The ‘Maidan’ evolved in Ukraine ten years ago from a protest movement to a mass uprising with the prolonged occupation of Kiev’s central square, culminating in the overthrow of ‘pro-Russian’ President Viktor Yanukovych in the name of ‘European values’ .
In a country where citizen mobilizations had hitherto been relatively quiet, from the student hunger strike of 1990 to the ‘Orange Revolution’ of 2004, a contradictory, complex movement rooted in social media was unpredictable. .
On November 21, 2013, President Viktor Yanukovych announced the suspension, under pressure from Moscow, of the Association Agreement with the European Union (EU) – subject to the implementation of a package of measures, including privatizations and reform of labor laws -, justifying that it would harm the country.
The government that emerged from the 2012 parliamentary elections was dominated by the Party of Regions (one of the formations illegal in the ‘post-Maidan’), conservative and centrist, which prioritized relations with Russia and established itself as the main political force since 2006. .
That same evening, a local journalist on his Facebook page proposed a rally on Kiev’s central square in protest against Yanukovych’s decision, joined by militants and opposition leaders who also called for mobilization on social media.
A few hundred people gather in Maidan, which means square in Ukrainian, a mobilization that continues in the following days.
Gradually, the protests began to turn against a force seen as corrupt and oppressive, led by Yanukovych, who was elected with 48.95% of the vote against former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in the second round of the 2010 presidential elections and who confirmed the break at the time. between the western and eastern parts of the former Soviet Republic.
The first police intervention against demonstrators, mainly students, on November 30 permanently changed the Maidan’s objectives.
The police repression provokes a strong protest response that brings tens of thousands of people onto the streets, with the central demand increasingly pointing to the overthrow of power. Russia is rarely mentioned in the protests of what initially became known as ‘Euromaidan’ – the flags of Ukraine and the European Union stood out – but later radicalized and became a ‘revolution of dignity’.
Initially it was a mainly urban movement, with a majority of graduates, corporate workers and young university students. But during the mobilization in the winter of 2013-2014, the social base changed, with the arrival of demonstrators from different regions of Ukraine of more humble origins, and as the protests spread to other cities, especially in the western parts of the country.
A ‘city’ was established in Kiev’s central square and remained there for several months, with tents representing Ukrainian cities or religious communities and different social groups.
Protesters were fed, warmed and protected, amid constant music and fiery speeches. For many participants, it was proof that Ukrainian society could once again be a key player.
In Russia, the development of the situation is causing great concern, especially when the Maidan demonstrators are visited and supported by various international officials.
The interference of political leaders – especially from the United States, with the visits to Maidan by the late Congressman John McCain or Victoria Nuland, the current Secretary of State for Political Affairs in Joe Biden’s administration – fuels in Moscow and other latitudes the thesis of a movement led by “neo-Nazis” and the subsequent “coup”.
Nuland symbolically hands out food to protesters, speaks in the square, organizes the financing, defends sending defensive weapons to oppose Yanukovych’s government, considers new leadership and undermines the European Union’s approach. A leading role that will also serve as a base for Russia in supporting separatism and the subsequent military invasion.
Among the political forces involved, the radical right nationalist movements (in particular the Svoboda Party and the far-right Right Sector Movement), despite being a minority, stand out for their organization and violent actions in clashes with the police. The members also burned and looted several buildings in the city.
In mid-January, the deaths of the first three demonstrators marked a point of no return, calling for Yanukovych’s resignation. The clashes worsened in February 2014 and resulted in more than a hundred deaths, including several members of the police being shot, and many protesters reportedly killed by snipers.
The victims of Maidan, later grouped under the name “Heavenly Belt”, remain of great importance in the collective memory, especially for those who participated in the protests and clashes, and are the target of continued veneration.
The bloody days of mid-February accelerated events and led to Yanukovych’s escape from Kiev on the night of February 21-22, 2014, when he was expected at the Congress of the Party of Regions in Kharkiv, where those close to him had already admitted to have responded to Maidan’s ‘pro-Europeanism’ with the separatism card.
The president will be impeached by parliament, will first travel to Crimea and be deposed by Russian troops towards Rostov-on-Don, in Russia, not far from the common border.
The new power that is beginning to be built in Kiev, which will entail the subsequent banning of several ‘pro-Russian’ parties and the withdrawal of rights of the important Russian-speaking minority, will be contested by these population groups concentrated in the south and east. of Ukraine.
During the transition of power in Kiev, Moscow annexed Crimea in March 2014 and in April the cities of Donetsk and Lugansk, in the Donbass, promoted secession, supported by Russia, starting the civil war.
On June 7, 2014, Petro Poroshenko, a businessman and political leader representing one of the movements involved in the Maidan uprising, was elected in the first round of the presidential elections with 54.7% of the votes.
For several protesting sectors, the so-called ‘Revolution of Dignity’ was ‘hijacked’ by the oligarchic elite, represented by Poroshenko. His brutal defeat in the May 2019 presidential elections against popular comedian and political newcomer Volodymyr Zelensky (73.22% against 24.45% in the second round) was the expression of strong popular discontent. the Minsk agreements on the ground.
In the early parliamentary elections in July of the same year, Zelensky’s Servant of the People party guaranteed an absolute majority. And its diffuse program also prioritized the fight against corruption and a global peace agreement with Russia. About two and a half years later, the military invasion began on the orders of Vladimir Putin.
Source: DN
