Fighting Fences vs Fighting Monuments: Politics of Memory and Protest Mobilization in Ukraine

Abstract

This article explores anti-Communist politics of memory “from below” during the last years of Viktor Yushchenko's presidency in Ukraine. Using original protest events data I compare dynamics, repertoire, political actors, and targets of politics of memory protests with protests against illegal constructions privatizing urban public space, as one of the most frequent social-economic protest issues, in the context of the split between institutionalized and non-institutionalized “civil society.” Focusing analysis on attacks against Soviet monuments, I show how state anti-Communist politics of memory provided legitimacy for the far right mobilization. The dynamics of the most successful grassroots anti-construction initiatives, “Save Old Kyiv,” shows how tightly social-economic protests might be interwoven with the politics of memory, although with destructive consequences for the success of the former.

Keywords:

• politics of memory
• far right
• protest events
• anti-construction movement
• Yushchenko
• Ukraine

Acknowledgments

The author is greatly indebted to Don Kalb and Oksana Dutchak with whom we raised and discussed many ideas elaborated in this article. Comments and editing from Simon Pirani, Tetyana Dublikash, Alina Polyakova, Oleksandr Nadtoka, Ivan Katchanovski, John Conbere, and the anonymous reviewer from Debatte helped to improve the article. As well I am indebted to all my colleagues at the Center for Society Research – Valentyn Dehtiar, Hanna Hrytsenko, Natalia Ishchenko, Iryna Kohut, Daryna Korkach, Ostap Kuchma, Natalia Onyshchenko, Inna Sovsun, Tetiana Tsybulnyk, Svitlana Tsurkan, and Maryna Shpiker – whose long-term enthusiastic volunteering enabled collection of Ukrainian Protest and Coercion Data, and to all the students from the sociology and political science departments of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy who helped us very much.

Notes

Notes

1. Yushchenko persistently exaggerated the number of deaths as being over 7 and even 10 million presumably to overcome the number of Holocaust victims, as Ukrainian historian Heorhiy Kasianov comments: «Историк Георгий Касьянов о Голодоморе: Ученый должен быть автономен от политического заказа» // Фокус, 14 January 2010. – http://focus.ua/politics/92637?p=2

2. See, particularly, Marples, David. Heroes and Villains: Creating National History in Contemporary Ukraine. – Budapest: CEU University Press, 2007; Himka, John-Paul. Debates in Ukraine over nationalist involvement in the Holocaust, 2004-2008 // Nationalities Papers. – 2011. – Vol. 39. – № 3. – P. 353-370; Касьянов, Георгій. Danse macabre: Голод 1932-1933 років у політиці, масовій свідомості та історіографії (1980-ті-початок 2000-х). – К.: «Наш час», 2010 as well as articles in various issues of Krytyka, the Ukrainian intellectual magazine, and papers of participants of the Danyliw Research Seminar in Contemporary Ukrainian Studies annually organized by the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Ottawa.

3. Such data are collected, for instance, by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, see, for example, their press-release: Населення України про свою готовність до протестів, лютий 2009 р. –http://kiis.com.ua/txt/doc/25022009/pr.doc

4. Overtly political/ideological non-partisan associations including environmentalist are excluded.

5. For instance, contention around monuments to Russian Empire rulers or actions demanding recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide.

6. See the “international cooperation” page at “Svoboda” official web site – http://www.international.svoboda.org.ua/

7. The social-political movement “Russian Unity” («Русское единство») was the most active, though only in Crimea. In September 2010, it was registered as a party – http://news.km.ru/russkoe_edinstvo_poboretsya_s_re

8. These are predominantly new left organizations and initiatives holding varieties of Marxist and anarchist ideologies either splitting from “old left” parties or in the most cases developing completely independently and often in overt opposition to them.

9. This workers’ activist and old Bolshevik after the revolution held the highest positions in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. In the 1930s, he was the head of the Ukrainian Central Poor Peasants Committee playing the leading role in collectivization. Petrovskyi is accused of being one of the main “Holodomor organizers.”

10. A recent article in «Україна молода» daily paper mentions 2107 Soviet memorials remaining.

11. Ukrainian People's Republic – the independent Ukrainian state in 1917–1920.

12. In Ukrainian nationalist interpretation of history, the famine of 1921 after the civil war is often considered to be a conscious result of Bolshevik policies. The full interview: «“Руйнатор Леніна” Микола Коханівський: Я свято вірю, що ми їх усі знесемо // Новинар, 03.07.2009. – http://novynar.com.ua/analytics/government/74181

13. Указ Президента України № 250/2007 «Про заходи у зв’язку з 75-ми роковинами Голодомору 1932-33 років в Україні», 28 March 2007. –http://www.president.gov.ua/documents/5935.html; Указ Президента України № 856/2008 «Про заходи у зв’язку з днем пам’яті жертв голодоморів», 25 September 2008. – http://www.president.gov.ua/documents/8339.html; Указ Президента України № 432/2009 «Про додаткові заходи щодо вшанування пам’яті жертв Голодомору 1932-1933 років в Україні», 12 June 2009. – http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/cgi-bin/laws/main.cgi?nreg=432/2009

14. «Заява українських письменників, художників, діячів культури, митців, членів творчих спілок» // Інша література, 03 July 2009. – http://inlit.com.ua/node/3693

15. «У Києві створено Комітет декомунізації» // ВО «Свобода», 03 July 2009. – http://www.svoboda.org.ua/diyalnist/novyny/011154/

16. «Наша Україна назвала пошкодження пам’ятника Леніну актом національного відчаю» //Новинар, 01 July 2009. – http://novynar.com.ua/politics/73924

17. For example, monuments to Catherine the Great in Odessa and a memorial to the victims of the Crimean Tartar's deportation in Simferopol were both attacked by Ukrainian nationalists.

18. “Official statement of Ukrainian president on 22 April is the beginning for persecution of antifascists in Ukraine?” – http://commons.com.ua/archives/1764

19. Korrespondent.net, 15 January 2010 – http://korrespondent.net/kyiv/1035950; Lenta.ru, 15 January 2010 – http://lenta.ru/news/2010/01/15/star/; Подробности, 25 February 2010 – http://podrobnosti.ua/society/2010/02/25/668528.html

20. «Еврейскому комитету не понравилось, что среди организаторов Голодомора оказалось многовато евреев». // Обком, 25 July 2008. – http://obkom.net.ua/news/2008-07-25/1046.shtml

21. «СБУ відкидає етнічну відповідальність за голодомор» // BBC Ukrainian. – http://www.bbc.co.uk/ukrainian/domestic/story/2008/07/080725_famine_sbu_om.shtml

22. This and all the following quotations come from the “Save Old Kyiv” internal mail-list. Translations from Ukrainian and Russian languages are mine.

23. “A star was inscribed on Lenin's forehead” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFJA1ffJEe8

24. “We have been moving into a protectionist world (forget about so-called globalization). We have been moving into a much larger direct role of government in production. Even the United States and Great Britain are partially nationalizing the banks and the dying big industries. We are moving into populist government-led redistribution, which can take left-of-center social-democratic forms or far right authoritarian forms. And we are moving into acute social conflict within states, as everyone competes over the smaller pie. In the short-run, it is not, by and large, a pretty picture” (Wallerstein).

25. The Soviet general commanding liberation of Ukraine from Nazis, died from an injury in a fight with nationalists from UPA.

26. See video-clip advertising “Svoboda” active participation in anti-construction protests. – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T0wOCigJWU&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

27. The number of participants was reported for 60.3% of protest actions during October–December 2010.