Here's some observations from a young U.S. Peace Corps volunteer on the ground in Ukraine:
"I have no opinion. I?ll start by saying that. I?m a United States Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine and my aims are not political but I?m surrounded by a situation that is all politics. As the ground begins to tremble with feet pounding and voices screaming, demanding change, I wonder how to successfully stand by and watch events unfold.
My first personal action plan was to leave the country before the primary election believing that outcome to be more emotional. I went away for three weeks traveling through Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. I found it funny that I was warned by family and friends to take care because Turkey is a Muslim country only to return home and find ourselves sitting in the middle of an uprising.
I arrived at my current home the day before the run-off election between the current regime?s favorite, Yanukovich, and the opposition?s last hope, Yushenko. Peace Corps told me to stay indoors both Sunday, Election Day, and Monday to be sure that I stayed clear of any rallies, demonstrations or violence that could ensue if the people rejected the outcome. To say that they did reject the outcome is an understatement.
They took to the streets in one of the most peaceful and well-intentioned protests I have ever witnessed. Children remained in school while university students and most adults gathered in our city?s center at the statue of the poet and national hero, Taras Shevchenko, to make their opinions known: the government has declared Yanukovich the winner and they believe due to corruption, manipulation and threatened violence, the election?s outcome was neither fair nor legal and they demand that their candidate be given the presidency.
Now, bear in mind I live in the west. It is quite a different world from Ukraine?s east where most citizens speak Russian and identify more with the Russian mindset than a European one. But in the west it is different. In the west, people are so close to Europe they can see it in their architecture, taste it in their foods, hear it in their language which sometimes adopts Polish phrases. Europe is close to western Ukrainians and they along with supporters in other cities are making their choice heard in their support of the opposition candidate, Yushenko.
What is it like here? After our Peace Corps lockdown, I tried to resume a normal life. I went back to work and tried to absorb all that my colleagues were telling me about the current situation. I heard people were taking to the streets to protest. I heard colleagues and their friends and relatives had taken any available form of transport to Kyiv to show their support in the capital. My centrally located office was a base for local protesters and friends to come and use the toilet, drink tea and get warm before they returned to their posts on the streets. So much for staying away from politics.
Then there was the religious momentum. My colleagues said many people were going to churches to pray ? that their church was with them.
Priests were seen on the streets with the protesters, holding banners with icons, saying God was with them, and with Yushenko.
And the financial. Emails are floating asking for money to support the protesters, to support the opposition, to support the campaigns and pay for transportation. I delete because I can?t forward. I?m trying to stay away from bias. But it is hard.
At work, we listen to the radio all day, follow the updates and events of the other cities and wait for some news, some updates, some progress in their cause for justice. As of now, it has not come. It is November 29th, eight days since the election. Children are no longer in school, waiting for the outcome of the protests. ___ is quiet as the core of protesters have left the city to go to the capital. Everyone waits for the words from the Supreme Court. What could the compromise be? New elections or will the court pick a candidate as winner and anger half the country?
And so Ukraine waits. Some quietly, some loudly, some hovering around radios, some standing in the streets. All are peaceful, all passionate, all sharing in the fate to come. As we all are."
I will only add, as an ex-Peace Corps volunteer from the early 1960's, that it is naive to assume one can remain "neutral" amidst civil unrest. Your "friends" will invariably involve you, as will other more opportunist partisans if they need a convenient international pawn. However, I wish this young volunteer well, and thank him for sharing his observations with those of us in the rest of the world.