The сivic movement "Vidsich" () is an active Ukrainian nonviolent social movement created in 2010 as a reaction to the policies of then President of Ukraine

Victor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych (born 9 July 1950) is a Ukrainian politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014. He also served as the prime minister of Ukraine several times between 2002 and 2007 and was a member of t ...

and the "

pro-Russian Russophilia is the identification or solidarity with, appreciation of, or support for the Russia, country, Russians, people, Russian language, language, and history of Russia. One who espouses Russophilia is called a russophile. Its Opposite ...

" tendencies associated with his administration. During his administration, ''Vidsich'' focused on protesting against Yanukovych's increasing authoritarianism as well as the policies his government enacted. During

Euromaidan Euromaidan ( ; , , ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The p ...

, ''Vidsich'' became one of the movement's leading groups. As of 2022'', Vidsich'' focuses on protecting

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...

and constitutional freedoms. Since the Revolution of Dignity, the movement has also advocated for boycotts of Russian products and the promotion of Ukrainian culture. ''Vidsich'' aims to unite activists who are convinced that people cannot be neutral with regard to the political and social situation in Ukraine. ''Vidsichs aim is in creating a strong national movement which can protect the interests of

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

and Ukraine in general.

Founding

After Victor Yanukovich won the 2010 presidential elections, citizens who supported his opposition, including many who had previously taken part in protests and campaigns, decided to gather and discuss the likely changes to the social and political situation in Ukraine in light of the handover of power. This conference took place in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

on 20 February 2010. This date is considered to be the Vidsich founding date as the conference led to decisions in favour of further self-organization and activity, with participants sketching out the principles and directions for the future of the nascent movement. In attendance were participants of previous opposition movements ("Granite revolution", "

Ukraine without Kuchma "Ukraine without Kuchma" (; ''Ukrayina bez Kuchmy'', Russian: Украина без Кучмы, UBK) was a mass protest campaign that took place in Ukraine in 2000–2001, demanding the resignation of President Leonid Kuchma, and preceding the ...

" movement, civic committee "Za pravdu!" ("For truth"), civic campaigns "

Pora! Pora! (), meaning ''"It's time!"'' in Ukrainian, is a civic youth organization (Black Pora!) and political party in Ukraine ( Yellow Pora!) espousing nonviolent resistance and advocating increased national democracy. The group was established ...

" ("It's time"), etc.), and other opposition-supporting members of Ukrainian society.

Principles of the movement

Nonviolence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...

* Absence of leaders * Openness * No party affiliation /

Non-partisan Nonpartisanship, also known as nonpartisanism, is a lack of affiliation with a political party and a lack of political bias. While an ''Oxford English Dictionary'' definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., ...

Consensus decision-making Consensus decision-making is a group decision-making process in which participants work together to develop proposals for actions that achieve a broad acceptance. #Origin and meaning of term, Consensus is reached when everyone in the group '' ...

* Sacrificion *

Copyleft Copyleft is the legal technique of granting certain freedoms over copies of copyrighted works with the requirement that the same rights be preserved in derivative works. In this sense, ''freedoms'' refers to the use of the work for any purpose, ...

Actions and protest campaigns

From the March 2010, the civic movement "Vidsich" took part in hundreds of events (mostly street actions, warning strikes, sit down strikes, public hearings, round tables) in many cities of Ukraine, made either by ourselves, either in cooperation with other organizations. Examples include: * "Campaign Against Tabachnyk" / "Anti-Tobacco Campaign" (,

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: АнтиТабачная кампания) – aimed to protect Ukrainian education and science from the decisions made by the Minister of Education and Science

Dmytro Tabachnyk Dmytro Volodymyrovych Tabachnyk (, ; born November 26, 1963) is a Russian and former Ukrainian politician who served as the minister of education and science of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014.anti-Ukrainian Anti-Ukrainian sentiment (), Ukrainophobia () or anti-Ukrainianism () is animosity towards Ukrainians, Ukrainian culture, the Ukrainian language, Ukraine as a nation, or all of the above.Andriy Okara. Ukrainophobia is a gnostic problem.n18texts O ...

