{"id":309166,"date":"2025-08-01T11:57:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T11:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/309166\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T11:57:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T11:57:17","slug":"behind-the-scenes-of-ukraines-cardboard-revolution-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/309166\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the scenes of Ukraine\u2019s \u2018cardboard revolution\u2019 \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been complaining for a long time that the motivation to fight has disappeared somewhere. But I want to thank Mr. President, if it weren\u2019t for the shit that these idiots decided to arrange, I wouldn\u2019t have seen what kind of great children have grown up in Ukraine. They\u2019re worth fighting for. They\u2019ve raised motivation,\u201d said Ukrainian soldier Oleksii Tsymbaliuk.<\/p>\n<p>Ukraine has a rich protest culture. Taking to the streets to hold politicians accountable has become a key feature of its democracy since the 1990 Revolution on Granite that preceded independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the 2004 Orange Revolution, and the 2014 Maidan Revolution.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_3395-1-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6989223\"  \/>A 21-year-old protester holds a sign with a quote, \u201cAll animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,\u201d from George Orwell\u2019s satirical novel \u201cAnimal Farm,\u201d highlighting the corruption of power. | Veronika Melkozerova\/POLITICO<\/p>\n<p>Now, Ukraine has its so-called cardboard revolution, driven by youth who grew up in a country already on the path to EU integration, while immersed in TikTok, Ukrainian and Western pop culture and literature. POLITICO documented some of the most creative (and profane) signs that dominated the last week of protests that ultimately cowed Zelenskyy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is indeed a very creative and well-read protest. It is within the tradition of Ukrainian revolutions. For example, the Orange Revolution of 2004 was also very theatrical in itself, but the protesters there were playing with color, not quotes,\u201d said Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, director general of the National Cultural, Art and Museum Complex \u201cMystetskyi Arsenal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_3415-1-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6989235\"  \/>A protester shows a sign reading \u201cConscience that disappeared without a trace,\u201d hinting that the MPs and the government who voted for the disputed bill should start looking for their conscience. | Veronika Melkozerova\/POLITICO<\/p>\n<p>Before every rally in the current protest wave, young protesters came up with new messages to send to the government. \u201cFrom a quote of Ukrainian modern poet Serhii Zhadan, \u2018Why the fuck do I need a system that works against me?\u2019 to the words of Vasyl Stus, Ukrainian decedent poet from the 1960s, who once said \u2018Those who are against dictatorship, rise!\u2019\u201d Ostrovska-Liuta added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis protest has more self-confidence and self-expression, as well as an aspect of virality. Someone\u2019s creative cardboard sign gets recreated multiple times,\u201d Ostrovska-Liuta said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019ve been complaining for a long time that the motivation to fight has disappeared somewhere. But I want&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[2575,2000,299,657,19655,2601,335],"class_list":{"0":"post-309166","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-corruption","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-ukraine","12":"tag-ukrainian-politics","13":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","14":"tag-war-in-ukraine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114953391004767887","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}