Duzhe d'akuyu for the english translation and footnotes! My husband and I are learning Ukrainian and had a hard time exactly figuring out the lyrics - I love the song and have it memorized. Often during the day I yell out the lyrics and my husband responds with the tak or ni!
Our prayers and thoughts are with the people!

Dan,

thanks to your site, this song was featured on the public radio program The World today (Nov. 30).

http://www.theworld.org/globalhits/index.shtml

how do I know it's because of your site? Because I downloaded it here and sent it to them!

(if this link doesn't take you to the story, it's because it's been archived with the Nov. 30 show--just go to www.theworld.org, click on that show, and go to "Global Hit" at the end of the program).

Razom nas bahato!

Btw, the term "goat" is one of the more offensive swear terms a person can be called here. . .

Julia! I just listened to The World piece. Cool!

PROTESTERS MARCH ON VERHOVNA RADA (Parliament)

This morning at around 9am, opposition protesters began departing Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti). The early morning crowd had been enlarged, in part, by a speech last night in which protesters were warned not to get lazy and allow their numbers to diminish. The moving wall of people immediately brought traffic to a stand still as it proceeded down Khreshchatyk Street. On the way, I saw an old woman carrying a shopping bag and wearing a bit of orange ribbon, standing defiantly in front of a line of cars so that they wouldn't hinder the crowd.

The crowd turned at the end of Khreshchatyk Street, and continued up Hrushevskogo Street. Looking backward, I could see that the tail of the procession was being added to continuously. The additional marchers came from Maidan as well as from a steady stream of people coming out of the Metro.

As we proceeded up Hrushevskogo, we passed by a large line of protesters assembled at the top of a long hill running parallel to the street. Among them were about thirty drummers using steel drums to beat out their encouragement to the crowd.

Finally, the march brought me to the Verhovna Rada Ukrayiny (Supreme Council of Ukraine or Parliament). Many people stopped, creating a huge crowd while many people split off in different directions. Most notable, beside the size of the crowd, was the line of fifty or so protesters forming a long line to separate the standing crowd from the moving crowd. They wore green camouflaged uniforms with orange armbands. They were big, friendly and effective. This was my first sighting of real opposition muscle, besides the security guards at the camp on Khreshchatyk Street.

The police on duty appeared unarmed. Many were chatting with the crowd and there wasn't a lot of tension between the crowd and the police. A spectacular display was made by a group of about four hundred protesters who marched into the area from the opposite direction. They were wearing identical fluorescent orange construction hats and bright orange plastic ponchos.

The crowd received a great reward for braving the freezing weather. The Rada voted to sack the government of Yanukovych, thereby further weakening his bid for the Presidency of Ukraine. This also raises the possibility of another candidate stepping into his shoes in the event of a revote.

NO SUPPORT EVIDENT FOR YANUKOVYCH IN DARNYTSA AND OBOLON TODAY

As I was out and about today I tried an experiment. I counted how many people that I walked past where showing obvious support for either Yanukovich or Yushchenko. I was also in the center of Kiev, but I didn't count in the center or on the metro because of the concentration of protesters. I didn't count everyone, just people I could see clearly from head to foot.

The Darnytsia district, where I went to the children's market to buy a present for my daughter, is located five metro stops from Maidan (about 5.5 kilometers). It is on the east side of the Dnipro River. There were Yushchenko posters or ribbons in evidence in almost every store window in the children's market.

The Obolon district is located six metro stops north of the center (about 6 kilometers.) It is on the west side of the Dnipro River.

Here are my unscientific counts:

.......................Darnytsia........Obolon

Total People.............. .232...............183
Yanukovich Supporters.......0.................0
Yushchenko Supporters......33................35
%..................... ......14%...............19%
Or about............. .....1 in 6............1 in 5

Did you notice anything about these results? I knew you would! Not a single person that was displaying any kind of support for Yanukovich. And by the way, after the first twenty people I started looking extra hard for Yanukovich supporters, after fifty I looked even harder.

Before I did this I would have guessed "1 in 10" to "1 in 15" for Yushchenko.
Maybe I'll try this again later. I'd be interested if anyone else can try this and see what they come up with. Please post a comment or email me.

I don't know how to conclude this post. I guess the numbers speak for themselves.

Reminds me of Weird Al. Good stuff!

http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=587508

raulkyyiv,

I haven't done systematic counting, but I must say, I exchange smiles a lot more frequently with strangers these days. Before I was self-conscious for "smiling too much." Now, anyone I see with orange, I'm quick to give a smile--and get a smile in return. The general atmosphere in Kyiv has changed so much. I know it's been said so many times, but this is not an angry revolution--the people are happy and hopeful.

"Razom Nas Bahato" is not the style of music I usually approve, but I enjoy it somehow! Thanks for making it available! :-)

Hey I just downloaded this and it is MOST EXCELLENT! THANK YOU!

The brave people of kiev give us all hope. The world is watching and most of us are with you. Together you cannot be defeated.

I really think that the West has no business meddling in a country's elections. Personally I think both candidates shown (Yanukovich or Yuschenko) are two sides of the same medal. And actually, the song that really would tell the situation in Ukraine now is this one: http://www.phonono.com/tounes/anarchy.mp3

First to deal with poster Xoxol. I've deleted his "crush Yushchenko supporters under tanks" bit, because I don't want him to get clickthrough from us here. It's rather futile to say enough of this trollishness, because if you're actually reading the site, you're not part of his lot. So assurances that I'll clean up whenever I manage to find trolls.

Phonono: apologies for any implied association you might feel that I'm responding to your argument right after the troll. Like I said, you're allowed to disagree with me, even though, in this case, you're wrong. :)

I'm going to steal a quote from www.postmodernclog.com postings here, when I say... shoot I'm going to quote the whole passage and damn the torpedos:

"The blockading of buildings and the like by the Opposition likely seems discrediting to some. And it's everyone's right to criticize. They just need to hold on to their intellectual integrity by delegitimizing the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-war movement, the nuclear freeze movement, the environmental movement, the Labor movement, Solidarity, and pretty much every progressive or pro-democracy movement in history (and don't forget Gandhi for good measure!)

The difference between the Ukrainian democracy movement and most of the rest of these is that even with a million people on the streets in Kiev, there hasn't been rioting, rock pelting, overturned cars, broken windows or Molotov cocktails. That's especially significant, considering they were invented here. . ."

IF there is anarchy in the streets of Kyiv, it's like a libertarian fantasy ideal of anarchy.

And when you start talking about interference, I wonder if you've read my posting "Running Interference" where I analyze what interference means coming from the West and from Russia. Which interference do you object to specifically?

On a much happier note, thank you Julia for getting the song out there. If I can get decent content, I'm going to try to get excerpts from an interview with them yesterday.

Raulkyyv, thanks for the cool stories, you should run your own blog. Oh wait you already do! :)

Razem nas Bahato, Nas ne Podolaty!
POLAND IS WITH UKRAINE! FUCK COMMUNISM!

thnx for the site from Warsaw, Poland.
Razom nas bahato!

http://www.ukraine-poland.com/


My ne bydlo, my ne kozly my UKRAINY donki i syny

I'm a political artist here in the besieged contry of the United States. We tried on November 3rd, but the people here are too lazy, the country too big, the media too full of lies. Someday, maybe we will have democracy, may yours come sooner than ours, as I think we may have to wait 4-8 years. Hiphop is no longer just the Black Man's CNN, it's the people's CNN. Thanks for hosting this.