Adrian karatnycky orange revolution ukraine

CIAO DATE: 05/05

Ukraine's Orange Revolution
By Adrian Karatnycky

Adrian Karatnycky is Counselor and Senior Scholar at Freedom House.

Orange Crush

"Razom nas bahato! Nas ne podolaty!" The rhythmic chant spread through the crowd of hundreds of thousands that filled Kiev's Independence Square on the evening of November "Together, we are many!

We cannot be defeated!" Emerging from a sea of orange, the mantra signaled the rise of a powerful civic movement, a skilled political opposition group, and a determined middle class that had come together to stop the ruling elite from falsifying an election and hijacking Ukraine's presidency.

Over the next 17 days, through harsh cold and sleet, millions of Ukrainians staged nationwide nonviolent protests that came to be known as the "orange revolution." The entire world watched, riveted by this outpouring of the people's will in a country whose international image had been war