Ukrainian Canadian Congress
The statement below was released by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress on November 21.
On November 21, the Ukrainian people mark the Day of Dignity and Freedom. Five years ago today, the people of Ukraine took to the streets in protest of their government’s decision not to sign the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
The regime responded with violence. On the night of November 29-30, security forces brutally beat young protestors gathered on Kyiv’s Independence Square. In response, in cities and towns all across Ukraine, the people rose up with mass demonstrations in defense of their inalienable right to live in freedom. So began the Revolution of Dignity.
The Revolution of Dignity was a demonstration of a nation’s courage and unity of purpose. It was the Ukrainian people’s expression of a centuries-long struggle to live in liberty, peace, human dignity and to choose their own common destiny. With their resolve and their determination, the Ukrainian people cemented their choice to join the European community of nations.
Months of protests were met with increasing repression and violence by the state. On February 18-20, 2014, 100 people were murdered when the Yanukovych regime ordered security forces to fire upon their own people. But the people would not be moved. The Maidan withstood the assault of the security forces, and the regime retreated. Viktor Yanukovych fled the capital, abdicating his office, and was removed as president by a constitutional majority vote in Ukraine’s Parliament.
The brave patriots who fell in defense of Ukraine’s freedom on those cold February days are remembered as the Heavenly Hundred (Небесна Сотня). We honor their memory. Their sacrifice shall never be forgotten. Вічная пам’ять.
Today Ukraine defends itself against an external aggressor. On the battlefields of eastern Ukraine, Russia wages war against Ukraine in an attempt to once again subjugate the people of Ukraine to Moscow’s tyranny. Every day, Ukrainian soldiers fight and die to protect Ukraine’s liberty and the ideals of the Revolution of Dignity. With God’s help, they will be victorious.
To find out more about the National Memorial to the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred – Museum of the Revolution of Dignity, please see here: http://maidanmuseum.org.
Ukrainian Congress Committee of America
The following statement was released by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America on November 21.
The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), the largest representation of over 1.5 million Americans of Ukrainian descent, commends our brethren in Ukraine on this Day of Dignity and Freedom.
Fourteen years ago, an estimated 7 million Ukrainians participated in peaceful protests stemming from the falsification of the 2003-2004 Ukrainian presidential election. This historic manifestation, which came to be known as the Orange Revolution, transformed not only the lives of those living in Ukraine, but those of the worldwide Ukrainian diaspora as well. In response to the allegations of fraud in 2004, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America organized the largest election observer mission ever registered by Ukraine’s Central Election Commission, with over 2,400 observers flying in from around the world to ensure that the court-ordered redo of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election would be transparent, democratic and in accordance with international standards.
Today also marks the fifth anniversary of when ordinary people began gathering out in the cold heart of Kyiv’s Maidan Nezalezhnosty following the government’s abrupt decision to end talks on a Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement. These Euro-Maidan protesters, who sought for Ukraine to become a fully realized European state, united in prayer and in song and astounded the rest of the world, exceeding its expectations about what Ukraine could achieve. In the United States, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in support of this Revolution of Dignity, filling the streets of New York, Chicago, Georgia, Texas, Ohio, California and beyond. This massive, months-long movement in support of reform and modernization led to the end of a criminal presidential regime and the beginning of a future based on European values, a future when corruption is to be challenged, not tolerated, and where rule of law and human rights are to be respected.
We also honor the countless hours of heroic humanitarian work undertaken outside Ukraine during this historic period, as the enormous charity and goodwill of our diaspora community helped support the people of Ukraine, through massive shipments of the United Ukrainian American Relief Committee, to the proceeds of church bake sales and charitable fund-raisers.
Perhaps the longest-lasting legacy of these wintry revolutions is the transformational sense of national identity and patriotism in Ukraine, with a vibrant and thriving civil society, full of extraordinary volunteers and young professionals dedicated to reforming their country.
On this Day of Dignity and Freedom, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America celebrates the indomitable Ukrainian spirit which manifested itself in the growth of a true Ukrainian identity among the Ukrainian electorate during the historic 2004 Orange Revolution, and the defense of these democratic values, rights and freedoms for which the Ukrainian people “laid body and soul” during the 2013-2014 Revolution of Dignity.