Portraits from Ukraine: The Maidan Politicians

Source: www.newyorker.com - Wednesday, April 30, 2014

In the Maidan, Kiev’s revolutionary square, the protests are winding down and the politicians are taking over. In the uprising of the past several months, the protesters pulled off a remarkable feat of populist leverage: they forced out Viktor Yanukovych, the corrupt President, and established themselves as a political force. When ministers were chosen for the transitional government, their names were announced to the crowds in the Maidan before the parliament voted on them. Some Maidan-linked figures with no government experience drew cheers and whistles. Established politicians like Oleksandr Turchynov, the acting President, were booed loudly. When I visited recently, though, the Maidan was filled with men and women—some in uniform, others in motley or in casual clothes—who talked loudly about revolution but seemed unsure about what to do next. Set among rows of tents and stacks of firewood were framed portraits and votive candles that honored dead protesters where they had fallen. Well-wishers made their way from one to another, and tearful friends and relatives lit candles and censers. A tent had been turned into a makeshift church, where Orthodox priests chanted prayers and burned incense; parishioners who could not fit inside stood outside under a canopy, swaying slightly, their heads tilted forward in silence. Nearby, a group of university students manned a “revolutionary post office,” and offered pen, paper, envelopes—wit

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