The party of the indignant

The great party of the indifferent has nearly 45 million members out of a total population of 47 million. It is comprised of a huge mass of citizens who live outside politics, do not anticipate anything positive or powerful from it, and are as afraid of it as they are of boredom or bankruptcy.

Of course, the indifferent may have their own political ideal. Many of them are supporters of the Party of Regions, Our Ukraine, and many other parties. Just like many Orthodox believers and Catholics who have come to doubt church dogmas, they shun participation in the life of these parties either because they despise people or have a very high opinion of their country’s justice and liberty, or, for reasons of personal benefit or simply passion, they think it preferable to sit things out peacefully in their quiet nooks.

In other words, with the exception of a few ambitious people who dream of fame and a handful of naive characters who expect the government they have elected to bring general happiness, practically the entire nation demands only one thing-peace. We want to live.

Ask peasants in villages and they will tell you: “The Ukrainian state has promised us peace and we vote for it. However, at the same time, we want Ukraine to put our affairs in order so that it will not hamper our trade with its constant tricks. A quiet government is the best government.”

Ask rentiers and landlords, painters and writers, and you will find a ubiquitous gravitation toward salubrious peace, which for some means rest and for others, labor. All of Ukraine unanimously demands freedom of thought and activity, and wants to stay away from this jumble of principles and people who threaten the nation’s welfare on a monthly basis.

This is what the great party of the indifferent looks like. It has given up hope of finding perfection and suffers people who happen to come to power. All it wants is for those people to leave it alone, and if they are not smart enough to satisfy this demand, The Day will surely come when the indifferent sheep, in a fit of fury, will devour the wolves that have long been howling into their ears.

In our country all the principles of consummate statesmen boil down to one rule: play one against the other. This is so easy and convenient. Ambitious people have lined up at the doors of power, and each one enters only after having destroyed his predecessor. Before our very eyes Viktor Yanukovych was destroying President Viktor Yushchenko, and now Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is trying to destroy the president, ad infinitum. Presidents are now like old boots: once they get holes, they are thrown into the garbage.

This tactic of planned extermination reigns everywhere-from top to bottom, and it is very characteristic of our epoch. In this way, each government has, on the one hand, a pile of old boots that have accumulated over time, and on the other, a number of new ones waiting to be tried and worn out. This is the source of all our turmoil and the sicknesses from which we suffer so much.

They will let us enjoy the happiness that has been promised and awaited for 10 years now. But what if in due time these slyboots are wiped out as quickly as the others? What if they take their turn at making a beeline to the rubbish heap? Will we have to change hands again in the same fashion, and will we be harassed from all sides?

Seventeen years! Just think about it: we have been suffering for 17 years now, withstanding catastrophes and drawing fire upon ourselves, aware that creating a state is not as easy as planting an apple tree.

In these long 17 years we have undergone various painful manipulations. We have been shaken, knocked senseless, and locked up-and now these people are going to start it up all over again. This is not life. This is a calamity! Of course, they also need no less than a decade to consolidate their power and adapt us to their tastes. But there are no guarantees that a new generation of politicians will not appear, declaring to the country of dissenters: “What? Is this what you call Ukraine? Come on! There is only one Ukraine-our Ukraine-and we need to test it.” We will be mere guinea pigs in an experiment; we will go into oblivion, wiped out by some catastrophe without having set our feet on the firm footing of a scientifically proven truth.

Our country is said to be intrinsically a social category that has not been ultimately shaped and is always controversial. The Day that political intriguers succeed in hammering this home to Ukraine, The Day they are able to prove to the country that the state is incapable of ensuring independent and final order this will be The Day that the majority will quickly become sympathetic to the idea of a union with a neighboring country.

Fortunately, you cannot mold a people into whatever you want it to be, just like you cannot twist the spine of a bird or fish as you wish. These are forces of nature that drive humankind, and they need to be heeded and applied lest the fruits of your labor are futile.

