Independence Day Drawings (Discontinued)

Ukraine August 24th (early)

Source: first paragraph: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_of_Ukraine
The rest: https://www.britannica.com/place/Ukraine/Ukraine-on-the-path-to-independence

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Location:

Source: https://www.mapsofworld.com/ukraine/ukraine-location-map.html

First off, Ukraine's Independence Day wasn't originally celebrated on August 24th, It was changed because thats when "the Declaration of Independence was issued..."

"An upsurge of nationalism was the unexpected and unintended consequence of Gorbachev's attempt to grapple with the Soviet Union's mounting economic problems. Beginning in 1986, Gorbachev launched a campaign for an ill-defined economic perestroika ("restructuring") and called for an honest confrontation with real problems, or glasnost ("openness")"

This made it so that non-Russian republics could voice national concerns, not just economic.

National revival in Ukraine startled around mid-1986, and developed slowly as the press and media in Ukraine began cautiously to talk about "long-forbidden topics."

The longer this went on the more intense it got, and groups began protesting in 1988, especially in Kyiv and Lviv. While reading those I tried pronouncing them in my head and got kyaviv and Luvviv- Curse you English.

Eventually national revival reached open politicization in 1989.

Ukraine culture had been going under because of the oppression from Soviet Union. And it was now being brought to attention. One of the largest focal points was the fact that Ukrainian language was going into a severe decline. This lead to Ukrainian becoming the republic's state language.

More work was done to bring back neglected history and republish banned works. Religious revival began in 1988, and concerns for the environment mounted as more information was divulged about the Chernobyl catastrophe.

"The traditionally passive industrial workers in Ukraine also became organized, especially in the Donbas. Years of neglect by Moscow resulted in steady deterioration of the coal-mining industry and increasingly hazardous working conditions in the mines. Complaints in the form of letters by miners began to appear as early as 1985. But it was only in July 1989 that a spontaneous movement of self-organization by Donbas miners led to a strike."

Also in 1988 an organization was formed. The Ukrainian Helsinki Union aimed to restore Ukraine's sovereignty and human rights. By 1989 there were branches of the union in all regions of Ukraine.

All of this was never not met with resistance however. The CPU* opposed the Ukrainian nationalist movement at all stages. "propaganda attacks in the press and media, intimidation, harassment, and occasional arrests." Were all things that the CPU did to try and stop the growing discontent in Ukraine.

CPU*: Communist party of Ukraine

This didn't do much as "the example of rapid change in other republics, especially the Baltics, emboldened democratic Ukrainian activists."

I just thought that this was really cool so-
"The year 1989 marked the transition from social mobilization to mass politicization of life in Ukraine. Elections to a new supreme legislative body in Moscow, the Congress of People's Deputies, brought victory to a significant number of noncommunist candidates. Numerous Communist Party candidates, including highly placed officials, suffered defeat, all the more humiliating in those cases when they ran unopposed. (In these cases, voters crossed off the single name on the ballot; if an unopposed candidate failed to capture more than 50 percent of the vote, the election was declared void and the candidate was barred from running in subsequent races.) [Basically if there was one candidate with no opposition, the voter would just cross their name out.] The party's confidence was shaken, and resignations began to rise significantly."

*Crosses name off ballet*
Candidate: surprised pikachu face

A new party was created "in January 1989 under the aegis of the Writers' Union of Ukraine. Taking the name Narodnyi Rukh Ukrainy ("Popular Movement of Ukraine for Reconstruction," often shortened to Rukh), to emphasize its congruence with the policies of Gorbachev* (particularly perestroika*)"

Gorbachev*: the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 1985-91 (source: New Oxford American Dictionary)

Perestroika*: A policy in the Soviet Union

Even after showing that they followed the policies of the Soviet Union the CPU still showed resistance.

"The most significant development of 1990 was the beginning of parliamentary democracy. The first competitive elections to the Ukrainian parliament (which replaced the old-style Supreme Soviet), held on March 4, broke the Communist Party's monopoly on political power in Ukraine."

"On July 16 sovereignty (though not yet independence) was claimed in the name of the "people of Ukraine"—the entirety of Ukraine's resident population without regard to nationality or ethnicity; the declaration marked the onset of a gradual convergence of views on key issues between the communist majority and the democratic opposition"

Gorbachev wanted to make sure that at least some power over the Soviet republics was preserved and offered a "renegotiated new union treaty that would extend broad autonomy to the Soviet republics while preserving central control of foreign policy, the military, and the financial system."

Only the CPU supported this. "student-led mass demonstrations and a hunger strike were held in Kyiv in October 1990;" were done to obstruct the union treaty and "In the same month, Rukh, whose membership was growing rapidly, proclaimed as its ultimate goal the total independence of Ukraine."

Members of Gorbachev's government tried to organize a coup d'état but if collapsed within two days, and that presented the opportunity for the Ukrainian parliament to declare full independence of Ukraine on August 24th.

Ngl but that ending feels like what happens after the music starts speeding up in Super Mario. Its just "GO GO GO"

A/n
I know that there's like 8 other countries before Ukraine that I haven't done, but Ukraine's Independence Day is special because my birthday is also on August 24th. I thought that I would do something fun for this drawing!!

Ukraine's Pronouns: they/them
My Pronouns: she/they