Opinion: Ukraine: Oligarchs – forever!

Chocolate oligarch Petro Poroshenko (pictured) is leading in the polls as the future Ukrainian president. Maidan Square protests have been harnessed and diverted towards the future reign of the ‘citizen king’, reminiscent of the crowning of the banker Louis Philippe I during the French Revolution. With some deviations, of course, as Poroshenko should not be threatened by the perspective of the Restoration – as the ousted president Viktor Yanukovych is too fragile a political figure to articulate any claims.

Unlike during previous Ukrainian elections, there is no competition between presidential campaign rivals –Poroshenko and Yulia Tymoshenko have been allies and long-standing friends during the years on the Ukrainian political Olympus. According to polls, the Ukrainians tend to support ‘Choco King’, as Tymosheynko is largely seen as a figure from the past.

Among the crucial factors for Poroshenko is his promise to restore the relationship with Russians "in three months", showing an intention to become a compromise player between two competing external powers, Russia and the West. But in spite of close business relations with Russia, which has the lion’s share of his chocolate consumption, Poroshenko remains a pro-western candidate with his liberal views and business experience opening horizons for the integration of Ukraine into the West, following in the footsteps of President Yushenko. The candidacy of Poroshenko might appear to be a solution, but not among the citizens of the South and East - the rioting coal-miners do not believe in the next ‘new’ oligarch’s reign as being a panacea.

It is part of the mythology to consider that the protests in the south-east were staged by the Kremlin and could be played down with a magic wand from a certain Mister Putin. The political debate in the West is lost in a labyrinth of myth, where the demonizing of Putin has become a strategy, a universal answer to make ends meet. The realities on the ground are harsh and unpleasant. Even if Russians, under the pressure of a threat of further economic restrictive measures, are forced to accept the results of the upcoming Ukrainian elections, it might not change the minds of the workers in Donetsk and Luhansk.

They are not easy to handle – they have no accounts in western banks, they do not dream of going to the Cote d’Azur on vacation. They have "nothing to lose but their chains". The scenes of the huge ‘Anti-Terrorist Operation’ (ATO) launched by Kiev to suppress the political and social protests in the industrial areas of Ukraine showed the squalor of regular citizens’ lives. The cheap houses appeared to be dumps, built in the era of Nikita Khrushchev.

Meanwhile, the internet is exploding with pictures of the palaces of the modern Ukrainain nababs – Rinat Achmedov and Ihor Kolomoyskyi, both living on businesses in the south-east. The social protest broke out as a result of political turmoil that was too powerful for sweet promises from the ‘Choco King’ to reverse, directing the coal-miners back to their underground shafts.

The ‘ATO’ raised the ire of the working class in the East – their concerns were answered by shelling by troops equipped with their taxpayers' money. While the dead will be lamented during a short pause at the election weekend, there is no hope for the restoration of confidence among workers in Kiev.

Ignored by western media, but very sound at home, the declaration of Denis Pushilin – the leader of the Donetsk People's Republic – for the nationalization of all enterprises is seen by workers as a real step towards progress and social justice. On social media, the measure is being praised for putting an end to the oligarch’s emporium – one can’t rule today in the way that Louis Philippe I did – the models of harmonious societies are too well known to allow the working class to fall into the oligarch’s trap, even if it is filled with chocolate.

The industrial south-east had their own anti-oligarch revolution, and Baroness Ashton has no powers to push them to continue to enrich the privileged. However, it is obvious that with her huge income, she associates herself more easily with the Ukrainian oligarchs than the coal-miners.

The so-called presidential elections to crown the ‘Choco King’ as president will have limited effects on the future of the country. After the shock of the ATO, the inhabitants of the south-east are wounded and traumatized beyond repair. Eight million impoverished citizens have been labelled as terrorists, humiliated in misery, doomed to live in squalor and now executed for daring to raise their voices in justified protest. Ukraine is far from being fixed by the ascendance of the 'Choco King'.

The real problem remains unsolved – the groups of oligarchs are passing one after the other, but dramatic social inequality remains. Until this situation is repaired, it will fuel anger and instability, leaving the country torn apart between classes, ethnicities, and interest groups at home and abroad.

Oligarch Petro Poroshenko, or the ‘Choco King’, has all the chances to repeat the fate of Louis Philippe I – to abdicate, ending his own reign with the next ‘anti-corruption’ revolution. The devotion to his own social group does not leave any hope for stabilizing the current crisis. Revolting against oligarchies and corruption, the population of Ukraine will be caught between revolutions. The oligarchies are creating a permanent crisis, there is no end in sight for the troubles of Ukraine.

Share this article: