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 PrintableVersion Ukraine: the Orange revolution has comeIn 2004, great things happened in the Ukraine: its people, for years passive and disunited, suddenly stood up in a collective, vibrant and non-violent revolution. After the cruelly-falsified presidential elections on November 21, masses of people right around the country found their own beautiful way of saying that the dark-grey shadow of Sovietisation is not their choice. If you want to imagine their faces prior to this, think of photos of Budapest in 1956, Prague in 1968 or Warsaw in 1980. These invisible Ukrainians have made their country very visible in the world. Their strength and longing for change has won a victory over all the dirty technologies deployed by the authorities. For many, to learn that their corrupt Ukrainian government is not almighty at all was a real discovery. My family lives six subway stops away from the Presidential Palace. Before the final results of the elections were announced, there was great confidence that Viktor Yuschenko had, this time, been the undisputed winner. Indications were everywhere. The price of bananasFor example, I stood in one of numerous open air markets in Kiev. A young salesgirl weighed my three bananas on an old Soviet scale. There was an orange ribbon tied to the weights. Orange stands for democracy and for honest counting of the ballots. Orange stands against lies and corruption in my country. But I still almost expected to be a bit cheated. This girl will surely add 50 grams to the real weight and that will be her additional income… But not this time. She snatched a quick look at the ribbon. And I heard an honest price. If common-day things like this were really changing in my country, then I knew — Ukraine has truly seen a revolution. These historic winter days in Ukraine will be analysed and evaluated for years, but let me tell you the question troubling my heart — will the girl give me an honest weight next year? How can I help her do that? This takes my imagination away from the protesters and back to my church, and my work among students in CCX (an IFES movement in Ukraine). Many of us in CCX ran to the squares to join in the protests, while taking the opportunity to serve our fellow Ukrainians. It was no hardship for us. People needed warm socks and mittens; they needed shelter and food. Once the socks and soups were provided, long Ukrainian conversations began and real needs and fears were exposed. Deep down in their hearts, protesters wondered where they could find strength to give honest weights a year from now. I wondered too. I wondered if those who hope in the new democratic government will ‘soar on wings like eagles; run and not grow weary, walk and not be faint’. I am not discrediting the events of late November. The images of rich ladies in mink coats and students in cheap jeans all serving tea to the protesters will stay in my heart memory for years. But now the ladies and the students are back in their apartments and many of us feel an urge to continue serving our people. Revolution or revival?It is said that in our country, change happens by either Revival or Revolution. Revolution can help with an outburst of Truth, but only Revival can help anyone to abide in it. And that is our spur to ministry. With due respect to the noble claims of both candidates, I just don’t know if they can ‘deliver’ what they promise. Spontaneous and consistent honesty in society itself comes through the Church’s continual presence and involvement in its life. Oh, but that’s what we did those days: we were available and we were involved. It is also said that this season could indicate the real (and not the calendar) end of the Soviet rule in our hearts. One of the remnants of ‘Sovietism’ in the heart is a deeply-ingrained sense of cynicism and, hence, of alienation. I guess the beauty of people’s faces which everybody noticed in the first days of the Orange Revolution was the beauty of being healed from that alienation. The students and workers, housewives and businessmen were no longer alienated from the realities of life. And instead of hiding behind political jokes, computer games, soap operas or me-focused worship services, they rushed to the squares to proclaim, support and defend freedom and truth. History shows that Ukrainian Christians can do a better job of praying for doors to be open than of entering through those doors. Now in our churches and in our student Christian fellowships we all know what it means for the veil of alienation to be torn down. This is what gives me such a creative impulse to remain available and involved. And I read it in the eyes of Ukrainian students — if we are available and involved, they will allow us to share the One they long to encounter — the One who called us from darkness into his wonderful light. Once this encounter happens, and once these encounters become the heart’s desire, it will be so easy to give the right weight for the bananas in the open air markets of Kiev. Vlad Devakov,
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