This unaltered story [1] was originally published on OpenDemocracy.org.
License [2]: Creative Commons 4.0 - Attributions/No Derivities/Int'l.
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Ukraine: 30 years in pursuit of equality
By: []
Date: 2021-08
Tomorrow, Ukraine will celebrate 30 years of independence with pomp. The government has prepared lavish celebrations, including a parade through the centre of Kyiv, the capital. And for the past month, Ukrainian television has been broadcasting what can only be described as propaganda videos to mark the event.
But the real situation of assessing popular attitudes towards Ukraine’s independence is not as clear-cut as it might seem from the outside. In December 1991, as the Soviet Union began to disintegrate, 92% of Ukrainian citizens voted for independence in a historic referendum. Yet in December 2020, only 68% of citizens were ready to support it, according to survey data from the Razumkov Centre think tank and Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.
Indeed, the Razumkov Centre established an interesting factor in the level of popular support for independence: the worse the economic situation in Ukraine, the fewer supporters of independence to be found. According to the same data, the lowest support for independence was recorded in 2003, on the eve of the Orange Revolution – then only 46.5% of respondents were ready to vote for independence.
“Rational arguments played an important role in the campaign for independence on the eve of Ukraine’s 1991 referendum,” according to the Razumkov Centre. “The main motif of campaign materials [in 1991] was the idea that Ukraine produces much more than it consumes: to achieve a European standard of living, it would be enough for Ukraine to free itself from the networks of the Soviet Union.”
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