Exactly one year later, Ukrainians are now fighting at that very same
place, the Independence Square, for the future of their country. Initially
starting as a pro-European movement, the EuroMaidan protests have now become an uprising against the human rights violations of the current
government, restrictive press policies, crippling corruption and the steep
divide between poor and rich.
The Ukrainian economy is stagnant. Real income remains low, infrastructure investments
are long overdue, health-, social- and pension reforms are urgently needed as
is an entire overhaul of the electoral laws. Moreover has bribery and
corruption become such an integral part of Ukrainian society, that it is as
commonplace as paying one’s utilities bill. Starting with the compulsory bribe
at the border when entering Ukraine, the bribe for simply being seen by a
doctor or the bribe to “expedite” certain administrative processes.
According to the Migration Policy Centre some 5.3 million
Ukrainians have tried their luck abroad and thus emigrated. Around 153,000 of
these live, study and work currently in Germany. Instead of living their life detached from Ukrainian society and current affairs, however, numerous of
protest movements have formed in towns such as Berlin, Hamburg, Munich,
Dresden, Frankfurt, Stuttgart etc. in order to show solidarity with the
protester in Kyiv.
Organising the largest protests in Berlin, Natalia a student from Kyiv
says “Ukrainians in Germany feel united.”
Many of the Ukrainians who come to
join the protests are from all corners of Ukraine. Lviv, Sumy, Ivano-Frankvisk,
Chernihiv, Kirovograd, simply everywhere. Oksana, one of the organisers in Hamburg, says
that she was surprised by how many people came to show support “Germans, but
also citizens from countries like Poland, Georgians, Moldavians, Belarusians
and even Russians.”
“There is only one reason – I am Ukrainian” replied Khrystyna, a
journalist freelancer from Lviv who organises the protests in Dresden, when she
was asked why she organised the protests in Germany. Many Ukrainians living in
Germany know that the political and economic transformation of Ukraine will not
happen overnight.
Dzvenyslava, an IT business analyst from Lviv living in
Berlin, says that the EU-credit and lifting of the visa barriers would be nice,
but it is not about quick money to avert national default. It is about core
values, about “European values, human rights, freedom, changing the country.”
Ina, one of the organizers of the events in Hamburg, reiterates that the
protests in Kyiv started as a pro-European movement and now “it is not about
signing the association agreement anymore but rather about fighting against the
corrupt government”.
The main aim, as consultant and organizer of
the Munich protests, Andrew Khomulenko from Chernihiv reminds, is to raise
awareness of the overall situation in German media, as there is strong media
coverage of opposition leader Vitali Klitschko, as he also resides in Hamburg.
Klitschko he says is only partially representative of the opposition movement.
In order to increase the pressure on the German government to keep supporting
the EuroMaidan protests, the Ukrainian community in Germany organised petitions
such as an open letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Guido
Westerwelle. The Holodomor famine, in which his grandfather lost 5 from 10
children, binds the Ukrainian people to a certain responsibility he remarked.
Never again should the Ukrainian people undergo such tragic events.
Showing solidarity is one reason people are active. Many of the Ukrainians
here in Germany however also still have family that live in Ukraine. Their fate
is the main impetus that drives Ukrainians who live and work in Germany to
support their fellow compatriots at home, as Tamara from Sumy explains “My
relatives, friends as my fellow Ukrainian countrymen are close to my heart.”
Even though some have lived and worked here for several years, even obtained a
German citizenship, the cultural and emotional tie to Ukraine remains strong.
The protests of the Ukrainian émigré in Germany are not an abstract political
movement sweeping the country, but they are an expression of profound personal
conviction to positively shape the future of Ukraine or as Khrystyna says “We
have a unique chance to change our country and we cannot give up now”. Some
even dream of returning one day, such as Yevgeniya, a petroleum engineer from
Ivano-Frankivsk. She says that she never gave up the hope to return to Ukraine
one day as she stated that “Ukrainians realized their future is in their own
hands.”
Conclusively, it can be said that the EuroMaidan protests are not a
pro-European, anti-Russian protests. That would be too simple. It is the rising
of a people who have in less than 10 years led 2 revolutions. People who want
peace, prosperity, justice, modernization and democracy. Truly a European
story.
I shall close this article with a moving message from Khomulenko to
the people of Ukraine: “Dear Ukrainians, my brothers, my sisters, my friends and relatives. I
and other Ukrainians love you all. We are all one people. We have the same joy,
the same problems, the same fears, the same freedom and we only have one
country. Freedom and democracy was never given to us voluntarily, for this we
have to fight. Together, until the End. Slava Ukraini.”
Chris Berger is a German post-graduate student in politics and international relations. He lived and worked in Kyiv as a senior paralegal in 2012.
