“Power is remote from people”

While clashes and the authorities’ use of force against demonstrators in Kiev continue, the International Community follows the unfolding of events in Ukraine with grave concern. The EU has summoned member States’ foreign ministers to devise the course of action, after having called for a new government and free elections. The role of Moscow weighs heavily on the Country. On the situation, the Justitia et Pax Commission of Ukraine’s Greek-Catholic Church released an exclusive statement to SIR Europe to clarify the situation and the perspectives for the future.Special sessions of Ukraine’s national Parliament held over the past days to tackle and seek a solution to the severe economic, financial and political crisis failed to deliver answers to the situation in the Country. The Ukrainian crisis is growing harsher, with deadly violence and bloodshed. Yet, in the past days we had seen cheerful, friendly, peaceful, considerate people who looked good together, gathered on the Maidan Square (the Independence Square in Kiev). It was an unprecedented kind of protest movement, lacking exaggerations, envy, without claims to take away something from someone. Without debauchery and scandals, which are sometimes the normal conditions of a revolt. In fact, it was marked by common sense. It was an uprising of kindness and goodness against incivility, obtuseness and shame. As well as against the depressing cynicism that seems to have completely taken hold of our ruling class. The issue is not simply that in the present state of things there was too much evil, but that within it, good did not exist.The tension in Kiev is still high. Protestors continue resisting behind the barricades. Night truce, urban guerrilla, fire and weapons… It’s surprising that those in power fail to read the feelings that motivate people to rally in the street. The people have said it loud and clear: “We won’t be humiliated! But those in positions of power fail to understand this kind of feeling, all they know are motivations dictated by the rule of giving and having. And that’s why the authorities claim that someone paid the rioters, that it’s a sabotage, misdemeanour aimed at personal gains… The government is responsible for the radicalization of the protests. Of course, no precise data on civilian casualties is available, some say at least 26 people dead. Reportedly, some 300 were injured, including 21 journalists. The police assault against demonstrators is continuing.Thousands of protesters gathered on the Maidan, which has turned into a tragic battlefield between the anti-Yanukovych front and the law enforcement authorities. In Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, Rivne Wednesday protesters stormed the local office of the Ministry of Interior. On the same day the special forces, Berkut, blocked an oncoming train from Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk: no details were provided, but the growing bond between the square rioting in Kiev and developments in the western city is evident.The Major Archbishop Sviatoslav explicitly asked the government to cease all acts of violence on protesters. The Greek-Ukrainian Catholic Church, which has long embodied the “suburbs” mentioned by Pope Francis, is now fully engaged in the context of the moral future of Ukraine. The Pope’s appeal for peace in Ukraine is something pure, that everyone should follow. Everywhere peace is a duty. We need the closeness of all the leaders of the European Union. A peace conference in Ukraine is absolutely needed, as soon as possible.Indeed, a permanent crisis risk developing into authoritarianism, but it may also act as a testing ground for those who seek the path of democratic expression in the framework of the difficult circumstances of oligarchic capitalism. The crisis brings to the fore the weaknesses of the system and may cause mobilization. Mobilization may not be sufficient for the consolidation of democracy, but it could act as a thrust, leading society in the right direction. We want a Country that we don’t have to be ashamed of. The therapy is known: to reform the political realm, notably the political system; to restore transparency and vitality to our “defective democracy.” The political processes unfolding in Ukraine will show whether a culture with eastern-Christian cultural roots will develop into a truly democratic society. We do not know what will happen next. The Ukrainian people, without exaggeration, are now defending European values with their own blood, for a more free and just society.Justitia et Pax Commission – Urkainian Greek-Catholic Church