How Ukrainians see the Ukraine crisis

I recently noticed that Wired held their 2014 conference with a speaker from the Ukraine.

The speaker was Yulia Marushevska, a young lady from the Ukraine with no special attributes ... apart from making a film about being Ukrainian during the November 2013 through February 2014 Maidan Square protests that went completely mad on the viral network.

That video aired on February 10th, just before the end of the protests at the end of that month when pro-Russian President President Yanukovych disappeared along with most of his cronies. 

Here is that video:

And here is Yulia speaking at the Wired conference.  It's worth a look ...

Finally, if you don't want to send 13 minutes watching a video, spend a few minutes reading what she  has to say.  Here is her speech highlights from the Wired write up online:

Yulia Marushevska on fighting for Ukraine's freedom and going viral 

“We are civilised people, but our government are barbarians… That is why I ask you now to help us,” says Yulia Marushevska, speaking into the camera. She is shivering so much from the bitter cold of the Kiev winter that she is struggling to talk.

Within a matter of days though, the video that Marushevska had made and uploaded to YouTube had gone viral and she was taking calls around the clock from international media outlets. “I didn’t sleep -- I didn’t have any time for anything because people were being killed. I understood that my small contribution would be to tell their story,” says Marushevska, speaking on stage at WIRED2014 in London.

“I believe that only crazy ideas can influence the world and make our life meaningful. A very crazy thing happened in Ukraine this winter,” she says. She recounts the story of how millions of people took to the streets in the hope that they would be able to “lead lives without corruption to have a true and honest government”. It all started with 400 students who disagreed with the country’s president, who decided to favour Russia over Europe both “economically and mentally”. They took to the streets in order to conduct peaceful protests, but they were beaten by the riot police.

As a result, explains Marushevska “millions of us went to the street and spent months in the winter staying there. Me, my family my dad and my mum were part of this protest. My mum went to this protest everyday after work and she helped people.”

“We were a part of a big movement and each one of us were equal -- it was kind of a big social network. It didn’t matter if you were a student or a millionaire,” she says. “The small thing i did was this video.” From student to spokesperson, Marushevska then went on to speak to more than a hundred heads of state. “I was trying to share our message as fast as possible.”

When she looks at Ukraine now, she says that what she sees is a country that has shown that values matter and that sacrifices matter too. “Today we are standing against one more challenge,” she reminds the audience. “Our former friend and neighbour attacked us, sent their troops into our territory, occupied our lands and started an undeclared war.”

It’s hard to predict what will happen next, she says, only that she believe that the spirit of values will help Ukrainians rebuild their country. “Today we are the country which spreads values. Tomorrow we will be the country based on education and technology. I am sure all of you people with crazy ideas will find something special in Ukraine. I know that war will end one day, and Ukrainians, these naive dreamers, will create the country of their dreams. And we will never forget how it all began.”