March 5, 2014

This video was posted to counter the Russian claim that Ukraine's uprising was the product of 'radical extremists'.

It's clear that Svoboda was active in the protests. But as you can see in this video, it's equally clear that far more ordinary Ukrainians who would be going about their business if the government was doing its job were actively protesting, too.

In February, the Christian Science Monitor described protesters this way:

Those demonstrators were a diverse mix of radical groups, self-defense units, retirees, entrepreneurs, and students, united in their call for President Yanukovych's resignation, if increasingly disappointed about the lack of progress during the past three months. Even as the police and crowds of protesters clashed on Wednesday morning, women passed out sandwiches, milk, and water from a safe distance, while others used hammers and pick axes to chip away concrete bricks from the square’s sidewalks, which lay in scattered stockpiles away from the front line.

“So, do we look like terrorists or extremists?” joked Katya Federenko, a recent college graduate who was helping pile stones on Independence Square, or the Maidan.

I'll let you decide the answer to that question.

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon