Ishchenko
9 years ago Euromaidan triggered the last cycle of the post-Soviet crisis process that culminated in the invasion of Ukraine. The dynamics and outcomes of this revolution, violence, the role of right and left were the main topic of my studies these years. Most important below
It's amazing how many worrying signs were evident even before the violent radicalization of Euromaidan protests, although I did not anticipate HOW disastrously they may develop. Not so many people did, especially among the intellectuals.The scale of violence was unprecedented in Ukraine since the 1950s, but, of course, it pales in comparison to what followed next. Many celebrated the diverse peaceful protest. The irony is that it radicalized precisely because it was not diverse enough
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1879366520928363The far right's role in Euromaidan used to be a highly debated topic. In fact, we had a systematic estimation of their activities. Their intensity and impact on radicalization by far exceeded the proportion of radical nationalists among the protestersThe crucial test for the role of the radical vanguards was provided by the Belarusian uprising six years ago. No significant radicalization happened despite the even more brutal repressionFrankly, I don't even think that the far right's role in Euromaidan is a controversial topic anymore. Even some of the scholars who disagreed with us before have cited our data approvinglyhttps://t.co/v7YcOK5y9l
— Volodymyr Ishchenko (@Volod_Ishchenko) November 21, 2022Ironically, some want to believe that the marginally present left played an even greater role than the far right. In fact, most of the left in Ukraine supported the opposite side (and suffered disastrous consequences)
https://www.academia.edu/20445056/The_Ukrainian_Left_during_and_after_the_Maidan_ProtestsOf course, the activities of the small and poorly organized new left groups had more impact on their shift to the right than on any significant developments in EuromaidanPost-Euromaidan reshuffling of the civil society - marginalization of the left, empowerment of the nationalist-liberal segment - together with weakening of the state pushed forward the agenda, often irrelevant and sometimes unpopular for the majorityRelated to this, both civic and ethnic nationalisms were on the rise post-Euromaidan, both unifying and polarizing trends. They were not opposed to each other, as many wanted to believe. They were intertwined and mutually reinforcing each other.Euromaidan was one of the many deficient revolutions combining revolutionary repertoire and aspirations with vaguely articulated claims, loose organization, and weak leadership. Predisposed to be hijacked by agents not representing the protesting masses.These maidan revolutions are a reaction to the deepening crisis of political representation (or hegemony crisis), but they reproduce and even intensify the very crisis they were a response to in the first place.The invasion of Ukraine is the escalation of the crisis on a higher level of violence. "The conflict now being resolved in Ukraine by tanks, artillery, and rockets is the same conflict that police batons have suppressed in Belarus and Russia itself."One way or another, the war started the end of the post-Soviet crisis. Either there won't be post-Soviet space anymore, or we'll see the hegemonic transformation creating political conditions for very different, social revolutions.
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