On top of maintaining the three sites, organizers are trying to plan new events. There will be a larger protest at 6:30 p.m. today, organized by the three main oppositional forces, plus ex-Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko.
Then, there is a massive campaign starting, designed by civic leaders to canvass students and bring them out onto the street. There is an attempt to organize a massive turnout on Nov. 28-29, when the Eastern European Partnership Summit will be taking place in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The agenda is full — too full.
Trying to hold on to all these locations is a madness of its own. It requires three times the security, logistics, organization, speakers and control. It’s an impossible job, even for a more organized group of people than street protesters. But there is no plan as of yet to cut down the workload.
An even bigger problem is the opposition’s stubborn stance that no negotiations are needed with the other side, namely President Viktor Yanukovych and his inner circle, who hold the keys to the potential signing of a deal with the European Union.
Serhiy Sobolev, one of the leaders of the opposition, said on Nov. 24 that no negotiations are needed. “Who is there to talk to?”
On Nov. 25, Serhiy Pashinskiy, one of the coordinators of the protest on European Square, said there will be no other negotiations than those that happen in the street. “Yesterday we took an attempt with Yanukovych with the help of 100,000 negotiators in the street,” he said.
Activists who are coordinating the volunteers on Maidan Nezalezhnosti are also thinking in terms of public actions only. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that there is no single leader – no authority that could coordinate and direct, set the agenda among the scattered groups of opposition.
At least some of this needs to change, otherwise the current gridlock will remain unsolvable and counter-productive.
The most constructive approach that can be taken by EuroMaidan activists would be to set up a group of talented negotiators, scrupulous and non-controversial, who would be able to knock on the door of the opposing side, carrying the message that signing an association agreement would be a win-win situation for all.
The authorities will be able to deliver on people’s expectations and show wisdom in dealing with the situation, the opposition will be able to show ability to learn from its mistakes and convert street actions into achievable political goals, thus growing muscle and maturing. And people would get what they came out into the street for.
The opposition should not wait for the government to show initiative. The government is waiting – it’s clear from Prime Minister Mykola Azarov’s statement on TV, where he said they’re watching closely.
It’s clear from the actions of the police, who for the most part have been waiting in the buses on the side streets and only taking very feeble and scattered attempts to clear the street.
It’s clear from the fact that presidential chief of staff Serhiy Lyovochkin took a walk on the streets at the height of the protests.
The government is staying informed and waiting.
Organizers of EuroMaidan should quit their arrogant expectations that now, after an estimated 100,000 people came onto the street on a Sunday afternoon, that all the problems will somehow get solved.
They need to lead the process.
They should define the vital goals. Ideally, it would be just one goal – for example, signing the association agreement in Vilnius, Lithuania, during the Nov. 28-29 summit. That was the original and popular expectation.
And then they need to make a plan and use all means available to carry it out.
They should start now.
Lustenko, the former political prisoner who was pardoned by Yanukovych this spring, publicly apologized to the crowd on Nov. 24 from stage. He said he was sorry for failing to carry out the promises and goals of the 2004 Orange Revolution, which denied Yanukovych the presidency then in favor of Viktor Yushchenko.
Unless he and others acts, there is a danger that this mistake will be repeated.
Kyiv Post deputy chief editor Katya Gorchinskaya can be reached at [email protected].
