The fundamental difference in
Ukraine is a worldview. The Ukrainian people
understand this well. The people on the Maidan and the millions they
represent, reject being shackled to a totalitarian Russian version of a
glorious past, and to a government seeped in corruption with total disregard
for the rule of law, human rights, and the national security of its own nation.
They do not want to be robbed of their future.
Education has played a major
role in this transformation of society. The words of Nelson Mandela, who said, “Education is the most powerful weapon that
you can use to change the world,” is nowhere more powerfully visible than right
now in Ukraine.
Marta Farion is president of Kyiv Mohyla
Foundation of America.
