Learning lessons from Ukraine

It’s time rulers start giving what the people want instead of putting their own selfish wants before the the country.

The ongoing riots in Kiev are of a magnitude that we cannot even imagine as the pictures or news headlines often don’t do justice. These aren’t like the protests or sit-ins dharnas we have here in Pakistan. Today, Ukrainians are fighting for something that will go down in history — their right as a country to be a part of the European Union (EU).

Scores of Ukrainians are showing solidarity for the cause. It all started two months ago when Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych decided to pull out of a treaty with the EU. It was a treaty that many Ukrainians felt would have cemented the way for Ukraine and would benefit their average citizens far more once aligned with the EU, since the upper-class citizens have various privileges that many don’t. This treaty would’ve also opened borders for trade purposes and set the stage for revolutionising Ukraine.

More worryingly, Yanukovych recently enacted the anti-protest law thinking it’ll help simmer down matters but all it did was make matters worse for him and the country. The law banned any sorts of protests from taking place without the government’s consent and if disobeyed, it would result in hefty fines and up to 10 years of imprisonment.

It is easy to understand that the law would make citizens feel that they are being deprived of their rights. Therefore, this uproar has now become much more than just a rightful fight for the EU treaty but a fight against corruption, nepotism, dictatorship and the establishment’s systematic alienation of those who raise a voice against it. Now, resignations of the Ukrainian president and prime minister are being demanded.  These turbulent developments are hardly unprecedented. If history has taught us anything, it is that nothing is inevitable. Dictators are overthrown from their so-called thrones all the time.

Even though President Yanukovych has proposed to include opposition leaders in the government, who flat out refused, that is not what the people want. Their anger has reached extreme boiling points and all they want now is the president’s resignation. Yanukovych can either use his force to end the protests by any means or he can impose a state of emergency, which members of his party are pressing him to do so. The people’s demands are set in stone and nothing will change what they want.

It’s time rulers start giving what the people want instead of putting their own selfish wants before the betterment of the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2014.