David Bellamy asks how I see Ukraine’s economic future. Unfortunately, to me it looks quite grim. Today’s massive protests in Ukraine are very similar to what we saw during the Orange Revolution of 8 years ago.
In 2005, Ukrainians managed to overturn the results of the rigged elections and place a democratically elected president in office. Sadly, that victory did not lead to any change in how everybody lived. This is why I see no reason to hope that this time protests will lead to any real transformation.
As much as it pains me to recognize this, today’s protests – as well as those of the past – share a single goal. Ukrainians are looking for a magician (or a group of them) to make everything better. Today’s conflict in Ukraine is over who those magicians will be: Russia or the EU.
However, even if either of these entities had only Ukraine’s best interests in mind (which they don’t), their actions will never be enough to repair a country where people are not reading to abandon stealing, bribery and corruption in favor of working, producing, and paying taxes.
I can’t blame Ukrainians for this state of affairs. For centuries, every effort was made to quash the spirit of self-sufficiency and entrepreneurship in our people. It is ridiculous to expect the results of colonial domination to evaporate after formal political independence is achieved. If for hundreds of years people are told they can’t survive without an external agency that manages their lives, they will interiorize that belief.
I don’t know how long it will take to shed the colonial legacy. But 22 years are obviously not enough.
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