Speaking truth to power
Ukraine is not simply fighting for survival; it is also preserving the civic habits that make survival meaningful.
By Jeff Fountain - Posted at Evangelical Focus:
Recent protests in Ukraine against government decisions affecting key anti-corruption and defence institutions may look like dangerous dissent undermining national unity and the war effort.In actuality, they demonstrate the remarkable strength of the nation’s civil society, in sharp contrast to their Russian neighbours. And they carry lessons for us in Europe and America.
Even in wartime, Ukrainians still took to the streets to defend the integrity of the state. And the Zelensky administration responded by revising its approach.
That is remarkable. It shows that Ukraine is not simply fighting for survival; it is also preserving the civic habits that make survival meaningful.
This spirit did not appear overnight. It has roots in Ukraine’s modern history, especially in the Orange Revolution of 2004 and, even more decisively, in the Revolution of Dignity—the Maidan protests of 2013–14.
Those movements were not just against particular leaders. They asserted that government derives legitimacy from free citizens, and that Ukrainians were prepared to defend the rule of law, transparency and European democratic values.
That Maidan experience became part of Ukraine’s political DNA. It explains why volunteers mobilised long before governments did after the invasion of February 2022.
It explains why churches, charities, neighbourhood groups, entrepreneurs, veterans, journalists and ordinary citizens have become indispensable to the country’s defence.
Ukraine’s resilience does not rest only in ministries or military headquarters. It rests in countless independent initiatives that act without waiting for permission.
A healthy democracy depends not only on effective government and a functioning economy, but on a vibrant civil society—the networks of trust and cooperation that make self-government possible.
