Chaos in Ukraine

By: Peter Lewis

Since the spring of 2011, waves of demonstrations by citizens opposing their governments have spread across the globe.  While taking different approaches worldwide, such as Occupy Wall Street and the Egyptian Revolutions, it’s becoming apparent that citizens of countries are becoming much more aware of what their governments are doing.  More and more citizens are asserting their control of the government and fighting the powers that have plagued and corrupted their governments.  

In the Ukraine, a country still set in the background of the days of the USSR, demonstrations and civil unrest have risen against the government.  Western media covers their idea of “important” stories, such as Justin Beiber’s antics or dog shows, instead of the protests and what their implications hold for the world, but these things are important and need to be known.  As video and pictures of the protests have shown, these protests are becoming almost apocalyptic and it’s important to know what caused this.

The events of the protests can be somewhat traced back to 2004 and the Orange Revolution.  In November 2004, incumbent Prime Minister and Pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovych won re-election; however, it quickly became apparent that the election had been rigged and Yanukovych had used state security forces to silence the opposition.  Once word came out, Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, and cities around the country protested peacefully.  These protests lasted two months until the Ukraine Supreme Court ordered a re-election where pro-Western candidate Viktor Yushchenko won and a new Constitution was drafted.  Yet, widespread election fraud returned for the 2010 election, which saw obvious Russian puppet, Viktor Yanukovych, become president.  Since Yanukovych clearly didn’t serve the Ukraine people, it became inevitable that more protests would arise.

Since March 2013, the spark needed to get Ukraine protesting again was set off.  The Ukraine government halted Ukraine’s introduction to the EU (European Union) and Russia put new import regulations on Ukraine, which caused Ukraine profits from importation to drop 10%.  With this, small, peaceful protests began to show up in Kiev, starting on November 21.  By November 24, that number increased to between 100,000 and 200,000, with former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko joining the protesters.  From the 21^st to 29^th, the protests remained peaceful, but that would soon change.  On November 30, the Ukraine government rejected joining the EU and the next day police attacked the protesters in Kiev, injuring 79.  The next day riots erupted in the capital and the protests became much more deadly.

Throughout December, the number of protesters and cities with protests began to rise.  The Statue of Vladmir Lennin, former communist leader of Russia, fell on December 8.  This event has since become a symbol of the protests, that the people of the Ukraine wish to go to the EU versus be Russian puppets.  At that time, over 500,000 protesters were in Kiev, government buildings had been taken over, and barricades were placed between the protesters and government.  As clashes were rampant throughout December, Ukraine and Russia began planning to control the protests.  On January 16, the Ukraine government outlawed protesting, but, with millions protesting around the country, this did little to halt and even escalated the situation in many cases.  As January came to a close, police attempting to enforce the new law created larger clashes and full scale riots.  These events have been the most violent and deadly as pictures of these clashes look to be almost anarchic.  Since then, the protests continue with no signs of slowing down.

The demands of the protestors are well known: Ukraine signs with the EU, Yanukovych resigns, new elections, re-adoption of 2004 Constitution amendments, as well as ending agreements with Russia.