KIEV, Ukraine -- Throughout the more than thousand-year history of Ukrainian statehood, the ruling powers never voluntarily served their people or the country, but selflessly and eagerly served foreign invaders starting from the Varangians of Sweden, the Tatar-Mongolians, to Poles and Lithuanians and finally the Muscovites.
2004 Orange RevolutionThe ruling powers in Ukraine could never independently protect their people or land from foreign invaders such as the Tatar-Mongolians, Poles, the Muscovites, Bolsheviks or Fascists.
There was not a single time that the government would apologize to its people for the lack of talent, for the burning of Kyiv (several times), the destruction of Chyhyryn, the Brody tragedy, the famine and the endless number of ruined lives and lost fortunes of the Ukrainian people.
Harmony and prosperity in Ukraine occurred only during those short periods in history when the people took power into their own hands and appointed their own ruling authorities. Such was the period of the early Kyiv Rus, when the people got tired of their own dukes’ quarrels and discords, and invited Swedish Varagians to Kyiv.
The Cossack times were another period, when Cossacks elected their own officers and protected their territories. There was also a short period of Ukrainian National Republic and Western Ukrainian National Republic, when the people of Ukraine gave a chance to their politicians to establish a new state on the ruins of the Russian Empire.
However, as soon as the government pushed the people away from state management, it caused the destruction of the state. Time and again, the government was drowning in discord, squabbling, corruption and empty promises.
Generally speaking, Ukrainians never really needed a ruling authority over them because the nation has a remarkable ability to self-regulate and develop (think of how many Ukrainian towns received the Magdeburg Right during the time when the central government was practically non-existent in the country).
The best government for a Ukrainian is the one that does not prevent him to live his life, zealously work, zealously play, and peacefully die.
A Ukrainian will tolerate and eagerly defend this kind of government (by the way, this is contrary to the way things are with a brotherly northern neighbor, where historically the more the powers mistreat and oppress the people - the more they love that power).
The recent history of Ukraine generally only demonstrates the same manner in which the people and the government coexisted over the last thousand years.
At the 1991 referendum, the people of Ukraine expressed their strong will to become an independent state, and the management of the new country was immediately taken over by the mediocre former servants of the colonial communist regime led by Kravchuk.
The total mediocrity of that government led to the “revolution on the granite”. As a result, in 1994 the people won the right to change their elected representatives and members of the government.
No matter how wretched the new government led by Kuchma was, the people tolerated it only because it did not interfere with their lives.
Once again, Ukrainians display miracles of self regulation: there is no work – they find it abroad; there is no merchandise in the stores – they import it from Turkey and Poland and sell it at the outdoor markets; no food – farmers markets blossom; the credit system does not function – they develop barter relations and a dollar-based economy.
At that time, Ukraine had the most democratic tax system in the world: an entrepreneur himself decided how much tax should be paid to the government. The tax system existed de jure, but the people created an effective system of avoiding taxes, and tax inspectors did not yet become a tool of oppression.
If this situation remained unchanged for another several years, Ukraine would have quickly turned into the most developed and democratic European country and we would have been in the European Union together with our lame government leaders. If only they had not interfered.
Unfortunately, at the end of the 1990s the government decided to exercise some power. The government officials started to grow appetites: each had to have an acre of land with a three-storey house, a small factory, a few luxury automobiles, a small plane or a yacht. In addition, they had children and an endless number of relatives and friends.
Hence, the ruling authorities became greedy and cynical. Government officials were receiving land, forests, factories, production plants and ports as gifts, or paid next to nothing for them. Not only did they pay no taxes on the so-called “privatized” businesses, but they also sent all the profit into offshore bank accounts.
The bulk of the tax burden was put on the small and medium size enterprises run by ordinary Ukrainians.
Apparently that was not enough, so government officials created a system of embezzlement of taxes already paid to the state by means of returning VAT on fictitious exports. In 2004 alone the amount of this returned (or rather stolen from the people) VAT reached 5 billion hryvnia.
The growing demands of government officials and the need to satisfy them led to the creation of a deeply hierarchal system of corruption throughout the whole country. Giant and tiny pyramids of corruption penetrated into every segment of society, from the maternity wards, kindergartens, educational system, healthcare and police to the army and ritual establishments.
