Revolution for Dummies. On air in Ukraine.

This series of articles is aimed to offer an alternative analysis of the 2014 ‘Maidan’ revolution in Ukraine. We’ll look through technologies of revolution making in a particular country and analyze roles of geopolitical stakeholders of the Maidan revolution.

Episode one: Peaceful Start

Have you heard about Gene Sharp? His 198 steps for ‘peaceful revolution’ were implemented in Thailand, Tibet, Serbia, during the split of Soviet Union, Egypt, Syria and now Ukraine… According to Sharp, revolution must start peacefully. Demonstrators should sing songs, wear white ribbons, spread flowers. This way protesters gain sympathy among neutral people, especially while media shows armed police standing against peaceful demonstrators. At this stage opposition needs to draw as much demonstrators to streets as possible.

Yet it is very hard to gather a mob around some idea, but a wad of cash and a basket of cookies change the mood instantaneously.

We’ll add videos and illustrations to this article to give insight into our point of view and give the you a break from the text (alas not a pleasant break, in most of cases). When videos are in Russian / Ukrainian, we’ll provide comments below.

A youngster openly says, that he is taking part in Maidan protest for money, as does everybody else.

We are unsure what were the rates for protesters. Various internet sources mention a broad negotiation corridor (depending on candidate’s motivation, experience, status and degree of commitment).

Sender of this SMS offers 105 Hryvnia — just 8 Euros for standing 5 hours on Maidan in wintertime. Not much, right? But Ukraine is a poor country (despite it’s resources), so 2.5% of the average salary (306 EUR) on a Sunday morning could be appealing to the masses.

Keeping several thousand people on the streets is indeed a costly effort.

Hot food for thousands of protesters delivered and cooked.

Bio Toilets brought to the square and serviced.

Stage, equipment, flags are other expenditure items.

Some experts say that Maidan costs about 2$ million daily. We are not implying that no ‘idealistic’ people went to the Maidan. But one has to understand that without huge cashflow, Maidan wouldn’t be possible. If you believe, that these amounts of money had been collected as charity from students and regular people, then naïve is a right word for you. Let’s not forget: 306 EUR is the average salary in Ukraine. We think, that after Maidan it will be even less.

Bearing in mind the astronomical daily costs, we ask: who’ll pay the bill for Maidan? No surprise here.

Since Ukraine’s independence in 1991, the United States has supported Ukrainians as they build democratic skills and institutions, as they promote civic participation and good governance, all of which are preconditions for Ukraine to achieve its European aspirations. We’ve invested over $5 billion to assist Ukraine in these and other goals that will ensure a secure and prosperous and democratic Ukraine. Victoria Nuland. Assistant Secretary, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. Washington, DC

US geopolitical interests in Ukraine are subject for broad discussion. But at this point we just want to stress that there is clear evidence that the Maidan revolution was supported financially and morally from the Western funds and political leaders.

In the next article we’ll focus on the second stage of Maidan revolution − violent riots.

P.S.

John McCain holds a speech in front of Maidan. Imagine if Lavrov was delivering propaganda among the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ crowd.