Counting on our fear
Today the dissenting voices are facing repressions. Tomorrow they will come for you.
(Translated from Ukrainian by Lyudmyla Bilyk)
Yesterday evening unknown persons attacked Dmytro Pylypets, one of EuroMaidan coordinators in Kharkiv. He was beaten and received several knife wounds.
The night before yesterday, a car of EuroMaidan activists was set on fire. It was the second one, by the way. Before that the headquarters of EuroMaidan have been broken into and demolished. The headquarters were located in the city centre (in Kharkiv, an eastern ciry – editorial). The one who calls himself Mayor of Kharkiv arrived there in the morning to check if the offices have really been smashed, though explaining that he was just passing by.
The mayor’s behaviour is becoming more and more aggressive and less predictable. After all those years endowed with power it looks as though he lost any connection with reality; he simply goes on within artificial decorations of his own collage – with his gyms, grateful crowds and featureless servants. He is not capable of a dialogue with his opponents, so he prefers to pretend that they simply do not exist at all. Or he could just eliminate them.
However, when his environment suddenly malfunctions and he faces some disagreement (at a meeting or during a live broadcast – those are rare occasions, but they do sometimes happen), the scraps of his restraint are lost and he falls into a fit of hysteria.
Generally speaking, he looks all too nervous and tense as for an adult man who already has had some achievements showing up on his CV. Neither his formal suit, nor the official status can help it. Well, the status is a rather relative concept: no official certificate in your pocket and no tinted windshields can change your true nature.
Maybe that’s the reason why his favourite phrase, he keeps repeating as a mantra, is “I, as a mayor of Kharkiv.” He uses this phrase in every sentence, no matter what he talks about, as if trying to persuade himself all the time. Could this be a cause of his neurotic reaction to anyone who dares to disagree with him? He succumbs to fits of hysteria, lies and threats. And that’s where all these night attacks come in. It looks as if he hated the very fact that someone may not be afraid of him; he’s just not used to it.
I’m not sure whether he understands that it’s not the fear he’s causing but rather rejection and growing resentment. I’m not certain that he realizes that he has already crossed the line after which he really can forget about quiet retirement and peaceful night walks through the park without guards.
Dirty tricks do not frighten; they only encourage to fight against them. Thus, by attacking peaceful citizens, terrorising them, he gets an opposite from desired effect – no one is now going to leave homewards for holidays or wait for future elections. Protesters, who are being persecuted now, have a pretty good idea of who they are dealing with and what should they expect.
But the most importantly, they know what they stand for and what they demand. Foremost, they stand to get rid of this unrealized and inadequate riff-raff who still tries to speak on behalf of the cities, regions and the whole country. People demand changes. And when you know well enough what you want and how to achieve that, there is no place for fear! Diffident are frightened, credulous are scared, and there are those who simply got used to being frightened. In all other cases the existing authorities aren’t even worth of fear; they only deserve to be despised. They deserve only to be overthrown.
As for the residents of Kharkiv. Do you truly believe that the mayor is a good executive? You say he brings stability, benches and roads? The evil doesn’t tend to exercise abstinence or self-restraint. On the contrary, it prefers to extend, grow, reproduce and span instead. And it will do so until we get rid of it. As long as we are ready to tolerate it. Today the dissenting voices are facing repressions. Tomorrow they will come for you. Be sure. There is no doubt of that. You won’t even have time to become frightened. An opinion.
Serhiy Zhadan
Voices of Ukraine 
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