Jörg Drescher: Impressions of the Flag March for Peace (Kyiv, 16.03.2014)
This time I took no pictures, because the accumulator of my cam was empty. But there will be pictures of other participants which I will share when they are online.
When I arrived there were a lot of “yellow little men” busy in the Shevchenko Park. I do not know, what this was about and did not ask, but I thought what a crazy world: in Crimea “green little men”, in Moscow “red little men” and in Kyiv “yellow little men”…
Because last time there were a lot of German flags, I decided to take a Russian one to show my solidarity with yesterday’s protests in Moscow. I was the only one with a Russian flag. Maybe because we were not too many people – maybe around 100. Last Sunday we were maybe 400.
I experienced following things with that Russian flag:
At the beginning of the march a woman with a buggy came across and said thanks to me. During the march I had the feeling, people were surprised to see also a Russian flag and didn’t really know how to deal with it. However, people took photos and I had the feeling, especially of this guy with the “flag of the enemy”.
But I met some Russians – one from Dagestan who has his business in Kyiv, and a reporter from Petersburg. They thought, I am a compatriot.
At Maidan some of us were invited to go to the stage and because of “my” Russian flag I stood there, too. Some of us spoke their support, but I left the stage because I am not a native Russian. An elder woman addressed me and as I tried to explain, why I am holding a Russian flag she complained, that my Russian is too bad to talk with me. An elder man said, it hurts him to see me with this flag on Maidan. And I told him, he should not mix people with the state and I explained, that yesterday there was a huge march in Moscow, too. A Ukrainian guy supported me and later he told me, that his father is Russian.
I spoke with some people and they told me, that they have friends and relatives in Russia who partly do and partly do not understand what is going on in Ukraine. I could absolutely not see any ethnic problem, because Ukraine is a mixture of all nations. This is a result of the Soviet Union past. And I remember the name of the metro station where I lived some years ago very well: Druzhby Narodov (Friedship of Nations).
As I went home, I thought about the missed chance to talk to the people on Maidan. In my head I formulated what I would want to have said:
Dear Ukrainians! No, I am not Russian even if I hold this flag. But I am able to play the role of a Russian as I am able to slip into the role of any other nation. Please don’t forget, that the cultures of the nations are owned by all people. And please don’t mix ordinary people with those people in power. You know who the aggressor is – it is not Russia in the sense of the people, but a government with leaders doing not care about what people want. You got rid of Yanukovych and Russia might get rid of Putin. Moscow showed yesterday, that they support Ukraine and do not want war! And I believe, if Russian leaders start a war with Ukraine, the next Maidan will happen on the Red Square. I also thank you so much for what you taught me over the past few month: human values and holding together can disperse all bad. My best wishes for a joyful future in Ukraine
But I didn’t say these words, because I am too shy and I doubt, I would have been able to say this in Russian. So I share these words here…
Voices of Ukraine 