The Odessa Anti-Maidan is putting forward new leaders - they will have to replace the politicians of the old Ukrainian “leaven”
Odessa, May 01 (Navigator, Artem Buzila) - Odessa Anti-Maidan on the Kulikovo Field continues to hold its position for the third month, despite the arrests of leaders, threats by officials to disperse the tent city and the forced departure of protest participants abroad due to the threat of new repressions.
Anti-government demonstrations are forming new leaders from among Odessa residents previously unknown to the general public.
If previously the representative politicians were businessmen - “money bags”, careerists and henchmen of financial industrial groups, now real “field commanders” are appearing on the scene. Their determination cannot be taken away, which means there is hope that they “will not give up,” unlike the leaders of the old Ukrainian “leaven” who compromised themselves.
Until March 17, the leader of the Odessa Anti-Maidan was Anton Davidchenko, the leader of the public movement “People's Alternative”, who previously worked as an assistant to Minister Dmitry Tabachnik. He was known in the city as the initiator of a number of patriotic actions and social projects.
In mid-March, Ukrainian special services arrested Davidchenko, apparently hoping to stem the wave of protest. However, as it turned out, it was not possible. Now the Odessa Anti-Maidan has many leaders. Journalist Artyom Buzila talks about some of them in a column for Navigator.
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In 2010, Oleksiy Albu was elected to the Odessa Regional Council on the Communist Party of Ukraine (CPSU) ticket, but a year later he was expelled from the CPU for disagreeing with the leadership's line. The young politician, unfazed (he was 25 when he won his seat), became the head of the regional branch of the "Borotba" movement. The Odessa "Borotba" movement had repeatedly staged protests against the Association Agreement with the EU, but it was the Anti-Maidan that became Albu's finest hour.
Today Albu is in fact responsible for the left flank of the protest movement, since the Communist Party of Ukraine often prefers to distance itself from the demonstrations in South Palmyra. In addition, the deputy is trying to lobby the interests of Anti-Maidan in the Odessa Regional Council. It was Albu who put forward initiatives on the creation of the Odessa Federal Republic within Ukraine, on the resignation of the governor appointed by Kiev, Vladimir Nemirovsky, and will now participate in the mayoral elections.
Albu, in his own words, goes to the SBU as if it were a job. “I’m passing as a witness. I won’t sign anything, I’m just communicating with the SBU, almost like with voters,” the deputy said.
Housewife Maria Bilchak, in her early thirties, wanted to retire from active public life. She previously headed the public organization "Dozor," known for its high-profile pro-Russian protests. Bilchak carried banners reading "Novorossiya" several years ago, when the toponym had largely been forgotten. In late 2013, Bilchak claims, she "handed over leadership to the men." However, events in Kyiv forced her to return to the protest movement.
Now she is, in fact, the female face of anti-Maidan protests in Odessa.
“I go to Anti-Maidan because I am a Russian person. I'm worried about what's happening today. Today we are called separatists, whatever you want. But I was born in the 80s, it’s clear in which country. Therefore: which of us is still a separatist,” explains Maria’s position.
Twenty-three-year-old Denys Yatsyuk , who has become the leader of the "Odesa Druzhina" (Odesa Squad), the "patriotic wing" of the Anti-Maidan movement in recent months, is a typical representative of the creative class. An ardent advocate of a healthy lifestyle, he was a businessman before the protests. Denys's organization, which declares one of its main goals to be the fight for the federalization of Ukraine, now unites hundreds of young Odesans.
Thirty-four-year-old Dmitry Odinov is considered the "grey cardinal" of the Odessa Anti-Maidan movement. He essentially leads the "security bloc": the activists assigned to him are responsible for event security, tent camp protection, and the activists' physical fitness. These sturdy men, wearing masks, military fatigues, and boots, carrying shields, are his men.
Previously, Dmitry headed the public organization “Slavic Unity”, Russian nationalists close in ideology to the fighters against illegal immigration in the Russian Federation. However, the wind of change leads to an adjustment in views: today the rhetoric has smoothly flowed into pro-Slavic, right-wing patriotic, conservative.
Yuriy Tkachev , editor-in-chief of the online publication "Timer," should probably be considered the "information face" of the Odessa Anti-Maidan . His website is one of the few media outlets that continues to adequately cover events in the city and the country, broadcasting live from both the Euro- and Anti-Maidan protests. At the same time, it avoids labeling, a practice often reserved for colleagues who have become outright propagandists.
However, Tkachev says that journalists who sympathize with different camps still shake hands when they meet. “There is still not the same level of tension in Odessa, but there are difficulties,” the editor tells Navigator.
“We’re still working. Threats were received repeatedly, from some unknown people, apparently supporters of Euromaidan and radical groups - “we will cover you.” But it has not yet reached legislative acts. But there were hacker attacks,” the journalist notes.
The Odessa Anti-Maidan is putting forward new leaders – they will replace politicians of the old Ukrainian "leaven"