What Was the Orange Revolution?
The Orange Revolution was a movement of Ukrainian citizens that began on election day Sunday, November 21, 2004. The protest was against disreputable campaign tactics and election fraud by the administration presidential candidate. The "orange" in the title comes from the orange that was Yushchenko campaign color.
The election day rally of many thousands of supporters grew in the following days to a rally of hundreds of thousands, with some people camping out along the central street in the city.
The end date for the Orange Revolution that I would pick would be December 26, 2004. On that day Ukrainians went back to the election booths and a majority of them again voted for opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko, this time successfully voting him into office.
The mood of peaceful protest on behalf of freedom, love, and brotherhood was like the ideal of activist existence. I never would have expected it, could hardly believe it, and just wanted to share it with any of you that I could. I was never so impressed by Ukrainians as I was in those months. Molodtsi!
Orange Revolution Links
I've had some links up on the sidebar for over a year that primarily had to do with the immediate events of the protest. As such, they're really not that relevant now, except for those who want to look back on the events either for research purposes or personal interest. Therefore, I'm just going to collect the links here, instead.
Orange Ukraine
Orange Revolution Research: a small collection of articles on the Orange Revolution by prominent analysts of Ukrainian politics, and one by me.
Tent City Stories: Stories from the Orange Revolution, from those who took part or witnessed it.
Pics of Protest: Pictures from the Orange Revolution
Slash, Slash, Backslash: My response to some poorly thought out opinions on the Orange Revolution.
There You Go Thinking Again: A collection of the opinions addressed in Slash, Slash, Backslash.
External Links
OSCE Full Report - Full list of reports
The Central Election Committee - The official word on the elections
Pora - A youth-oriented public action group. "It's Time".
Maidan - Civil resistance organization
Committee of Voters of Ukraine - Declared non-partisan voters' rights organization
Crocodile Pictures - Of pro-Yushchenko and pro-Yanukovych protesters
Razom.org, Ua.org - Yushchenko site and mirror of the site
Channel 5 - pro-Orange TV station archive of OR reporting
Orange Revolution Fun Stuff
Razom Nas Bahato - The Orange Revolution Theme Song
The Egg Incident - The infamous egging of Yanukovych, caught on camera by Channel 5
My Interview with Air America - An interview I had with the famous American radio station. They were very nice about the interview, and I am very grateful to them for holding my hand through the process