Day of Dignity and Freedom is celebrated today in Ukraine
November 21 is the Day of Dignity and Freedom in Ukraine.
This is reported by Censor.NET.
The Day of Dignity and Freedom is celebrated every year on November 21 by the Presidential Decree of November 13, 2014.
It was established in honor of the beginning of two revolutions: the Orange Revolution (2004) and the Revolution of Dignity (2013).
Note that from 2005 to 2011 the holiday was celebrated as Freedom Day in honor of the Orange Revolution from 2005 to 2011 on November 22. During the time of the fugitive ex-president, its celebration was actually canceled, combining it with the Day of the Congregation on January 22.
On November 21, 2013, the first protest actions of Ukrainians took place in response to the decision of the then authorities to stop the course towards European integration and cancel the process of preparing for the signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union. In 2014, President Petro Poroshenko restored its official status, since then Ukraine simultaneously celebrates the anniversaries of the Orange Revolution and Euromaidan.
In his greeting, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal emphasized that dignity and freedom are inscribed in the genetic code of Ukrainians.
"For centuries, the Ukrainian nation has proven that no one will deprive us of these qualities. This truth was confirmed by the fateful revolutions for independent Ukraine and the war with the Russian invader. The aggressor can try to deprive us of light or warmth, try to seize our home, our land, but he cannot take away either Dignity or Freedom from Ukrainians," the head of government said.
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk reminded that this day was established in 2014 in order to pay due respect to those who in 2004 and 2013 stood up to protect the dignity and freedom of the Ukrainian people, which led first to the Orange Revolution and then to the Revolution of Dignity.
"It is very important to understand that in 2004 the Ukrainian people did not defend a specific candidate for the presidency, but rather defend their freedom to choose the head of state, as well as to defend their dignity because they did not want to have as president a person who had been tried twice by Russia, which lost even unfair elections.
And in 2014, the Ukrainian people defended not only the European vector of development, they defended the freedom to choose their own destiny regardless of the opinion of Russia, but also their dignity, since a decent people cannot allow the authorities to abuse their children just because they publicly expressed their disagreement with her," he explained.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced that today we honor the civic feat, patriotism, and courage of people who defended democratic values, defended national interests, and the European choice of our state. The patriotism of the current generation, the zeal of the creators of Ukrainian statehood have proven that our people are masters of their land.
The fifth president and leader of "European Solidarity" Petro Poroshenko emphasized that the revolution crossed out any possibility of the involvement of our state in the Russian empire: "And it demonstrated the will of the people just when the Kremlin and its henchmen already considered everything resolved behind the backs of all of us. By refusing to sign the Association Agreement, Yanukovych signed a sentence for himself and his regime. Police terror broke the Russians in the swamp, but did not break the Ukrainians on the Maidan. This is how the choice of dignity was made, which made it impossible to subjugate Ukraine."
The leader of "Batkivshchyna" Yulia Tymoshenko noted that the Day of Dignity and Freedom is a holiday that we have to celebrate every day.
"From the height of today's experience, the experience of war, it may seem to us that the events and revolutions of 2004 and 2013 have lost their scale and significance, become refined, diminished. But this is not so! Because this is the same battle, the same struggle, the same war. The war that Ukraine has been waging for three centuries. The war that must finally end with our Victory!" she said.