The tax and permit issuing authorities basically became the tools of oppression, systems of bribery and institutionalized theft.
Ukraine became one of the most corrupt countries of the world.
In order to stay in power, regardless of the will of the people, Kuchma and his allies used a system of manipulation during the elections of 1999, 2002 and 2004.
Those were elections bereft of choice. In 1999 Ukrainians had to choose the lesser of two evils – Symonenko or Kuchma. In 2002, the representatives of the opposition were eliminated from the electoral process in major electoral districts and did not have access to mass media.
It was clear that those means would not suffice to rig the presidential elections of 2004, so the government officials created a new system of election manipulation unprecedented in scale and cynicism.
And it was at this historic moment that the Ukrainian people took power into their own hands, which even the government could not foresee. In fact, starting November 2004 through January 2005, the country was ruled by a new democratic institution – the Maidan.
The President, Verkhovna Rada, the Supreme Court as well as the country’s security forces were forced to bow to the will of the Maidan as a consolidated institution of a new Ukrainian democracy.
Conclusions and ForecastsBack in 1946 in his famous Fulton speech, Winston Churchill defined the three main components of democracy as the freedom of speech, free unfettered elections and independent courts.
As history proves, these democratic institutions are very acceptable for Ukrainians as they feed into the historic and mental abilities of Ukrainians to self-organize and self-govern. Only effective democratic institutions can secure the constitutional right of the people to power.
As a result of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine we have, more or less active, two out of the three necessary democratic institutions: freedom of speech and democratic elections.
As for the courts – unfortunately, they were reorganized into a system that could be easily manipulated by the government. Victor Medvedchuk, a professional manager and “the Grey Cardinal” of the former government was working tirelessly to create this system.
At first, this judicial system suited the new government, since some of the “friends” of the new President were hoping to take control of the courts.
But things did not work out the way they expected. The judicial system continues to work for its patrons and “founding fathers”.
We hope that the new government will begin judicial reform soon; especially after a couple of disgraceful slaps in the face it received from apologists of the old regime (Piskun, who has Medvedchuk’s ears sticking from behind his head, is simply mocking the President).
If, on the other hand, the new government will not be able to reorganize the court system, then the people or their representatives will do the job (Vlasenko and Reznikov already expressed their willingness to help).
Whatever the case may be, any ruling power, especially still budding Ukrainian democracy, will try to avoid being controlled by its people or will try to shift its responsibilities to the people.
Yekhanurov’s persistent appeals to entrepreneurs to declare actual salaries sound like so much hot air. The same appeal was heard from the President during the forum “Challenges brought by freedom”.
The new government still has not reformed the crumbling healthcare system, which is free of charge only in theory, just like the corrupted system of education, where parents have to “feed” the teachers or hire tutors.
The new government will have to reform the permit issuing system. The bribes have gone up because of the extra risk of taking them (try buying a space in Kyiv to open a pharmacy or a hair salon; it will cost you minimum of $25,000 to $30,000 and a year and a half of going through purgatory).
The government only asks right now that we give the state 60 kopecks out of every gryvnia earned in the form of taxes.
This is probably because they need the money to pay the 18,000 gryvnia pensions to former government officials and people’s deputies like our beloved Kuchma and Bilokon’.
And where are the tax reform and the 20% unified social tax promised by the President?
Don’t the President and the Prime Minister understand that a tax burden of more than 60% (38% various deductions from the salary, 13% income tax, 20% VAT which we pay every time we make purchase or sale) is simply unrealistic!
The population will never pay such high taxes unless the people receive guarantees that the government will provide effective social services (healthcare, education, police, court system, social protection services and insurance).
So far, the government has not fulfilled these obligations. That is why Ukrainians, through democratic institutions, should keep a tight grip on the government authorities and not to loosen that grip for even a minute.
This is the only way to ensure peace and prosperity in Ukraine. Otherwise, as before, the promises of the politicians will remain promises, and the risk of Ukraine losing its statehood will become real again.
Source: Ukrayinska Pravda
