An Evening Surprise
Tonight, when I came home from the Center around 10.30, a most odd thing was on TV. Three channels were carrying a press conference of the Ukrainian president Victor Yuschenko. These three networks had reporters in four major Ukrainian cities, two bastions of Yuschenko supporters and two in unfriendly territory. For a couple of hours, the president answered questions from people gathered on these four city squares. Questions were also sent in by email and a toll free number (26,000 people called in with questions). The questions are tough and challenge the president on many difficult questions: what about economic growth? Why should Ukraine want to join NATO? Why shouldn’t Russian also be an official language? Some asked about the president’s health following the dioxin poisoning.
This exercise in democracy has never happened in Ukraine. The former president was rarely seen on television except for highly staged media events. He was rarely if ever asked a question by anyone, let alone a question by someone who opposed him. This new government is simply to be commended for its efforts to make government more responsible before the people. The Orange Revolution continues.
The revolution also continued over the weekend as former Soviet states commemorated the sixtieth anniversary of the end of World War II. In Moscow, tanks rolled through Red Square and one could’ve thought the Soviet Union was alive and well. Only Bush sitting by Putin on the platform helped us realize it wasn’t 1964. In Kyiv, a solemn march led by the president and prime minister made it’s way down Kyiv’s main thoroughfare. Aging veterans sporting their many medals followed behind. No tanks. No war machines. Simply solemn remembrance. There was even discussion of the status of several thousand Ukrainians who fought not only against the Nazis but also against the Soviet forces as they fought for a free Ukrainian state during WWII. These soldiers were maligned by the Soviet Union and only now is there high-level discussion about honoring them as heroes as well.
We made it through the holidays and Lena’s birthday. Things are slowing down here as many of the students are gone or are leaving soon.
This exercise in democracy has never happened in Ukraine. The former president was rarely seen on television except for highly staged media events. He was rarely if ever asked a question by anyone, let alone a question by someone who opposed him. This new government is simply to be commended for its efforts to make government more responsible before the people. The Orange Revolution continues.
The revolution also continued over the weekend as former Soviet states commemorated the sixtieth anniversary of the end of World War II. In Moscow, tanks rolled through Red Square and one could’ve thought the Soviet Union was alive and well. Only Bush sitting by Putin on the platform helped us realize it wasn’t 1964. In Kyiv, a solemn march led by the president and prime minister made it’s way down Kyiv’s main thoroughfare. Aging veterans sporting their many medals followed behind. No tanks. No war machines. Simply solemn remembrance. There was even discussion of the status of several thousand Ukrainians who fought not only against the Nazis but also against the Soviet forces as they fought for a free Ukrainian state during WWII. These soldiers were maligned by the Soviet Union and only now is there high-level discussion about honoring them as heroes as well.
We made it through the holidays and Lena’s birthday. Things are slowing down here as many of the students are gone or are leaving soon.
posted by Kyivmission at 11:02 PM
1 Comments:
Sounds interesting.
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