Democratic freedoms have gradually started to erode. Basic rights such as freedom of assembly, freedom to elect and media freedoms are now being selectively restricted.
This is partly due to public indifference, turning a deaf ear to isolated shouts of protest, and partly because of the speed with which Ukraine’s new leadership has enacted the administration’s agenda.
The most troubling developments come only months after Brussels, Washington and many Ukrainians turned a blind eye to Yanukovych’s practice of bending and violating the constitution to seize full political power.
Back then, many downplayed the risks, pointing to the stability that would follow years of post Orange Revolution infighting, should one political team inherit full power and responsibility in running the country. But now Yanukovych’s team is going far beyond this would-be push for power that could help them fix the country’s ailing economy.
They are now clearly entrenching themselves in power for the long term at the expense of democratic and media freedoms.
In one recent example, courts ensured that Russian Orthodox Church head Patriarch Kirill, currently favored over other church leaders by Ukraine’s pro-Moscow leadership, could roam freely among his flock for a week by banning any protests along his route.
Authorities have also reportedly renewed the KGB practice of having university administrators and faculty discourage student protests, informing on and even threatening student activists with poor grades or expulsion. Pluralist views or alternative news coverage have largely vanished from the main airwaves. Only a handful of channels still report objectively on important issues, but their future is in doubt as authorities move to limit their broadcasting reach.
According to legislation passed this week by Yanukovych, in the Oct. 31 election of lawmakers to municipal and provincial legislatures, the impact of voters will be extremely limited. Independent candidates and newer parties will no longer be able to run for local offices, eliminating real competition.
So while Ukrainians continue behaving like cocooned individual citizens (less than 3 percent of the voting population can boast party membership), neglecting their civic duties in lieu of vacations to Turkey and visits to Sushi restaurants, the authorities are moving to gradually extinguish the brief candle of democratic freedom for which so many stood during the Orange Revolution of 2004.
Where is the opposition? A series of politically-motivated arrests has helped to divide, conquer and largely silence them. It is disturbing to see how the opposition and citizens have been reduced to such a timid, voiceless entity in all of this.
These moves cannot be explained away as mistakes or coincidences. The growing number of disturbing incidents point to a systematic problem that could not emerge so swiftly if not for the support of Ukraine’s ruling authorities.
This worrying trend in many ways reflects the crackdown on opposition, media and democratic freedoms conducted by Vladimir Putin in Russia to grab long-term power. Analyzing the developments, experts conclude that Yanukovych hopes to preserve a long-term grip on power by establishing himself as a so-called “Putin-light.” But a huge risk exists here. If the current trend persists, citizens could lose their chance to stop Yanukovych from becoming a “Putin-heavy.”
Unless people learn that democracy is not about voting every four or five years, but about actively forming and shaping parties from within, and staging big protests at strategic moments, unless they start organizing community groups to demand better public and utility services and demand that proverbial seat at the governing table, more liberties could soon vanish.
Tyranny is when people fear their government. Freedom is when government fears the people. Ukrainians deserve the latter, and the responsible government that implies. But it won’t come on a silver platter. Citizens need to make it happen.
Related to this editorial is ‘With IMF deal done, Yanukovych’s challenges still ahead’ story by Mark Rachkevych.
