Have you encountered anti-Semitism, or even just certain condescending attitude, about the fact that you’re Jewish, but also standing with them? I’m talking about the dichotomy: there is a “we” – Ukrainians, and a “they” – Jews, a portion of which are our companions and even friends. Our Ukrainian neighbors also ask themselves the question “is this a Jewish matter?”.
- There isn’t even a shadow of such sentiments. I’ve been talking to the “Right Sector”, UNA-UNSO activists since the first days – the same people that I was unlikely to find common ground during the peacetime. Moreover, I position myself exclusively as a Jew, and a religious one. Under my command, there are dozens of resistance fighters – Georgians, Azerbaijani, Armenians, Russians – who don’t even try to speak Ukrainian – and we have never shown any intolerance towards each other. All of them show pronounced respect for my faith – they know what I eat, what I don’t eat, etc., and it does not cause any negative responses.
- How much do you and your friends perceive Maidan as a Ukrainian nationalist revolution? Since there are no doubts that this is a nationalist revolution, there is a reason we hear a constant chorus of “Glory to Ukraine – Glory to her heroes!”, the national anthem is sung every half hour …
- The flag and the anthem aren’t party symbols, but public ones, and piety to them is simply necessary. When the anthem sounds in United States, people stand up and nobody perceives its words as a nationalist manifestation. I don’t idealize the protest movement and don’t know if there is really a birth of a new nation on Maidan, but I’m very impressed by some of the processes. For more than 20 years, by all the trappings, Ukrainian statehood presented a rather artificial entity – people did not feel pride in their country. They were cultivated by the old stereotype of “my house is on the edge” (meaning that most things were none of their business); Ukrainians represented themselves as a nation of people who do not care about anything. Nobody expected that, 9 years after the Orange revolution and consequent complete disappointment, people would find the strength to rise once again. On the march of millions, in which I participated, dozens of Jews walked together with “Freedom” party supporters, shouting unpleasant for me slogans. There is little doubt that there is a heavy dose of the spirit of freedom and unity on Maidan. One just needs to walk along the barricades – we haven’t seen this kind of responsibility in a while. In the past I have witnessed how people simply passed by someone who fell on the street. Now suddenly there is civil consciousness – people work all day and stand on Maidan at night, leaving just few hours for sleep.
- How diverse is Maidan? How do “Right Sector” and liberals, “Common Cause” and “Freedom” party, and such get along with each other? Is there any loss of control? Or is it a self-developing organism onto which neither the government, nor the opposition has influence?
- All of these factions are not the majority, together making up 40% of the protesters. The tendency to not choose a faction is rising, as people are coming just because they feel it is their duty. Moreover, Maidan is a fully manageable organism with a resistance headquarters, whose decisions are carried out by all factions. Other than one incident between “Freedom” party and “Common Cause” (we call them SS), the status quo is maintained…
- SS? Is this just an acronym, no more?
- No more. There is no Nazi symbolist on Maidan – in none of the factions.
