If you’re looking for a parody of the Orange Revolution, look here.
They didn’t make it to Kyiv as grassroots protesters five years ago. Now they have their chance — as paid political tourists — outside the Central Election Commission building.
(The practice has gained currency since the decline of the Orange Revolution and has been employed by Yushchenko, Tymoshenko and Yanukovych alike.)
Some look joyful. Some look drunk. Some look stupid. Some blame Yanukovych for going unpaid for hours. Some huddle before the cameras to prevent the reporters from shooting the scene.
Journalist-beater Oleh Kalashnikov talks honesty.
Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/145242.html
Original source: http://stb.ua
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Paid Yanukovych Fans Rally Outside CEC Building
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4 comments:
I don't understand. Why are those guards blocking the camera from filming at the end of the reportage?
Yeah, the "guards" that block the cameras is pretty disgusting. I've seen other news reports where, after a few hours, they all pile into their tour buses and drive away to Donbass.
Taras, I have to hand it to Ukraine, and I have to hand it especially to Yushchenko - the elections, so far, with minor exceptions, appear to be free and fair. That is a great accomplishment for Ukraine, and for Yushchenko.
I especially have to hand it to Yushchenko, the "hater-of-politics", by his own admission.
Here is the Savik Shuster show from Ukraine.
Why do I mention it? Because Yushchenko is mentioned, and rightfully so.
http://shuster.kanalukraina.tv/video/3795_vtoroi_tur_tsena_podderzhki/
This one is from January 20, 2010, right after the Ukrainian presidential election - first round - 2010.
It makes my heart glad, for several reason.
First, if you watch the show, you will see Yushchenko quoted as accepting the results of the Ukrainian elections. This shows a GREAT amount of class on Yushchenko's part, and reminds me of George Washington stepping down, and handing the reins of government - peacefully - to a successor.
Yushchenko deserves much, much credit for this class move - класно!
Shevchenko wrote "when will Ukraine find its own George Washington"? And, believe it or not, despite the fact that he lost, due to his mistakes, I think that Ukraine truly has its own George Washington - Victor Yushchenko!
He made mistakes, but Yushchenko did many good things for Ukraine, and look at the difference between the 2004 elections under Kuchma-the-beheader-of-Gongadze, and Yushchenko.
Second, even though they don't quite understand Obama's fall from grace, given the recent Massachusetts election, on the Savik Shuster show, there is open, free, vibrant and interesting discussion of Ukrainian democracy, drawing on examples from all over the world.
Thanks again to Victor Yushchenko!
Third, instead of people killing each other, like they used to under Kuchma, people from various political parties, and knowledgeable journalists, sit around a table, and have a free, open and vibrant discussion about elections, and about democracy in Ukraine - including free and open criticism of politicians, not resulting in beheading, like under Kuchma.
Yushchenko made mistakes, but he did try to implement "round tables."
That's what is happening not only on the Savik Shuster Show, but on other shows in Ukraine.
In roosha, they have voting, but no elections.
In Ukraine, they have real elections.
Savik Shuster came over from rasha for freedom of speech - and in Ukraine, he got it. He is doing a great service for Ukraine.
I love this show!
And Victor Yushchenko, despite his mistakes, showed that he is a class act, at least in this election, and that Ukraine is well on its way to full democracy.
Niels,
The guards wanted to prevent the drunk/unpaid rally-goers from getting airtime.
Putting a grassroots face on Yanukovych — without making it look like astroturfing — is no easy task.
Elmer,
Yushchenko deserves credit for promoting freedom of speech, preventing widespread election fraud, and revisiting Ukraine’s history.
The rest is history: a history of bad leadership and lost opportunities.
Taras, there is indeed something tragic about Yushchenko; as far as democracy goes, his heart was in the right place, and he did the right thing. Why he was a bad leader I don't know; maybe the division of powers (which the Rada had changed so as to make a conflict between the president and the prime minister as likely as possible), more probably something in his own personality -- maybe he simply wasn't a builder. (A Ukrainian friend of my wife's says she thinks it was the poison -- 'it changed Yushchenko!' -- but I think it's his personality.)
What a pity. Apparently, he will now share Gorbachev's fate of being considered 'bad' by the very people he helped evolve out of old Soviet habits. With the aggravant that, indeed, Yushchenko did many wrong things. Maybe he was just naive, maybe he thought he could do more than he actually could... It's up for the historians now.
In America he'd now be working on his memoirs. Maybe he'll do that in Ukraine as well?
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