Amid fears of a Russian invasion, Ukrainians keep pushing for political reform

KYIV, Ukraine — The authorities have almost completely dismantled the sprawling tent encampment around Independence Square, the center of protests that forced former President Viktor Yanukovych to flee earlier this year.

But the revolutionary spirit is being kept alive just up the street.

In recent days, groups of protesters have gathered outside the parliament — with slogan, flags, chants and all — demanding the passage of a law aimed at weeding out corrupt officials.

After critics slammed lawmakers for delaying the vote, protesters finally celebrated victory on Thursday afternoon when deputies approved the bill in its first reading.

The vote proved that while the Maidan — as the square is universally known — is now empty, few Ukrainians have forgotten its demands.

Although most observers agree that revolutionary passion hasn’t yet dissipated, they say tough work lies ahead for a government confronted with economic crisis, a rebellion in the east and the threat of invasion from Russia.

“The energy is undoubtedly there, but the challenge is to create institutions that can channel this energy,” says Serhiy Taran, a Kyiv-based political activist.

Last week, the city authorities finally fulfilled their pledge to clear the square, a proposal they had floated since shortly after the presidential election in May.

It wasn’t without incident. Scuffles broke out between the few remaining demonstrators — who have been slammed by their peers for allegedly “discrediting” the movement — and security forces.

Nevertheless, an overwhelming majority supported the move. Some had even taken to facetiously calling the area “Alco-Maidan” (as in, "alcohol"), in reference to the dubious and often shaggy characters that still populated the square, sometimes drunk.

Now the focus is shifting to the halls of parliament, where lawmakers have been charged with pushing through legislation that would dismantle much of the notoriously corrupt political system.

The task is proving especially difficult because of the ongoing anti-insurgent campaign in the east, with its body count rising by the day, and an old parliament still dogged by political intrigue and popular distrust.

Observers hope that will be at least partially remedied by fresh parliamentary elections that will probably take place in October.

Reformers have already won some minor victories.

In April, lawmakers pushed through legislation aimed at cleaning up the public procurement process while another law granted the country’s public universities more autonomy from the state.

But those piecemeal changes don’t represent a broader, more meaningful trend. While lawmakers passed the so-called lustration draft law targeting corrupt officials — which may still be altered in a subsequent reading — they again failed to put a crucial electoral reform law to vote.

Oleksiy Haran, a university professor and prominent political commentator, says the most important task is pressuring politicians into greater accountability and forcing them to pass reform legislation consistently.

“The main problem now concerns how to lobby for these laws,” he says, echoing the opinion of many others who say the months-long protests have left a lasting impression on society.

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That assignment has now largely fallen to activists like Taran, a Kyiv-based political scientist who recently helped launch a political party called “Will.”

Based on the ideals of the Maidan, the party advocates a multi-point platform that includes eliminating corruption, mandatory military conscription and the de-monopolization of the economy from oligarchs.

But Taran concedes it’s not easy for new political forces these days in a system that appears rigged against them.

He estimates that political parties need at least $10 million for campaign advertising in order to stand a chance at the polls, for instance. That’s why he and fellow party members support banning political advertisement.

“On one hand, there’s a demand for new political forces, but on the other the old political elites are blocking any new political forces through conditions that make them very difficult to make it into parliament,” he says.

Despite the demands for political change, politicians are also preoccupied with the military campaign against pro-Russian separatist rebels in the east, where both military and civilian casualties are piling up quickly.

Although Ukrainian forces have successfully hammered away at rebel positions, they now face a daunting task chasing out the separatists from their stronghold of Donetsk, a densely populated city still home to hundreds of thousands.

The conflict has radicalized at least part of Ukrainian society, evidenced by a major boost in support for the populist firebrand lawmaker Oleh Lyashko, who’s built a following by staging vigilante safaris during which he captures and abuses suspected rebels and sympathetic officials on film.

But mainstream public opinion is less clear.

Ievgen Vorobiov, an analyst at the Polish Institute of International Affairs, points to a “paradox” in how many view the ongoing war.

“Ukrainians are weary and quite tired, but also too stubborn to [support a pullout] after going through so many casualties and so much time spent there.”

Then there’s an economy that has sputtered along with some Western aid but whose currency has depreciated significantly since late last month, having hit a new low this week.

Some analysts predict deeper economic trouble head. Vorobiov says Ukrainian exporters may take a significant hit thanks to trade with Russia drying up and Europe’s preoccupation with its own economic woes.

“I think we’ll be seeing more depreciation at the end of the year,” he says.

Despite the wide array of immediate problems, however, many social leaders are continuing to crusade for sweeping reform.

Lubomyr Husar, the former head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and long considered a moral authority here, wrote this week of the importance to fundamentally change the country’s political culture.

“Individuals who feel a calling to political service should consider very seriously what they’re being chosen for by the community,” he wrote Tuesday in Ukrayinska Pravda, a leading independent news outlet.

“We would like to see in our Ukrainian state exactly these kinds of exemplary politicians.”

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