Donetsk Chornobyl veterans: fighting alone for the common interest

A week has passed since Chornobyl veterans started their hunger-strike in Donetsk. The protest began on November 15, when more than 40 people gathered at the pension fund offices in Donetsk and demanded the government to provide them with all the social guarantees that belonged to them according to the law and to arrange for them a meeting with Mykola Azarov, the prime minister. However, their situation has not changed so far, except that the hunger-strikers are being hospitalized one by one, with 32 people already in hospitals. There has been no response from the government.

“The fact that these hunger-strikers are over 50-year-old people who are generally unhealthy and often have a disability, is very telling,” Donetsk journalist and social activist Valeria Dubova says. “These are the people who do not take to the streets easily. So, it really indicates that their circumstances have become extremely difficult. They defend their rights. They deserve their pensions and need them to help their families, to provide for their needs. These are normal human desires. I am very surprised that not only the ruling elite, but common residents of Donetsk, too, do not pay any attention to these people, as anybody, from university students to government employees and small and middle business owners may find themselves in a similar situation one day. We must all hang together or we shall all perish separately.