, chauvinistic, pro-Russian, xenophobic statements. * The campaign "No to Police State" (,

: Нет полицейскому государству) – demanded impartial investigation and worthy punishment of those, as well as an identification and prosecution of those guilty in the case of the student Ihor Indylo's death, in other cases and against police abuse. The campaign also sought to protest against Yanukovych's increasing authoritanism. * A campaign against the "2450" bill, which would significantly decrease the freedom of peaceful assembly, and for protection of the right to peaceful protest. The campaign also held solidarity actions with the 2011–2013 Russian anti-Putin protestors, and Belarusian anti-Lukashenko protestors, who aimed for the right to peaceful assembly in their countries. * The campaign "Start the work, stop the talk!" (,

: Займитесь делом, а не языком!) – which sought to prevent the new legislation "On languages in Ukraine" #1015-3, "On the principles of the state language policy" #9073 and its modifications (''main:

Legislation on languages in Ukraine Language policy in Ukraine is based on its Constitution, international treaties and on domestic legislation. According to article 10 of the Constitution, Ukrainian is the official language of Ukraine, and the state shall ensure the comprehensiv ...

''), which would have prioritised the Russian language in Ukraine over Ukrainian for the first time since 1991, instead of the two languages having previously been equal in status. Activists argued this would ignite a "language" conflict and reduce the status of the Ukrainian language in the public space and in the lives of Ukrainians. ** The campaign "Revenge for division of Ukraine" aimed at preventing the adoption of the Law "On the Principles of State Language Policy" No. 9073 and at the elimination of negative effects of the Law "On the Principles of State Language Policy" No. 5029-VI. It consisted of bringing down the poll numbers of the political parties and MPs who voted for this law and other persons who contributed to the adoption of this law. * The campaign " Against degradation of education" (,

: Против деградации образования) - sought to prevent the adoption of the Bill "On Higher Education"" (#7486-1, #9655 and else), which would have lowered the civil liberties of students, as well as reducing their social protection. ''Vidsich'' also argued the law allowed for corruption in educational facilities. ** Advocacy of

External independent testing External independent evaluation or External independent testing (EIT, external testing, ET) is the examination for admission to universities in Ukraine. Complex organizational procedures (first - testing) aim to determine the level of academic ...

(EIT) – against the adoption of draft laws No. 1187 and No. 2060а minimizing the significance and function of EIT. * The organisation of protests against the new Tax Code, which forced the government to cancel its immediate adoption (it was adopted later with revisions) as well as refuse the idea of swift embranchment of the Housing, Labour, and Pension Codes. * Calling for action against censorship and for freedom of speech, which became a particularly divisive issue during Yanukovych's presidency. In particular – against frequency lowering for channels "5" and "TVi", "STB", and for commemorating the memory of dead journalists since

Ukrainian independence Ukraine emerged as the concept of a nation, and Ukrainians as a nationality, with the Ukrainian National Revival which began in the late 18th and early 19th century. The first wave of national revival is traditionally connected with the publi ...

. * Campaign for commemoration of the famine genocide Holodomor victims of 1932–1933, promotion of rename the toponyms, which cares the names of organizers and executors of genocide. * Campaign "

Do not buy Russian goods! "Do not buy Russian goods!" () or "Boycott Russian goods!" () is a nonviolent resistance campaign to boycott Russian commerce in Ukraine. The protest started on 14 August 2013 as a reaction to a Russian trade embargo against Ukrainian goods. ...

" is a campaign to boycott Russian goods after the trade export blockade against Ukraine by Russia, started in August 2013;У соцмережах українців закликають бойкотувати російські товари
Український тиждень. 15 August 2013 later – in response to the military invasion of Russia in Ukraine, started in March 2014. ** Campaign "

Boycott Russian Films Boycott Russian Films () is a Ukrainian civic campaign that supports a boycott of Russian films and television series. It is a part of a broader boycott campaign called " Do not buy Russian goods!" started by the Ukrainian social movement Vid ...

". At the end of September 2014 the campaign on Russian cinema boycott started spreading. Particularly it is about boycott of films and serials, produced in Russia and broadcast on Ukrainian television and shown in the cinemas – first of all those, in which Russian security structures are popularized or signs of

ukrainophobia Anti-Ukrainian sentiment (), Ukrainophobia () or anti-Ukrainianism () is animosity towards Ukrainians, Ukrainian culture, the Ukrainian language, Ukraine as a nation, or all of the above.Andriy Okara. Ukrainophobia is a gnostic problem.n18texts O ...

are present. Activists also called to boycott Russian actors and directors, who supported

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

's policy concerning warfare in Ukraine in 2014. During September activists conducted several monitorings on presence of Russian content in the Ukrainian television.В Україні оголошено "Бойкот російського кіно"
Zaxid.net. 22 September 2014
Вести UA. 8 September 2014 * Participation in "

", including the organization of student strikes and campaign of boycott

Party of Regions A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

. During Euromaidan "Vidsich" in

formed a

sotnia A sotnia ( Ukrainian and , ) was a military unit and administrative division in some Slavic countries. Sotnia, deriving back to 1248, has been used in a variety of contexts in both Ukraine and Russia to this day. It is a helpful word to create ...

joined to Self-Defense of the Maidan, where received the 16th number. * Events organized for raising funds, gathering of products, equipment etc. for Ukrainian military forces (particularly – for 95th OAMBr) that are fighting in the east of Ukraine. Also – demand actions for: returning control of eastern Ukraine and Crimea; setting requirements to the Ukrainian government to provide all necessary items and services for Ukrainian military forces; * "Stop "Ze" Revanch" campaign against

Volodymyr Zelensky Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...

, the candidate on

2019 Ukrainian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Ukraine on 31 March 2019. As none of the 39 candidates on the ballot received an absolute majority of the initial vote, a runoff was held on 21 April between the top two vote-getters: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a t ...

. Consisted mainly of mass spreading of leaflets, stickers and other materials with information criticising the candidate. * "Red Lines" campaign. Activists drew some "

red lines ''Red Lines'' is a documentary film produced by Spark Media in 2014. It depicts the ongoing civil war in Syria and the efforts of activists Mouaz Moustafa and Razan Shalab-al-Sham to raise international support for the revolution and to promote d ...

" for the new Ukrainian government (in particular for president, Parliament and executive branch) which it should not cross. In case the government do cross those lines, activists promise it will face an immediate resistance and protests from the civil society. Those "red" lines are divided into six topics:

Ukrainization Ukrainization or Ukrainisation ( ) is a policy or practice of increasing the usage and facilitating the development of the Ukrainian language and promoting other elements of Ukrainian culture in various spheres of public life such as education, ...

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

integration,

decommunization Decommunization in former communist states is the process of purging former communist high officials and eliminating communist symbols. It is sometimes referred to as political cleansing. Although the term has been occasionally used during t ...

Armed Forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a ...

, relations with Russia, territorial structure and integrity. Any steps to revert or sabotage Ukrainization, European-Atlantic integration, decommunization or reforms in Armed Forces, to restore good relations with Russia, to rearrange territorial structure or to violate territorial integrity will be considered as crossing the red lines. The campaign started with a performance near the building of the

Office of the President of Ukraine The Office of the President of Ukraine (, ), formerly the ''Administration of the President of Ukraine'' ( ), is a standing advisory body set up by the President of Ukraine pursuant to clause 28, Article 106 of the Constitution of Ukraine. The ...

on 4 July 2019. From that moment activists are reporting about their spreading of leaflets about red lines,Vidsich in Facebook
7 July 2019Vidsich in Facebook
8 July 2019Vidsich in Facebook
9 July 2019 and also about spreading leaflets against the TV presenter and, at the moment,

parliamentary candidate In British politics, a prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) is a candidate selected by political parties to contest under individual Westminster constituencies in advance of a general election. The term originally came into use because of t ...

in electoral district 94 from the party

Servant of the People Servant of the People (; ''SN'') is a Liberalism, liberal, Centrism, centrist, Pro-Europeanism, pro-European List of political parties in Ukraine, political party in Ukraine. Since both the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election and the 2019 Ukra ...

