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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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| Information | | |
Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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14Apr14
People's Unrest in South-Eastern Ukraine: Way Out of Crisis
The people's unrest in the south-eastern part of Ukraine against the Kiev-based ruling group encompassed more cities last weekend. Actually Kiev is losing control over the Donetsk and Lugansk regions (with total population of over 6,5 million). There are two political forces opposing each other: those who came to power as a result of the coup and the civil resistance movement in the south-eastern part of the country that sprung to defend people's rights. The main goal of the Kiev-based group is to legalize its power. The south-eastern protest movement (8 regions with 20 million of population) is to make Ukraine a federal state by holding referendums on self-determination…
Kiev refuses to discuss the idea of federalization and says the civil unrest is staged by «separatists».
To get to the root of the problem and understand what made spark the political stand-off one should recall what the turbulent events of December 2013 - February 2014 resulted in. The fascist ideology of Stepan Bandera, who collaborated with the German fascists in WWII, was actually legalized in the western and central parts of the country. It is especially popular among the young people of 15-25 years of age.
The chaotic events made surface a number of neo-Nazi organizations with Pravy Sector as the leading group. It is led by Dmitry Yarosh. He is a member of influential Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council. On April 12 he mobilized armed formations to clamp down on the civil unrest in the South-East. Yarosh is officially registered as a presidential candidate. The election is slated for May 25.
The programs of the Bandera nationalist movement envisage ukrainization and putting an end to the use of Russian language in the country, repressions against political opponents, including the ban on the Party of Regions, which recently has been the ruling party under Victor Yanukovych, and ethnic discrimination or, in other words, apartheid.
The Kiev junta stands for a monoethnic state. The ruling advocates of ethnocracy flatly refuse to recognize Russian as another official language along with Ukrainian. As a result 20 million people living in the South-East simply have no place in the Ukrainian society anymore.
So the two opposing forces pursue different goals and have opposing views on the state structure of Ukraine. The aspirations of 20 million Russians and Russian speakers cannot be forever ignored; insignificant steps ahead offered by the Kiev regime cannot solve the crisis. No way could the use of force solve the problem. The protest is getting stronger encompassing new areas and people. Talking about the stand-off in Ukraine today, one can say definitely that the point of no return has already been crossed.
Actually, the events in the South-East are nothing else but popular uprising. There is only one way to stop it - the protesters' demands should be met without delay: local referendums on self-determination should be held and Russian should become the second official language.
After all, only the reforms which would make Ukraine a federal state with the right of regions to secede could let the country remain as a whole.
The time is running out. The longer the Kiev regime will delay giving a positive response to the demands of the South-East, or if it launches punitive actions against the protesters, the less chances will Ukraine have to remain a state within its present boundaries.
Holding a referendum and new parliamentary and presidential elections, as well as adopting a new constitution - this is the way out of the crisis. This point of view was expressed by legal head of Ukrainian state Victor Yanukovych at his press-conference held on April 13 in Rostov-on-Don.
[Source: By Pyotr Borovoy, Strategic Culture Foundation, Moscow, 14Apr14]
 | This document has been published on 22Apr14 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. |