Ukrainian Revolutions named Maidans explained
People from outside of Ukraine mostly know about Ukrainian revolutions of 2004 and 2013/2014, known as first and second Maidan. Because other Ukrainian protests were not shown in non-Ukrainian news, people may get a false impression that no other large-scale protests ever happened in Ukraine; that these two Maidans were alien things for Ukraine; and that these were orchestrated by foreign forces.
I want first to show a short history of Ukrainian protests, then I will shortly explain a significance of these two Maidans for Ukraine. And then I will give some arguments about why I consider the “USA orchestrated Maidans” to be a conspiracy theory.
A short note — the word Maidan in Ukrainian means “Square”. Since most protests happen on the main Kyiv square named “Independence Square”, protests held there are called “Maidan”.
Short history of revolutions in Ukraine
The first documented revolt in Kyiv happened in 1068 when Kyiv residents dethroned the ruler Iziaslav. As you see, revolting history is almost a thousand years old, almost as old as Ukraine itself (considering Kyivan Rus was a proto-Ukrainian state).
But let’s skip to modern times. Often overlooked is the Revolution on Granite in 1990. This was a students-led hunger strike on a central Kyiv square. Not all requirements of the students were immediately met, but as time showed, they achieved their goal. For example the new Union Treaty was not signed and Ukrainian Chairman (roughly similar to prime minister) Masol resigned. The Revolution on Granite was a peaceful protest and resulted in a win for protesters.
There were many other protests in Ukraine, for example of Donbas miners in 1989 or against high housing tariffs in 2015 (note that these were more about economics than politics). One of the largest happened in 2000–2001 against Ukrainian president Kuchma and in 2002–2003, called “Ukraine wake up!” Hardly a year passes in Ukraine without some larger peaceful protest.
That’s why the Orange Revolution in 2004 did not come out of the blue, nor was the Euromaidan, or the Revolution of Dignity in 2014. These were pretty organic for Ukraine, even though their scale was larger than of other previous protests. But what was so special in them?
Two Maidans significance
The Orange Revolution happened in 2004 and people stood up against the clear voting fraud. Contrary to the belief this was not a protest against a pro-Russian candidate Yanukovich. Pro-Russian candidates won previous elections and no mass protests happened. Yanukovich won an election in 2010 and no mass protests happened either. This was primarily a protest against a voting fraud. Yanukovich was not dethroned. He lost in the last round of elections, which was an extraordinary event, but still according to the law. Yanukovich accepted the defeat and even became the Ukrainian prime minister a bit later.
The Euromaidan in 2013/2014 was protest sparked by the police brutality against the peaceful protesters. Contrary to what Russia promotes, protests were indeed peaceful up until the protesters were beaten and forced to leave Maidan. It’s only after these actions hundreds of thousands went to protest. Even though this event is often called Euromaidan, signing a treaty with the European Union was not a primary driver for protests. It did start with this demand, but the protest exponentially grew in numbers only after the brutal police actions. That’s why it’s often called the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine. In some sense this was similar to the Black Live Matters protests in USA, because it was against the police brutality. It was also not politically led (polititians were not very welcomed on stage) and had no really clear requirements apart from Ukrainian officials to resign. Please note that none of the so-called Maidan leaders won the consequent president elections.
The significance of the two Maidans is paramount. The Orange Revolution showed that Ukrainians cared about fair elections. The Revolution of Dignity showed that Ukrainians won’t accept the police brutality. And please note — that these are the exact two things that liberal Russians are complaining about Russia and they use it as excuses for being so passive in protesting against the war. They say that elections in Russia are not fair but they are afraid to protest, because are afraid of police brutality. Russians made fun of the Ukrainian Maidans, they even have a derogatory adjective for Ukrainians maidanutyi — майданутый. But they better should have learned from Ukrainians and not making fun of them.
Are they orchestrated by the West?
The problem with conspiracy theories is that they are impossible to debunk. Every small fact which fits the theory is used as a proof, every large fact is ignored or called rigged. Many facts are assumed and considered to be kept secret. I don’t have an illusion I will persuade anyone who is stuck in the conspiracy theory that Maidans were orchestrated. This is written mostly for those not in the tenets of a conspiracy theory not them to fall for it.
As I showed in the first part, Ukrainians often protest and often protest in large. This is not something unusual. Maidans didn’t have to be orchestrated.
Weren’t Maidans too organised to feel spontaneous? I must point to the fact, that Ukrainians showed a miracle of self-organisations in the first days of the big Russian invasion in 2022. Volunteer movement, civilians self-organised defence, which played a very important role in stopping Russian invaders, even Armed Forces of Ukraine are not centralised and follow the more NATO model of self organised units. Being self-organised is a Ukrainian feature. This did not come suddenly out of nowhere in 2022. And it also did not disappear anywhere. Why then 2004 or 2014 actions could not be similarly self-organised?
But aren’t “coloured revolutions” a Western creation? Well, no. A coloured revolution is a term coined after the Orange Revolution and similar actions in other countries (Kyrgyzstan and Georgia). What was common in these revolutions? That people went out on the streets, had some symbol and won? As for the first — the mass protests are always about people going out on the streets. This is a no brainer. If people don’t go out on the streets, these are not called mass protests. And what about symbols? Nothing special about it either. Yellow Turban revolution, Red Turban revolution and Red Eyebrows all happened in China long time ago. These were definitely not lead by USA. As for winning? If they were not won — they would not be called “revolutions”, simple as that.
A small example of a mini-revolution from Lviv — the largest Western Ukrainian city. People wanted to erect a monument for poet Shevchenko on the main street during Soviet times (eighties). But communist party was silently against it. People started bringing flowers to that place. Thousands and thousands of flowers for many days. Government conceded and the monument was erected there. Pretty symbolic as well. People love symbols.
Conclusion
Ukrainian revolutions and self organisation are a topic for a large book, but I hope I gave a very basic understanding of Ukrainian protests and why were they organic for Ukrainian nature. The two Maidans were indeed significant events, but they were not the only ones and in particular the amazing Revolution on Granite is often overlooked. Main achievements of the two Maidans are fair elections and a stance against police brutality. Ukrainians know what they protest for and now also know what they fight for. We don’t need any guidance about it from West nor from Russia.
Picture of Kyiv uprising in 1068 as per Radzivill chronicle