Kiev goes orange for Ukraine election

Thu 18 November, 2004 13:39
By Olena Horodetska

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=6854515&section=news

KIEV (Reuters) - Fashionable young women stroll down Kiev's cobbled streets in orange scarves, hats and sweaters.

Students tie orange ribbons around rucksacks. Pensioners fasten a piece of orange cloth -- any cloth -- on their lapels. Orange banners flutter from trees, lampposts, car aerials.

The orange revolution has arrived in the capital Kiev -- offering a people long downtrodden by authoritarian leadership a simple way to show support for Ukraine's opposition hopeful ahead of Sunday's presidential run-off without risk of censure.

Orange is the campaign colour of opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, chosen to have no association with the red of Ukraine's Soviet past or the blue and white of the current authorities scandal-ridden rule.

He faces Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, the establishment candidate who finished just behind the challenger in the opening round.

"We felt many people wanted to support Yushchenko but didn't know how, had no contact with his headquarters and were perhaps a bit afraid," said Vitaly Muzh, 27, an advertising executive.
"This breaks the fear and offers something simple to ordinary people. It was spontaneous -- orange clothes, stripes, anything. No slogans, just orange, the colour of joy."

The capital is overwhelmingly committed to Yushchenko, his liberal message of moving closer to Europe, rather than Moscow, and commitment to Ukrainian language and culture.
Celebrities taking up his liberal cause appear in city squares -- television stars, singers, athletes -- all sporting orange scarves, hats, jackets, umbrellas and handbags. Radio stations play songs about "orange people".

The typical Yushchenko voter in Kiev is young and relatively well-off. Students lead the charge, cutting up hundreds of metres of orange material, pasting ribbons on underground trains, handing out bits of cloth to passers-by.

The political message has had a retail spin-off. Smart shops on Khreshchatyk, Kiev's tree-lined main thoroughfare, have taken to prominently displaying orange suits and sweaters.
"People are actively buying orange this season," said a shop assistant in an elite boutique. "We've had to place more orders for orange items. It's the colour of the year in Ukraine."