This is what we have come to after 17 years: the party of the indifferent has become the party of the indignant. With each new government crisis, with each new reckless undertaking, it is sobering to see fear in all honest people. They voted for Ukraine and imagine that Ukraine exists; more than that they cannot understand. Kyiv is only 100 kilometers away, but it seems to be at the other end of the world, in the land of the insane. What is going on there? What do they want? Another government? So the previous one was bad? Then why did they appoint it?

Of course, a new one will do no better because its fall is being announced even before it assumes office. People are shrugging their shoulders and starting to get angry, and if they are pestered again with this ambitious struggle, the significance of which eludes them, tomorrow they will start dreaming of a dictator.

In cities, large and small merchants, a large number of the indifferent who want the political unrest to calm down have a better understanding of this deafening tumult: they see clearly that if there were not so many people wanting to divide Ukraine amongst themselves then things would immediately fall into place. This is what enrages them even more. They too are shrugging their shoulders.

This orgy will start all over again. It is utterly impossible to go through it, so you have to plug your ears and lock yourself up in a room. But you cannot be indifferent now. Even in the case of the most diehard skeptics and the most impatient people, their gorge will rise at the unabating noise of the street.

We are tired of our own indifference and of tolerating so much noisy futility in the name of saving the nation. We want to have Ukraine, but we want it this minute, without any tedious ceremonies, without this endless banquet at which each one of you tries to eat and drink before the country itself sits down at the table.

What do we have to do with the likes of Yanukovych, Tymoshenko, Lytvyn, Symonenko, and Kyrylenko? If they have to end up devouring each other, it would be better if they started right on it: one could swallow up the other in one go in order to clear the way.

They will snap their teeth a few times-and lo and behold, there is Ukraine. It is not true that all these public servants bend over backwards to make us happy. It is only true that their own egos mean more to them than Ukraine, and if they want a country, they want it for themselves. Devour each other as you see fit, because one more coup and we will rise up.

There are 45 million of us peaceful people, people of good will, so how can we let a mere million dubious characters plague us? We all want to work in peace. We form governments so that they will ensure order, and it turns out after all that we have to endure a handful of politicos, who seize advantages in times of tumult, just like lawyers take advantage of clauses. We let them excel at their art, deftly play their hand in times of crisis, and enjoy themselves as they parade through government posts, confusing us in order to give themselves the satisfaction of saving us three times a week and claim the right to our gratitude.

Therefore, let someone turn the great party of the indifferent into the great party of the indignant. The one that does this will voice the will of all the people of Ukraine, who need, like never before, peace and a resolute desire to understand one another, to think, work, and say goodbye to empty and ludicrous party divisions.

If, however, they dig in their heels, if they go to the extreme, well, then we will need to have done with them. How wonderful it would be-a revolution of skeptics, a revolution of the indifferent who have become indignant! These will be free citizens, who have been tormented for so long but have decided to fight back.

CONFESSION

The author must confess that this article is not entirely of his own creation. It was written by the great French writer Emile Zola and published in the newspaper Le Figaro on Oct. 4, 1880. Although it was written in the late 19th century, the text is still relevant today. I replaced the word “France” with “Ukraine” and substituted the names of the Third Republic’s political figures and parties with ours. Otherwise, Zola’s text is intact.

In a striking resemblance to the French people during Zola’s time, the Ukrainian nation is tired of the endless political battles, the attacks of the top political leaders against each other, and the perpetual power struggle. All this has made people indifferent, and they do not expect anything good for themselves from their government and state.

Things cannot go on like this for very long. The first bell tolled in 2004. Our politicians roused themselves somewhat, but then relapsed into their usual ways, completely ignoring the people. But the people have reached the end of their patience, and the great party of the indifferent can very quickly turn into the party of the indignant. It will demand and carry out a complete replacement of the actors in the political theater. The current directors and managers of the political stage still have time to heed the growing shouts of the people, but the countdown has already begun.

France went through five revolutions. Perhaps the final one will be enough for us. It is high time to build a modern state, instead of looking like 19th-century France.