A sign of disease

This is a sign that our society is still very far from recovery. History is replete with ominous coincidences. January 19 is one of them. It was on January 19, 2009 that far-right terrorists killed in Moscow journalist Anastasia Baburova, who was a citizen of Ukraine, and Russian lawyer and human rights activist Stanislav Markelov.

It was exactly five years later, on January 19, 2014, that fighting between protesters and the Berkut riot police erupted in Hrushevskoho Street in Kyiv; it marked the revolution entering its hot phase, which ended with the fall of Viktor Yanukovych’s regime.

Every year, human rights activist and left-leaning liberals hold commemorative events for Markelov and Baburova in Russia and Ukraine, which among other things, raise the issue of far-right violence in society. While such events are outlawed as a matter of course in Russia because their participants are principled opponents of Vladimir Putin’s regime, they were usually allowed to go ahead unhindered in Kyiv.

However, this year’s rally had to be called off for security reasons. On the eve of it, far-right organizations issued statements threatening violence against its participants and organizers, downtown Kyiv was full of activists and observers from these forces on the day the event was scheduled to be held, and the authorities refused to guarantee any protection for the demonstrators.

What was it that people came to Independence Square and Hrushevskoho Street to oppose, often risking their lives? It was attacks on our freedom. A society where civic freedoms are illegally restricted is sick. The successful disruption of this event has shown that our society is still very far from recovery.