The War for Democracy: a New America in the Heart of Europe
Oleh Saakian, political analyst, co-founder of the National Platform of Resilience and Cohesion (Ukraine)
Thirty-one years since gaining independence, the fledgling Ukrainian democracy is fighting for survival. Russia’s brutal assault is not the first that Ukraine has faced from this enemy. It has happened multiple times throughout Ukraine’s history. On each occasion, Ukrainians chose to fight for democracy and freedoms and took steps to protect their country, frequently suffering greatly as a consequence. This time is no different. More than ever, Ukraine needs long-term support from the West to help it defeat the aggressor — an aggressor that the West helped empower.
As was the case with the United States in XX, the assault on Ukraine strikes at the core right of states to preserve their sovereign independence. Yet, unlike many times in Ukraine’s history, this time, Ukrainians are fighting back armed with modern weapons, standing up to a formidable and brutal aggressor that knows no limits regarding brutality. Indeed, not a single country has managed to confront and withstand an onslaught from the most powerful state that emerged from the ruins of the Soviet Union.
A Battle for Values
This is not another regional war. It is a battle for values that the West seems to have gradually forgotten. Having established robust and well-defined democratic procedures and strong governance institutions, the West pushed the snooze button. It frequently turned a blind eye to the authoritarian and revisionist monster lurking in the heart of Europe and fed it.
Busy boosting economic and trade ties with the Kremlin, for years, the West failed to notice, or perhaps chose to ignore, the increasingly toxic narratives being spread by the Kremlin dissing democracy, freedoms and human rights. Hiding behind a bogus democratic system, Russia’s leadership and governance remained quintessential imperial. Ultimately tyrannical in nature, it defies democratic norms and disregards even the most basic human rights. Moreover, the Kremlin’s leaders have derived pleasure from their authoritarian antics. . However repressive his regime, President Putin was tolerated by the West until 24 February 2022 — the day he invaded Ukraine.
For Ukrainian democracy, freedom is sacrosanct. Having repeatedly suffered at the hands of Russia and its predecessors, Ukraine is ready to die for its independence and values. The country has become a bulwark against Russia’s totalitarian and expansionist plans for the entire free world.
Today Ukraine is a guardian warrior of the values that the West’s citizens were brought up with and take for granted. While Ukraine has not pulled its sword from its scabbard for a long time, by putting up resistance, the country has made an important choice — one which h no other European people has ever dared make in modern history.
Following the US
This may well be seen as our civilizational choice. Just like the United States years ago, Ukraine is defining democratic values while fighting for its independence, just like Americans did many years back.
To be a Ukrainian, just like an American, is a choice. On their path to freedom, both Americans and Ukrainians have faced fierce resistance mounted by empires that regard freedom and democracy as a threat to their dominance and expansion.
In one of his last letters, prominent American political figure, one of the co-authors of the United States Declaration of Independence, wrote:
May it [American independence] be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion
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Letters of Thomas Jefferson. Letter to Roger C. Weightman on the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, 24 June1826. This was Jefferson’s last letter).
These were Jefferson’s prophetic words. Looking back at history, we can say with confidence that throughout centuries Ukraine has remained true to democratic values.. The periods in history when Ukraine lost its statehood were often a forced sacrifice needed for the rise of empires and monarchies.
Ukraine has often collapsed under the pressure of empires to preserve its internal democratic nature. We, Ukrainians, have always cherished our selflessness and have never respected or accepted the ‘rules of the game ‘imposed on us by others. At times, we have fought while adjusting to circumstances. Take the example of Ukraine’s famous hetman, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, a nobleman of Ukrainian origin from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1648 he almost certainly did not have a vision of an independent Ukrainian state. However, following a string of victories and the creation of a young Cossack Hetmanate in 1654, he recognized the primacy of the Tsardom of Moscow. This paved the way for a new stage in the process of losing statehood and conceding territories.
Ukrainians were reluctant to pay tribute to nomads. Nor were they willing to become slaves or serfs of the newly formed monarchies of the Middle Ages by taking refuge in the Zaporizhian Sich. While being part of the Tsardom of Moscow, they elected hetmans and even created a prototype of their own Constitution (The Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk’ from 1710). In terms of the community (which was not governed by the central governing body of the Sich) Ukrainians were always a cohesive people. In the spring and summer, they would fight against their enemies, whereas in the fall and winter, they would maintain our households. Ukrainians sought to remain a democratic community by being true to themselves.
Totalitarian regimes have endeavored to suppress this Ukrainian phenomenon of a love of freedom and solidarity. However, they have repeatedly failed to defeat the democratic spirit of Ukrainians. Only by resorting to genocide (the Great Famine or Holodomor of 1932–1933) did the Soviets succeed in partially erasing ‘the genetic memory of the Ukrainian nation. However, this did not last for long.
While Ukrainians have repeatedly faced Russian onslaughts, they carried on with unwavering determination, courage and pluck thanks to two important attributes that are integral to the Ukrainian people: a powerful network of cooperation (which manifests itself in decentralization processes and strong links between communities) and an unyielding spirit of freedom. Thus, having preserved our democratic essence and having obtained our own state after centuries of wandering, we cannot lose the opportunity to build it guided by our hearts. For Ukraine and Ukrainians, this war is existential in nature, just as the 1775–1783 War of Independence was for Americans.
We will not give up on democracy. Concessions to Russia are out of the question, as this would mean having to sacrifice our freedom while allowing our enemy to accumulate resources for further invasions.
For this reason, support for Ukraine is more crucial than ever. Ukrainians feel the support Americans provide because their ancestors have been where we are today. They can fully relate to our mission and existential goal.
The sincerity of the support provided to Ukraine to allow it to fight for its freedom is a test for the world. The time has come to choose sides of history. The extent to which the civilized world is committed to democratic values and is ready to fight for them is now being decided in the heart of Europe, in a free, independent and unconquerable Ukraine.
