First, the good news. Ukraine turns 20 years old as an independent state on Aug. 24, and there is no reason to think there won’t be more milestones ahead.
The nation faces no serious external or credible internal threats to sovereignty, a centuries-old desire. Most of the 46 million citizens seem happy – or at least accepting of – the new boundaries. Few would go back to the Soviet Union, even if they could.
Clearly, most people are better off materially and at least have the basics – a place to live and enough money to eat decently. There are also very positive signs that the nation has the will to make even greater progress in the years ahead.
Unfortunately, however, the overwhelming emotions as the nation marks its 20th year on Aug. 24 are of disappointment and discontent.
The disappointment comes because the nation is sliding back toward authoritarianism, where it was 10 years ago under ex-President Leonid Kuchma, and 20 years ago during the dying days of the Soviet Union.
That’s because the governing team of President Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov don’t have new ideas, only Soviet reactionary impulses with post-Soviet aims: to stay in power and keep the ill-gotten wealth of their most influential supporters intact.
The best news about the current state of affairs is that democracy appears to be firmly rooted in the souls of enough Ukrainians – especially a new generation of leaders – to frustrate the Yanukovych administration’s attempts to re-impose a Kuchma-style system of governance.
The Yanukovych-Azarov return to power is truly an unfortunate circumstance for this nation, owing to two sad factors: a broken judicial system that never unearthed the crimes of the Kuchma era that still haunt the nation today, and ex-President Viktor Yushchenko’s betrayals and incessant undermining of ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
When 95 percent of the nation turned on Yushchenko at the ballot box in 2010, he decided to drag Tymoshenko down with him, letting Yanukovych eke to victory.
The best news about the current state of affairs is that democracy appears to be firmly rooted in the souls of enough Ukrainians – especially a new generation of leaders – to frustrate the Yanukovych administration’s attempts to re-impose a Kuchma-style system of governance.
The question now is if these emerging leaders can mobilize Ukrainians to reverse the sadder aspects of the post-Soviet legacy, namely economic injustice, as well as the fresh attempts at economic and political monopolization under way now.
Ukraine’s democratic institutions are precariously weak – from courts, to parliament to the news media. Still, in the long sweep of history, Ukraine is living its finest hours – certainly in comparison to czarist-era serfdom, Soviet savagery, World War II atrocities, the Holodomor and the inhumane poverty of the 1990s gangster capitalist era.
As long as the democratic will exists, hope does too. And in that spirit, we want to believe that Ukraine’s best days are still ahead.
