Four years have passed since the turning point when protests began in the capital, caused by the departure of the then leadership of the state from the course towards European integration. These events were a continuation of the events of 2004, which received the symbolic name “Orange Revolution”. So says Eduard Afonin – Doctor of Sociology, professor of the Department of Public Policy and Political Analysis of the National Academy of Public Administration under the President of Ukraine.
– Eduard Andreyevich, why do you think that the autumn-winter protests of 2013-2014 of the Revolution of Dignity are a continuation of the events of the “orange”?
– Because it was then, in 2004, a citizen was born in Ukraine – a self-sufficient person who aimed to affirm individual values in the country. At that time, the Eurointegration component was also present in the semantic spectrum. Based on the monitoring data of the Ukrainian school of archetypes, it can be argued: most people perceive the world around them by inertia, as they say “to the touch.” Given this, the events of 2013-2014 became a continuation of the “orange” events. However, in 2004, everything did not happen in favor of the shoots of young liberal democracy: it could not gain a foothold in the center and expand its influence on the periphery. The oligarchs took advantage of the “orange revolution” and replaced the state monopoly with a monopoly of big capital. As a result, at the climax, the Revolution of Dignity took place. Namiypoglyad, the post-orange period was full of double meaning. On the one hand, it has been keen on taking over democratic reforms (from administrative-territorial to constitutional), our being is connected with European integration. On the other hand, in Ukraine the unbridled economic “ego” – the monopoly of big capital, still remains.
– How do you feel about the statements that the “Maidan protests” were of a custom nature?
– I somehow had to point out to my Russian colleagues the data that on the eve of the Revolution of Dignity the International Institute of Sociology of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy received. The point is that only during November-2013 the level of social protest in the country tripled. I would also like to recall the “orange” protests when the Party of Regions brought about 10,000 “aunts” from Crimea and Donbass to Kiev. At that time, in the fall of 2004, attempts to model a conflict turned out to be in vain (as the monitoring results showed). – What, in your opinion, has changed after the recent “areal” events? – Given the monitoring results, I can say that the process of transformational changes is in the final phase of its dynamics – the old social institutions are completely collapsing, and new ones are taking their place. Given the research of the Ukrainian school of archetypics, in a year or two, abrupt changes in self-consciousness will take place, which will radically change the situation in the country. Society will again return to the “orange sprouts” …
Valentin KOVALSKY
Newspaper – «Nighttime Kiev»