Ukraine is a tale of two generation attempting to assert itself on the world stage without too much success due in large part to its tin horn oligarchs and elected governmental officials who have on purpose left out its people in the equation.
Freedom to assemble outside the Rada
For twenty years they have been promised a better life that always seems to be just beyond reach while those in power continue to flourish because of all the mechanisms that have been purposely incorporated to retain the status quo of its communist past where the people were merely a resource to be exploited, thus creating a dysfunctional society that continues to lack cohesion, identity of what it really means to be free and responsible for their own destiny.
I lived in Ukraine for 7 years and still refer to it as home. It is a magical place where life is good. A place of possibilities, only IF…
Since independence, millions of people have left Ukraine looking for a better life. This outward migration has created a much smaller population than when independence was declared in 1991.
Small fence in front of Verkhovna Rada
I have lived in Ukraine three different presidents. I was there when the Orange Revolution occurred and failed to deliver on their promises, leaving many totally alienated from their government, to the rise of the Party of Regions’ Blue Revolution of reprisals and corruption.
A good friend of mine told me the following story a few days ago: “Hi Randy, here is a photo I made with my phone while walking with my dog today in the afternoon. The fence appeared suddenly on Friday (or may be on Thursday – can’t remember exactly which day). It wasn’t there in the morning, but was installed by noon.
Behind the new 2 meter high, black fence you can still see the old one – it’s a little closer to the Rada. The most interesting thing is that this is the place where crowds of people used to gather to make their protests. As you can see, it borders upon the lawn – so now police has always a good reason to disperse the crowd: for damaging grass and flowers, of course.”
Big fence to protect...
I did a Google search and found nothing about a new fence being erected as he mentioned. I reviewed many photographs and this new fence wasn’t in any of them. There isn’t any mystery or purpose why the fence was installed to Ukrainians. It wasn’t a surprise for me to find it wasn’t news a worthy story for Ukrainians media, let alone the international one. Therefore, I would like to share the pictures with you. For those of you who aren’t aware Ukrainians are not allowed go inside to see their parliament do the work of the oligarchs. Now they aren’t allowed to get too close either!
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY ON THE 24TH OF AUGUST FREEDOM LOVING UKRAINIANS EVERYWHERE, YOU ARE THE GREATEST!
Vlad
1 year ago
Randy, your friend is a liar. I’ve been there just a few days ago. This “bigger” fence surrounds the Mariinsky park, it has nothing to do with “separating people from the regime”. You can still walk (stand, protest) between the park’s fence and the “smaller” fence.
I tell you more – even this is not true that you cannot enter the Rada building. Of course, there is a security at the door, as in any big governmental buildings across the globe, but some agencies do organise excursions there, esp. for students. My colleague from XXXX just discussed your article yesterday, he was inside the Rada with his university group there some years ago.
kasyan
1 year ago
Why have they built the new 2 meter high fence only in front of Rada then? Why was it built in the place where people usually gather to protest against decisions made by Rada?
When you say: “This “bigger” fence surrounds the Mariinsky park”, you are not totally correct because all other parts of the Mariinsky park either don’t have a fence at all, or have a low fence which everyone can overstep without difficulty.
Indeed you can enter the area between the fences but not many people can fit in this narrow space. In addition, this space is totally controlled by police and they can easily restrict access to the area.
In my opinion, with the new fence they can easily control who can go there and who can’t. They can block the narrow, a few meters passageway (by a police truck, for example) to not allow anybody to go there. And obviously much less number of people can protest there now.
Of course, you can protest a little further from the place, but nobody will see and hear you from Rada.
Vlad
1 year ago
kasyan, they won’t hear you anyway. They did not hear you even at the Maydan in 2004 – they only needed the crowd to enforce their way to gain power in this country. It is because of totally ruined hopes after the Maydan that the presidency of Yanukovich came true.
I made a photo of this place myself, just a few days ago: https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-K62KnZNuWC8/Tl_ozl87s1I/AAAAAAAANjs/tLK2VuJISYY/s288/IMG_1644.JPG. The photo is made from another viewpoint. On this photo, this “huge” fence is on the left. It does not surround the Rada, it belongs to the park. It is still a pathway to walk through and it is still plenty of space to protest around the smaller fence. So, what you say is, let say, not so very true
There is nothing wrong with fences around the parks. I’ve been to Europe several times and in several places. Most European parks in the big cities are surrounded by such fences. Many of these parks are even closed at night. It is forbidden to sleep in the parks in Paris, in particular – the policemen were very strict to some British students who slept there. Needless to say that no tents or protesters would also be allowed.
Another vivid example of such restrictions is the fence around… the White House. O, c’mon Randy, won’t you tell me about the terrorist’s threat, especially when it is a fact that the fence in some sort existed there since Thomas Jefferson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_intruders
Have you been to the White House in Washington, DC? Is it so free to go there by an ordinary American to see how this authority works for its people? Can you protest on the lane in front of the House, or you just stay on the other side of the big fence?
In your another article you gave me examples how you can freely enter some LOCAL institutions. Well, I would tell you that I plenty of times visited various LOCAL institutions when I lived in Western Ukraine: Lviv, Chernivtsi, Mukachevo. They are quite open for common citizen like me.
Don’t you feel the difference between LOCAL institutions and NATIONAL institutions that are naturally more protected and restricted?
Frankly speaking, this is a concocted sensation that “the bigger fence” near the Rada is another sign of the opression. The authorities in Ukraine are far from being perfect, but this particular case, like Russians say, is “suck from the thumb”.
kasyan
1 year ago
You say: “This “bigger” fence surrounds the Mariinsky park, it has nothing to do with “separating people from the regime”.”
But why have they built the new 2 meter fence only in front of Rada then? All other parts of the Mariinsky park either don’t have a fence at all, or have a low fence. See the pictures I posted here: http://kasyan.ho.com.ua/fence_around_rada.html
I agree with you that building fences around government buildings, parks, etc is a good practice used in many European countries and US. I would have been glad if they had built the fence all around the Mariinsky park and closed the gates by night to keep away those stinky tramps sleeping on benches. However, this doesn’t happen in this case: they built only a 100-meter span and built it in front of Rada (it was a pure accident, of course) where the disappointed electorate usually gathers to voice its protest.
The ‘plenty of space to protest’, as you say, is about 105 meters longwise (measured in Google maps) and 2.5 meters in breadth (measured by my footsteps). How many people can fit into the area? I don’t think it’s enough for really mass protests when people come here in thousands from the whole Ukraine.