20 Feb 2014

After sig­ni­ficant de­fec­tions from Yanukovych’s party a ma­jority in the Parliament of Ukraine ad­opted a res­ol­u­tion that de­manded all mil­itary and po­lice troops leave Kyiv, re­turn to their or­dinary place of ser­vice and stop using weapons against cit­izens. However, the speaker of the house (Parliament) is re­quired to sign the res­ol­u­tion into law. And he, ap­par­ently, has fled to Budapest and is nowhere to be found. 12 re­gional leaders pub­licly de­clared their sup­port for the people.

In various parts of the country, Berkut groups have sur­rendered to the people. Restaurants, cafes, shops have opened to be­come shel­ters, med­ical centres and sites of respite. Police from Lviv travel to Kyiv to offer sup­port to the people. This is a re­volu­tion demon­strating a paradigm shift in Ukrainian so­ciety. There is no trust in law, no trust is gov­ern­ment, no trust in pro­cedure — those with con­trol over law, gov­ern­ment, pro­cedure are those who have murdered, si­lenced, ‘dis­ap­peared’, people who have op­posed them. So what are the al­tern­at­ives? Upheaval. Then hope.