Orange power takes over in Ukraine

Kyiv, 25 November 2004, 9:45 PM
By Marta Dyczok

Its over. The orange revolution has won in Ukraine. As I started writing this, a police officer was standing on the podium at Kyiv’s Independence Square and announcing that the police are with the people. He said that if foreign troops arrive in Kyiv the police will use force to defend the people. The men in blue had donned orange ribbons onto their uniforms and joined the crowd. Protesters were shouting, “The police are with the people.” Half an hour earlier General Skybentsky of the SBU (Secret Services of Ukraine) also stood facing the crowd and announced that they were going to defend the constitution and the people. He is adviser to SBU Chief Smeshko. Lt Gen. Mykhailo Kutsin declared that Ukraine’s military will not act against the people. The men in uniform have taken the side of the protesters.

Earlier in the day the Constitutional Court declared that the Central Election Commission cannot legally announce election results until all the complaints have been investigated, thus Yanukhovych cannot be declared President. Shortly afterwards Yushchenko and his campaign manager went down to Independence Square and proclaimed the first four decrees of the National Salvation Committee formed by the orange leader yesterday. The key message was the need to maintain order and an end to censorship. This was the first concrete step in talking power.

And censorship has finally ended. Now the entire country can see what is really happening in the capital and the country. I have been glued to my TV set for much of the day and have been amazed at what I have been seeing. Two national TV channels reportedly owned by Victor Medvechuk (head of Kuchma’s presidential administration) started reporting the news impartially for the first time in years. This began with tonight’s 7:30 evening news programme TSN on Channel 1+1. It was the first newscast in 2 days. The channel had the most censored news in Ukraine but on election night (21 September 2004), their news journalists staged a revolt. The entire news team refused to present a censored version of the news and the election night show had to be cancelled. The only one left on the air was the news editor and censor Viacheslav Pikhovshchek.

Tonight’s evening’s broadcast began with a special announcement. The entire news team, except for the censor Pikhovshchek, was in front of the camera. Former general manager, Oleksandr Rodniansky, addressed Ukrainians and said that although in the past their journalists were forced to censor the news they were reporting, but this had come to an end. From now on they were no longer submitting to censorship and would report the full story and give all sides the opportunity to express their own views. Channel 1+1 has finally fired Viacheslav Pikhovshchek from his news editor post.

Half an hour later, another Medvechuk owned channel, INTER TV, began a live talk show where Petro Poroshenko and Nestor Shufrych were the invited guests. Poroshenko is one of Yushchenko’s main allies, head of the Parliamentary Budget Committee and owner of the alternative Channel 5 station. Shufrych is a key player in Yanukhovych’s inner circle. Poroshenko, began by greeting the viewers of INTER, saying, “Hello! For the first time in four years I have the pleasure of addressing you in a live show, am able to tell you my views and engage in an open debate with my political opponent. This is a wonderful moment for you, for the INTER channel and freedom of speech in Ukraine.”

The lifting of censorship really signals the end of the old regime. Now that all Ukrainians will be able to see and hear what is really happening in the capital Kyiv, what Yushchenko is saying directly and without a filter, Yanukhovych’s support is likely to melt away. A clear sign of this was that Novyi Channel’s evening news reported that Yanukhovych was giving a press conference but they did not have image the event. As I flicked channels, I realized that none of the TV channels were covering the Yanukhovych press conference live - all the reports were about what was happening in Independence Square. That is where the police officer was addressing the crowds.

Even the state-owned national channel UT1 submitted to the demands of their news journalist and released them from censorship. They too have been refusing to report biased news for 2 days and there has been no news on the country’s main channel until tonight, when on the 9:00 PM news the company’s director was shown telling journalists to report the news as they saw it.

Trade Unions leaders met in Kyiv today, elected a new, independent head, declared their support for Yushchenko and made their building available to the protesters. It stands on one of the corners of Independence Square where people have shouting Yushchenko! President! for four days. It quickly became a welcome warm place to go for people who have been standing in minus 10 degree temperature for days. Local government reps from the entire country also met in Kyiv and declared their support for Yushchenko. The Minister of European Integration quit his job – the first defection from the Yanukhovych government. The Kyiv Procurator’s office and 300 diplomats have also thrown their support behind Yushchenko.

Kuchma, Yanukhovych, Tabachnyk, Kravchuk and others are still calling for negotiations, but there is an air of desperation in their statements as they appeal to parents to take their kids off the streets and tell them to stop protesting. The momentum has clearly shifted to Yushchenko’s side it’s just a matter of time until he becomes the country’s leader. As a long time observer of Ukrainian politics, I was hesitating to make a prediction until today. But now it is clear that the people of Ukraine have stood up for their right to choose and they are choosing Yushchenko. The instruments of force have supported them, and the fact the censorship has been lifted is a clear sign that the authorities are in retreat. The only remaining question is how to determine the process for transferring power and this is a formality. The Supreme Court has opened up one route but the rest we’ll have to wait and see. There is little reason to fear violence – the old guard just won’t have the stomach for it.

The mood in Independence Square is celebratory – the music which has been playing for four days and nights has been turned up and people continue to be happy. The people who have been standing there in the cold and snow have not stopped smiling, singing and dancing since they arrived. It almost seems that they knew all along that they would win.



Marta Dyczok is Associate Professor at the Departments of History and Political Science at the University of Western Ontario, and Fellow at the Centre of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Toronto, Canada. She is the author of two books: The Grand Alliance and Ukrainian Refugees (Macmillan, 2000) and Ukraine: Change Without Movement, Movement Without Change, (Harwood Academic Publishers, 2000). For the last number of year she has been conducting research on mass media in post communist Ukraine.