Progressive American voters, still downcast over the results of the presidential election — as well as an election system gravely impaired by the antiquated Electoral College, fraud-inviting electronic machines, and rampant political abuses — can take vicarious pleasure these days from Ukrainian democracy. Throughout the presidential campaign in the former Soviet republic, opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko struggled against a government-controlled media and election machinery that heavily favored his opponent, Viktor Yanukovych, the handpicked successor to the country’s corrupt and thuggish president, Leonid Kuchma. But when Yushchenko was denied victory in the Nov. 21 election, after widespread fraud, the opposition leader and his supporters did not fade away — they took to the streets and refused to accept the official version of the election.

‘With the Ukrainian Supreme Court still deliberating the opposition’s election challenge — and the democratic revolution in full flower on the wintry streets of Kiev — Salon spoke with Olena Prytula, editor in chief of Ukrayinska Pravda (Ukrainian Truth), the courageous Web site that has been responsible for some of the country’s only aggressive, independent coverage of the Kuchma regime. Prytula’s partner, Georgi Gongadze, was kidnapped, murdered and beheaded four years ago — an execution that a former bodyguard of Kuchma later charged was personally ordered by the president. In the past few weeks, Prytula and her small staff have thrown themselves into covering the dramatic election and aftermath, with traffic to her site ballooning to five times the normal flow. Prytula spoke by phone from Kiev, after another long, exhausting day, about the democratic uprising that contains "some small part of my work and my soul."’ (Salon Magazine article).

Print This Post Print This Post | Share This

Filed Under Commentary, News  

Related posts:
  • Download For Democracy
  • Rice warns Russia on democracy
  • Idea of Democracy
  • Comments

    Leave a Reply





    Comments links could be nofollow free.