Oleksandr Dubinsky, who was claimed by activists to have crossed the red lines long ago.Vidsich in Facebook
8 July 2019 Later, Vidsich also started spreading leaflets against other parliamentary candidates, who in their opinion have crossed the red lines: Maksim Lutsky, candidate in electoral district 222 from Opposition Platform – For Life;Vidsich in Facebook
17 July 2019 Vitaly Zhuravsky, self-nominated candidate from electoral district 66;idsich in Facebook
(videostream), 18 July 2019Vidsich in Facebook
19 July 2019

Serhiy Leshchenko Serhiy Leshchenko (, 30 August, 1980) is a Ukrainian ex-journalist, politician and public figure, Member of Parliament ( 8th Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada). From 2002 until 2014, Leshchenko worked as a Deputy Editor-in-Chief and as a special cor ...

, self-nominated candidate from electoral district 220Vidsich in Facebook
19 July 2019Vidsich in Facebook
18 July 2019Vidsich in Facebook
19 July 2019 and Opposition Platform – For Life in general.Vidsich in Facebook
23 July 2019 Also, CM "Vidsich" was an organizer or a participant in actions: of solidarity actions with Gorky park defenders; against Black Sea fleet of Russian Federation being on Ukraine's territory; for defending Ukrainian translations of the foreign movies; against persecution of historians and history rewriting; for promotions of state symbols; "Easter together" (students of the south and east of Ukraine staying in the families of their age-mates in the city of

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

); Against museum throw-away from

Lavra A lavra or laura (; Cyrillic: Ла́вра) is a type of monastery consisting of a cluster of cells or caves for hermits, with a church and sometimes a refectory at the center. Lavra monasteries operate within the Orthodox and other Eastern Chri ...

; "Ukrainian broadcast – on air!"; against the

Mazepa Ivan Stepanovych Mazepa (; ; ) was the Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host and the Left-bank Ukraine in 1687–1708. The historical events of Mazepa's life have inspired many literary, artistic and musical works. He was famous as a patron of the a ...

street renaming; in memory of 66 anniversary of the Crimean Tatars deportation; "Ruined

Khreshchatyk Khreshchatyk (, ) is the main street of Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine. The street is long, and runs in a northeast-southwest direction from European Square (Kyiv), European Square through the Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Maidan to Bessarabska Sq ...

– we remember!"; "Doughnuts for

Donetsk region Donetsk Oblast, also referred to as Donechchyna (, ), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast in eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 million residents. Its capital city, administrative centre is Donetsk, though d ...

people" (); collection of signatures for restoration of traffic of some suburban trains, and actions against the made-up ticket deficit in cash desks of Ukrzaliznytsya (Ukrainian railroads); students "arms" demonstration; creative action of protest against "tour" bill #8757 and other activities.

Notable activists

Mykhaylo Svystovych Mykhaylo Bohdanovych Svystovych (; born December 11, 1968) is a Ukrainian social activist and member of "Vidsich" civil movement, editor of "Maidan" magazine and economist. Biography Mykhaylo Svystovych was born in Pervomaisk in Mykolaiv Obla ...

* Kateryna Chepura * Yulia Mykytenko

References

External links

Official site of movement "Vidsich"
(Ukrainian).
Facebook profileFacebook groupTwitter threadLiveJournalYouTube channelPhoto gallery on BBC

Russia, hands off Ukraine
Official group of campaign "Do not buy Russian!" on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...