hillpark library's List: Law - Civil Disobedience - orange revolution

• ON DECEMBER 3rd 2004 jubilant crowds
• They cried and they danced--and the world was gripped by the sight of a sleepy Ukrainian people waking up to defend their freedom.
• Everything will change in Ukraine from today. We were independent for 14 years but we were not free…We should roll up our sleeves and work honestly from morning till night for this country."
• He promised that bandits would go to jail, honest types would replace corrupt officials and judges would no longer take bribes--and that in five years' time Ukrainians would be proud of their achievements
• Ukraine's under-reformed economy teeters on the edge of national bankruptcy, the rule of law is elusive, courts remain corrupt and the parliament resembles a trading platform for business tycoons in which deals are made and seats bought and sold. In April 2005 some 53% of Ukrainians said their country was on the right track. Now 81% believe it is heading in the wrong direction. Ukraine lies 17th from bottom in the latest global index of economic freedom, below Russia and Belarus.
• Ukraine is as divided as ever,
• That an unpopular incumbent can be peacefully removed is an achievement of the orange revolution. Yet Ukraine's free (and frequent) elections are providing neither good governance nor stability, which may explain the voters' gloomy mood.
• But the orange camp's failure to honour its promises has been breathtaking
• "He could have made any reforms: we would have supported him. But he wasted an opportunity," laments a truck driver in western Ukraine.

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