Mass actions like those held on September 16 by some opposition parties and blocs undoubtedly liven up the political life of any country, set a certain pace to the political dialog, and simultaneously seem to take the temperature of the active part of society. The political campaign pompously dubbed Rise Up, Ukraine! by the leaders of three political forces was to show the true strength and attitudes of those politicians who remain unsatisfied with the place in the system of government they got after the March parliamentary elections. On the other hand, according to the logic of the opposition figures who now say the elections were rigged, they should have called Ukraine to an uprising immediately after the Central Electoral Commission had made public its decision five months ago. Yet, let us forget those troubled times and return to Monday September 16 and make initial conclusions about the events of that day.
MORNING
The Monday morning in Kyiv looked plain, with no signs of a nationwide uprising against the “regime” in view. All that an eagle eye could catch were reinforced police squads at the railroad station and small groups of plainly dressed strollers on the streets. Some embarrassment was caused by unexpected “routine maintenance” of the television relay station, to which nobody would have paid any attention on a Monday other than this one. What struck a discordant note in the capital’s quiet and businesslike pace was the growing tension on the wavelengths of two radio stations and a few Internet sites. Radios and computer screens clamored about either the mean provocateurs lurking behind every house or the courageous opposition militants sans bulletproof jackets.
The campaign organizers deserve kudos. With 3 p.m. fixed as H-hour, all the campaigners as well as all those who took an interest could finish their routine business and have a good lunch before devoting the second half of the day to what was called Rise up, Ukraine!
AFTERNOON
It was clear after 2 p.m. that it would take Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko some time to become a politician. It was clear from the very beginning that no opposition militants will go to the Chaika Stadium and that police will not block approaches to European Square. However, no signs of authority were traceable in central Kyiv from the first to the last minute of the campaign. Luckily, Kyiv motorists, remembering last year’s street havoc, could quickly find their bearings and traffic jams were no bigger than when an official motorcade passes. What about a few more traffic controllers? Would they have done any harm? It is difficult to believe that the authorities deliberately left thousands of demonstrators one on one with the streams of automobiles.
The journalists, who were the first to arrive at the square, could have easily formed a separate column had they exchanged tripods and cameras for placards and banners. With fifteen minutes to go, the crowd saw Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko who, surrounded by numerous devotees, began to carefully pose for the masters of the pen and mike. Then the demonstrators began to flow in from four sides. A lot of familiar faces in their ranks confirmed the assumption that most participants in the action were regional party activists plus public rally veterans, who have been coming to the capital for many years on end. The only novelty was that they all arrived simultaneously. The sympathizers of Yushchenko and Tymoshenko were noisiest and those of Symonenko the most disciplined. The Communist red flags looked more impressive than the varied colors of the party blocs – from the Yushchenko bloc’s characteristic white flag to the swallows and honey bees on other flags. In the absence of the eccentric Lutsenko, the Socialists just showed pink banners, which evoked somewhat mixed associations.
The three founding parents of the campaign demonstratively stood clear of Yushchenko, which created a several-minute pause: who will approach whom? It was Yushchenko who had to take the step, so his entourage dissolved in the crowd. The four leaders were skillfully separated from the others and thus put into prominence. The much-expected provocations were nowhere to be seen. Only a small group on the steps drew public attention for a second, but then it turned out that it was Mykhailo Brodsky who had elbowed his way to the podium.
WORD
It is important to gather a crowd on a city square. A half-empty square is not impressive, so the actual number of people was sufficient to label the rally as all-Ukrainian assembly right from the steps of the former Lenin Museum (now Ukraine House — Ed.). It is hardly worth arguing about the number of participants – each will cite whatever figure he wants. But the experience of soccer matches at the nearby stadium shows that soccer audiences are able to fill the European Square three times over. With the stadium seating 18,000 spectators, anybody is free to claim that the square gathered even a hundred thousand on Monday. The only question is what for.
The action’s only visible result was that Viktor Yushchenko joined it at the last minute. In contrast with Brodsky, he could not be barred from standing on and speaking from the podium. Perhaps reminiscent of signing a document eighteen months ago, in which participants of such campaigns were branded with less than kind words, the Our Ukraine leader managed to say something in “abstract opposition terms” about a dialog and round table, without even once naming the head of state. Oleksandr Moroz, in his turn, had no problems. His attitude toward Leonid Kuchma has become so clear of late that the Socialist leader seemed to be lip-synching among the cheering chants of his fans. Yuliya Tymoshenko and Petro Symonenko also tried in turn to somewhat concretize and specify Moroz’s slogan, Down with Kuchma! The leader of the bloc named after herself suggested keeping vigil outside the Presidential Administration “as long as need be,” which clearly failed to inspire even the most exuberant demonstrators. The top Communist customarily harped on the rights of “the toilers and intelligentsia, the immediate return of savings, and other red standards.
The crowd, obviously tired after an almost two-hour rally, was invited to vote for a resolution signed on the spot by Symonenko, Moroz, Tymoshenko, and Yushchenko. The demonstrators’ behavior was predictable: a rally by definition will unanimously accept everything that the organizers announce. But serious politicians might have found a better time and place for signing serious documents. In fact, who said that what was signed on the square is serious? Take, for example, Mr. Yushchenko. If things go on like this, the value of Our Ukraine leader’s signature will begin to drop as fast as did the value of the hryvnia bills signed by the then National Bank governor four years ago.
ACTION
The much-advertised opposition “secret plans” of the opposition sufficed only to take stalwarts down the quiet streets of Lypky (a fashionable quarter of Kyiv — Ed.). The gigantic tents pitched along Luteranska Street looked like a double caricature of the student tents of the 1990s and of the Ukraine Without Kuchma camp of 2000. The way the so-called nationwide assembly handed its petition to the head of the Presidential Administration also added no points to the opposition’s score. Moreover, the torrential rain that suddenly came down on the “people’s offensive” and cleared the street of demonstrators showed just how far they were prepared to go in their “implacable struggle.” Rise Up, Ukraine! will have different consequences for its “leaders” and the rank-and-file “insurgents.”
Rubbing shoulders with the demonstrators showed that the romanticism of 1990, when one really believed that a public rally could change the system of power, had disappeared without a trace. Most out-of-town demonstrators have long been living in a spiritual micro-world of their own, with their own folklore, aphorisms, and superstitions. Word about the Kyiv events will spread all over Ukraine thanks to these people and be a certain alternative to the official television coverage.
The “leaders” face graver problems. They must now “convert” the Rise Up, Ukraine! campaign into tangible political results. As each of the four initiators will try to carry out this conversion at his/her own rate, this will not yield any significant results. Or perhaps former banker Yushchenko will manage to opt for the right rate and receive if not all than at least a part of the power that his entourage so craves.
