UkraineBlog2006

Our friend in Kiev

Working indefatigably as mentor, guide and intellectual match-maker, has been Valentin Yakushik, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Kiev-Mohyla Academy. Kiev-Mohyla is one of Ukraine’s leading universities, with faculty and staff who were among the leaders of protest on the Maidan,Independence Square, that freezing winter two years ago when the Orange Revolution took place. On our study tour, we met some of the students who had been there, some disappointed in the consequences of the revolution, all still wanting to see Ukraine transformed. 

But Valentin had not been among the crowds on the Maidan. He fears that Ukrainian nationalism could divide Ukraine, neglecting the legitimate aspirations of those who speak Russian, primarily in the east of the country, especially around Donetsk. This is the territory of the Party of the Regions, led by Victor Yanukovich, who was denied the Presidency by the Orange Revolution, but is now Prime Minister after the elections earlier this year. Valentin thinks the present coalition of Our Ukraine, the ‘Orange’ party of President Yushchenko, with Victor Yanukovych’s Party of the Regions, is just what is needed to pull the country together.

Maidan Square

You hear a lot of cynicism about the Orange Revolution of 2004, especially allegations that it was orchestrated by the CIA and paid for in bribes. The CIA seems a bit beleagured these days to pull off a populist regime change. Our study tour group met Dr. Victor Nebozhenko, political scientist and director of ‘Ukrainian Barometer’. We asked how much bribery and manipulation were involved in gathering and keeping hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters in Maidan Square for night after bitter winter night.

His response:

“You’ll keep answering this question all your life, in your own culture. A person can never know whether he’s the actor in someone else’s play, or whether he’s making the play. Either a person follows someone else’s rules or he follows his own heart.

As far as the bribes during the Orange Revolution are concerned, the bribes were passion, interest, hope. It was great. It was fun. If there were any bribes during the Orange Revolution, they were minor. They didn’t influence the general situation."