‘How the Maidan Negotiated’ tells the story of civil society defeating authoritarianism
Istorychna Pravda-TV
KYIV, Ukraine—Ukrainians have always wanted to live in a free country where nobody would take their right to freedom of choice. Numerous attempts to kill the national identity have been made by invaders, but they have only strengthened and united Ukrainians in their fight for freedom and democratic values.
This desire was finally vindicated by the events on the main square of the country's capital, 9 years ago. On November 21, 2013 the first protests started. They aimed to support the pro-European vector of foreign policy of Ukraine and fight against arbitrariness and tyranny of the regime of Viktor Yanukovych.
In the documentary 'How the Maidan Negotiated', we can see how much Euromaidan united people from every corner of the country – they all differed by age, professions, financial position, religious and political beliefs, plans for the future. Ordinary men and women who had a mutual goal and unbreakable will had the courage to proclaim their freedom in spite of the violent resistance of the government, making it clear once and for all that the fate of Ukraine would be decided by the people themselves.
The documentary's main idea is that the ability to hear one another and find compromises that will satisfy all members of the process, even in such a fraught situation, was crucial and influenced the result of the mass protests. It goes without saying that one of the main elements of formation of a nation is the culture of agreement.
“I suppose that if we didn’t stick to that culture of agreement among one another, the consequences could have been much worse," says Olha Salo, a co-coordinator of the Euromaidan public sector.
Owing to this ability to negotiate, numerous art and public initiatives appeared in the process of the Revolution of Dignity. They catalyzed the development of powerful networks of horizontal connections and social capital all around the country 9 years ago and continue to have a positive impact on the current military state of affairs in Ukraine.
This documentary is a mutual visual memory of Ukrainians about the fact that only our unity will make us invincible. To dive in these memories and understand the mechanism of handling the problems of Euromaidan, to realize why Maidan won – watch the film on “Istorychna Pravda” YouTube channel.
The documentary has been made by Istorychna Pravda-TV team on the commission of Platform for Conflict Management in Communities: Association of Middle East Studies (AMES), Network of Responsible People and Theatre for Change.
The film has been released within the project of “Strengthening the potential of civil society for the non-violent transformation of conflicts in local communities”, supported by KURVE Wustrov - Centre of Training and Networking in Nonviolent Action and Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ).
This material is a press release authored by Istorychna Pravda-TV.
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