By Hamid Taqvaee
taqvaee@rogers.com
Contrary to a lot of the
commentaries in the mainstream media, what is happening in Ukraine today is
neither a return to the Cold War, nor a continuation of the Orange Revolution.
These events are an extension of
the recent revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa, and the 99%
movement in the West. The Cold War was about rivalry between two global blocs -
the East and the West. The so-called ‘Velvet Revolutions’ were about transition
into a Western-style free-market capitalism. The central issue of the present
revolution in Ukraine is the clash of the people with the ruling classes and governments
affiliated to both the West and the East. Just as in Egypt, so in Ukraine,
people have come out and occupied squares to say they don’t want the existing situation
and government.
The Ukrainian revolution has
already succeeded in forcing the pro-Russian President to go on the run. But
people have stayed in Independence Square and won’t give up their demands. The
pro-Western option, namely joining the European Union, is no answer either.
Indeed, the latest events began when such options reached a dead-end. The
Ukrainian revolution is not the product of the rivalry of the world blocs; it
is a product of those blocs’ desperation.
The Ukrainian situation today is
a clear manifestation of the condition when ‘those above’ cannot carry on in
the old way and ‘those below’ do not want to live in the old way. This
inability and this refusal are not limited to Ukraine. Control has slipped from
the hands of all the states involved – the United States, the EU, Russia and
their allies. Rejection of the existing situation is also a global phenomenon: people
of Ukraine are protesting against the same political, economic and social
injustices as people everywhere.
Represented today in Kiev’s Independence
Square is the 99% of the whole world. The Square is linked not to the White
House or the Kremlin, but to Cairo’s Al-Tahrir and New York’s Zuccotti Park.
First published in Farsi-language
daily Journal, Thursday 27 February
2014
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