Unsung heroes recall events of 2004 Orange Revolution (11/20/05)

Unsung heroes recall events of 2004 Orange Revolution

by Yana Sedova
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - The day of November 22, 2004, became the most striking and memorable in the life of Yevhen Nyschuk, an actor who, as fate would have it, became "the DJ of the maidan."

Mr. Nyschuk virtually lived on Independence Square's stage from the revolution's very start all the way through December 27, when Ukraine's Supreme Court declared Viktor Yushchenko Ukraine's new president.

During that time, he introduced the politicians who inspired and the musicians who energized the people. In between the performances, he calmed a tense crowd that sometimes feared what the Ukrainian government might do against them.

"What was most impressive was that there were so many people on the maidan on November 22," Mr. Nyschuk said. "Nobody expected that. When politicians came on (stage), I saw shock in their eyes because they saw that Ukrainians are no longer indifferent."

For every politician, musician or celebrity who stood on the maidan's stage during the Orange Revolution, tens of thousands of average Ukrainians were playing their small, yet crucial role.

Without these doctors, businessmen, teachers, students and simple "babusi" (elderly women), the Orange Revolution would have failed.

Reflecting on the experience a year later, the Orange Revolution's unsung heroes do not regret their activity and preserve hope in their hearts, believing that last year's events became the crucial point for change and development in Ukraine.

"I will never ever experience last year's events again," said Volodymyr Borodenko, a businessman who owns several gas stations and a confectionery in Kyiv.

All 70 of his employees were on the maidan on November 22 and then arrived there at noon every day during the first week, he said.

Mr. Borodenko brought cookies from the confectionery he owns and bought medicine for a group living in the tent city. These were people he hadn't known previously.

He kept returning to the maidan every day with his friends until the third round of voting on December 26.

The unity of the Ukrainian people is the most vivid recollection for Taras Lohinov, the tent city's commander, who in his everyday life chairs the Kyiv youth organization Compass.

"There were numerous political groups in a single tent city," Mr. Lohinov said. "It was a diverse spectrum: the Greens, skinheads, UNA-UNSO, Pora and Our Ukraine. But they were all aimed toward success."

The citizens of Kyiv were particularly helpful, he said, perhaps to an extreme. "I remember an old babusia who brought two cooked potatoes and an onion (to the tent city), and she became resentful when we declined to accept it," Mr. Lohinov said.

Some of the unsung heroes associate the most significant memories of the Orange Revolution with tragic moments.

Studentske Bratstvo chair Oleh Yatsenko recalled the day when he and his deputy Andrii Sydorenko became the only eyewitnesses to Internal Affairs Ministry police stealthily placing explosives in Pora's office.

Procurator General Hennadii Vasyliev declared a national search to arrest Mr. Sydorenko after he witnessed the crime. Our Ukraine national deputies hid Mr. Sydorenko from the search.

During that time, government investigators questioned Mr. Yatsenko and officers searched his Kyiv apartment. "Due to the presence of (National Deputy Oleksii) Ivchenko and several other deputies, the placing of explosives in my house failed," Mr. Yatsenko said.

For many Ukrainian journalists, the Orange Revolution became the moment of truth in their lives.

They had to decide whether to tell the truth and risk their careers, or lie and save their jobs. Only a few found the will power to not compromise their souls, said Viktor Zablotskyi, a former reporter for the television network 1 + 1.

He was among seven journalists who refused to deceive the public about the 2004 presidential elections and eventually quit the biased television network 1+1 that had negatively covered Mr. Yushchenko and his team.

During those tense days, Special Services officers had shadowed Mr. Zablotskyi and his colleagues. The network's supervisors also hinted that they would impede journalists from finding a new job, he said.

However, after he resigned, Mr. Zablotskyi was able to find work during the revolution for the British television news networks Independent Television News and the British Broadcasting Company.

An even more tragic moment came on November 24 when the Central Election Committee (CEC) declared Viktor Yanukovych Ukraine's new president, Mr. Zablotskyi said.

"I was shooting all those so-called miners who actually were activists of Social Democratic Party United, and they were all drunk and happy," Mr. Zablotskyi said. "And the CEC was surrounded with trucks full of sand. It looked so surreal - there were people all around who were against this 'victory.' But here was a bastion of violations and these people were happy because they thought they had deceived the whole country."

By then, however, many citizens had already come to the maidan, and it was soon obvious that Mr. Yanukovych had little chance of becoming president, Mr. Zablotskyi said.

Not everyone joined the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians on the maidan with political motives.

Some contributed their professional skills, among them Oleksii Vorobiov, a doctor who coordinated the medical care for several thousand people at the KyivExpoPlaza exhibition center on Saliutna Street.

After his getting his supervisor's consent, Mr. Vorobiov spent two weeks at the center providing medical care to the revolution's participants.

"I didn't work there for the idea of the Orange Revolution, but for the sake of people who needed help," Mr. Vorobiov said.

The beginning of the new year brought many Ukrainians hope and the strong belief that life would quickly change for the better.

Within a few months, their expectations melted away.

Recent scandals that split the Orange Revolution team have frustrated many Ukrainians, as did Mr. Yushchenko's unwillingness to admit that there are many people in his circle who do not fit the president's ideals.

"I think all these people around him came with the sole purpose of repossessing the money they invested into the revolution," Mr. Borodenko said. "In doing so, they are ruining the president's image."

Many journalists also are disappointed with the political elite, Mr. Zablotskyi said.

"There is not a single political force, politician or political team that is capable of standing up for the interests of those people who want to become Europeans," he said.

Businessmen also share negative appraisals concerning the new authorities' activity. Hopes loomed high in January. But, by September, it appeared the old Kuchma-style system of control of Ukrainian small business had returned.

"In January, all the (government) checks suddenly stopped, as if the people (from supervisory institutions) were replaced," Mr. Borodenko said. "The tax yoke that we suffered under the Kuchma regime weakened. But, ever since September, everything has returned."

Supervisory institutions began re-examining his company's past activities, despite the fact that they had already been checked. Mr. Borodenko explained this as an attempt to get a bribe.

"Those who demand bribes say that now they need twice as much as they used to get," he said. "I ask them, 'Why?' They say that they are now even more afraid to take bribes because they are under severe control." Therefore, they need to obtain more money from those limited opportunities they have, he said.

Mr. Borodenko blamed the supervisors of bribe takers, who demand a percentage of their subordinates' bribes.

However, not all unsung heroes are so critical, saying that life can't change immediately.

"Every system experiences failures at first," Mr. Lohinov said. "But all that was done was right. Now we simply have to adjust the system."

"If we, for example, stop giving bribes to police officers and the government raises their salaries, the system will change," he noted.

Unanimously, the activists assert that freedom of speech was one of the Orange Revolution's most significant achievements.

People got the chance to be more independent, and they are no longer afraid of persecution for political convictions, Mr. Yatsenko said.

And, despite economic and political failures, the spirit of the maidan lives in the hearts of many who were there.

"I do not have a moral right to comment on all these stories surrounding the politicians," Mr. Nyschuk said. "But standing close to them on the stage, I felt warm, confident and safe. These people are very strong personalities. I am the type of person who looks for something positive until the end. I still have hope."

Most widely held is the belief that the Ukrainian nation changed last year - and that this change is irreversible.

"The main achievement, which is out of the politicians' control, either those who came (into office) or will come, is that the nation began to respect itself," Mr. Lohinov said. "That is more important than the economy."

| Home Page |