In just a few hours, one year ago today, the Berkyut, ex-President of Ukraine Victor Yanakovichs not-so-secret police, were attacking unarmed students involved in a peaceful protest in downtown Kyiv. Unaware of what was beginning to unfold, a few hours later Katya and Dasha Proshchenko and I were on a plane flying to L.A. We read the news on the internet at a layover in - of all places - Moscow. No one could have imagined how that all would progress to the war that we now have on our eastern borders. I remember when it first all started (before this night, when all was still peaceful) - I thought well, this is the capital. Theres always somebody protesting something. But this time was different. This time people had had enough...of the corruption, of the violence by the government against the people, of the flagrant disregard for the law by those in power and of their shameless flaunting of opulent living while so many in the country went without even the basics. The attempt to literally beat down the peaceful protests just caused an implosion that turned into a full-on revolution in the heart of Ukraines capitol. Euro-Madian, as it was called - Maidan being the Ukrainian word for town center or town square - is a euphemism for the fact that the geographical center of Europe is located in Ukraine and that with the protests now the center of Ukrainian politics and life was focused on Europe, with Yanakovitchs rejection of an opening of trade agreements with the EU. Such agreements offered to a still developing nation like Ukraine was akin to the captain of the football team asking the wallflower girl in school to the Senior Prom. Not exactly a marriage proposal, but pretty unexpected and an offer you dont usually turn down. But Yanakovitch did. Not once but twice. And the people went ballistic. Unfortunately the news made it all about this EU integration. But it wasnt. It never was and even when / if that happens, it wont be then, either. What Ukrainians wanted, and want still is a way of life that here is called European; meaning transparency in government, rule of law, anti-corruption checks and balances and basically being able to live in a civil society where the people arent afraid that the government will openly be able to get away with abuse of power, exploitation, and violence against their people, among other things. Being in sunny Southern California as all of this was unfolding was hard. A friend said - upon hearing of what was going down in Kyiv - Oh you must be so glad youre here! Katya, Dasha and I just looked at each other silently and started to cry. My friend realized her mistake and quickly started to try to back pedal and apologize. We didnt blame her. How could she understand? It was just another tragedy somewhere in the world shown on the evening news. But for us, especially for Katya and Dasha, it was family and friends and our lives that were going up in flames. Watching the cell-phone videos posted online from Kyiv of unarmed students, international journalists and people of all ages and socio-economic classes beat repeatedly, kicked to the ground and stomped on by the Berkyut was unbelievably horrific. But not nearly as horrific as for those that were there living through it all...and the worst was yet to come. Soon the stand-off between the government forces with their hired thugs (Tityushki) and the people had turned into practically all out war. Barricades were erected, burning tires filled the skies with black smoke (to make it harder for the police firing on the protesters), and molotov cocktails flew. The Church (Capital C - as in all believers from many different denominations, etc.), thankfully did not sit idly by. The Prayer Tent on Kyivs Independence Square (or Maidan) was quickly erected and there people could come to get hot tea or soup or a piece of kolbasa on bread or pray with someone, talk to someone about how afraid they were, and later - as things got worse - get bandaged and receive minor medical attention. And thats where friends of mine were the day that the unimaginable began. I could see where the snipers were there on top of that building, one friend who was on Maidan that day said. You could see where they were hiding? I questioned, trying to imagine how that must have felt to look up and see snipers firing on unarmed protestors. Oh they werent hiding. She clarified. The were just standing there taking people out like rabbits. I felt sick. They knew no one had any guns on the ground. Right or wrong, even the molotov cocktails being hurled against the police would be no defense against snipers shooting down on the thousands of people 4 floors below. More like sitting ducks than rabbits, they were completely defenseless. We here in Ukraine remember the Heavenly 100 that died that day, victims of a government turning on its own people. But now we know that really many more were killed that day and even more still suffered injuries and are still recovering, for those that will. McDonalds closed down to become a emergency medical station. The subways were closed and people were afraid to take taxis because there were incidents of the government paid thugs picking up people wearing the ribbons with the colors of the Ukrainian flag (showing that they were part of the peoples resistance against the government) and taking those people not to where they wanted to go when they innocently stopped a taxi, but out to the woods on the edge of the city where they were beat and sometimes killed. It was frightening and crazy time. Many buildings in downtown Kyiv were burned and the Trade Union building in the center of the city was a blackened shell before everything all calmed down. Although its covered nicely with patriotic banners now hiding the scars of last winters violence, it has yet to be restored. Not unlike the country itself. I was in the states for almost all of this and only returned a week or so after the sniper shootings. It was an emotional time and still is when I think back on it. So many people were suffering so much. So many were sacrificing so much to try to ease the suffering of others. And all I did was cut my time in the states short and come back earlier than I had planned. But with parents that are in their late 70s, and after having spent less than two weeks with them for my once a year visit - it was the dearest thing I had to offer. So I did. Not out of some heroic sense, but just out of the sense that I needed to be there. Tonight I walked around Maidan remembering what it was like a year ago. I remember that a year ago I went down to Maidan to see the growing protests before I flew out to the States. Seeing a few tents, a couple hundred protestors, lots of banners and flags and an almost festive feel, I joked that I didnt want to miss out on all the fun before I left. I had no idea of what these protests would become. I remember being so happy randomly meeting some dear friends that I dont see often enough... Yevgeniya Ignatenko and Sergei and Іван :) We waited in line and bought hot dogs at Kyivs famous downtown spot and generally enjoyed ourselves. I went home to finish packing, promising to get in touch when I got back. And nothing has ever been the same again. Probably all this winter I will be writing some of these remembrances of last winter and the horrors that have become just part of our collective consciousness. I wasnt even here for so much of it and really did so little to help, so maybe Im writing this as much for myself - not to forget - as for some of you that maybe dont know what started this all and why Ukraine is at war with Russia today. Im not going to try and recount everything, or try and make sense of it all for all of you...this is just how it was for me, a year ago today.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 23:33:09 +0000