Andriy Pryimachenko, director, student of the UCU School of Journalism, for UP Life

2004. My brother was 20 when he learned that the election results had been roughly rigged.

Viktor Yushchenko, the pro-Ukrainian candidate, urged people to come to Maidan to defend their votes. Students of the KNU n found themselves in the midst of Khreschatyk, flag in hand, but without a flagpole. amed after Taras Shevchenko Faculty of Economics (among whom was my brother) weren’t experienced protesters and had no idea how an average participant of such a meeting should look One thing they knew for sure was that they couldn’t do without a flag.It was easy to buy a piece of cloth and apply the name of the faculty to it. But they had to fasten the flag to something, right? Thus, the students of the Faculty of Economics found themselves in the midst of Khreschatyk, flag in hand, but without a flagpole.

eing pretty smart guys and girls, they understood: the thing they needed should should be light, strong and not too expensive (they were students then, you remember). Resourcefulness led them to the idea of using of using a mop handle.

Artem Pryimachenko saw the rise of the “orange” Maidan and witnessed the surrender of the ideals of the revolution. He is very careful about the current revolutionary situation: “I was coming to Yevromaydan and saw there people driven to a dead-lock. They had no choice but Maidan. Also, there are many students who think that things can change in a few days. We should obtain a better life and changes not with tents, but through daily work and activities. The opposition has been able to announce nothing new from the stage, but “Gang away!” and the same thing a hundred times circle-wise. They should come up with something more effective than sitting on the pavement. It might be effective to sue in the courts of different levels, or secure the support from the police.

In Thailand, the police laid down their weapons and went over to the protesters, as a result, the state authority was forced to announce new elections. We need to be intellectual.”

Artem is a director of the Ukrainian office of the German company, which is one of the largest European manufacturers of special construction chemicals. He knows Ukrainian industry, so to say, from the inside.

“The critique of European integration on the part of the leaders of Ukrainian factories means a desire to do nothing at all. Their main goal is to calmly sit up for few years till their retirement. Ukrainian Technical standards have lagged behind average for 20 years now. The rapprochement with the EU will stimulate the process of modernization of the economy, on the basis of which Ukrainian producers will definitely benefit,” he said.

2013. I am 23 and I am standing in the midst of Maidan, side-by-side with my classmates. We are protesting against the government’s refusal to sign an association agreement with the EU which Ukraine had been preparing to sign for several years. And you know what? In my hands I am holding a mop handle with a piece of cloth fastened to it. A yellow symbol of Yevromaydan on a dark blue cloth.

I am a director, copywriter, earning a living by producing music videos and advertising. For the post-Soviet economy the cost of my services is up to nothing. What kind of advertising can we speak about in the system, which does not strive for the client, for his money and attention?

Have you ever seen videos of the aircraft manufacturer Antonov presenting their jet? Or Maybe you have looked through marketing materials of Zaporizhzhya “Motor Sich” engines with your own eyes? I don’t even dare to imagine, what our local “Pivdenmash” can film about their missile carrier ship! Once, I had to deal with representatives of the “Public Relations Department” of one of these factories. According to them, they don’t need to advertise their factory products. Still, helicopters from Sikrovksy Aircraft, Boeing airplanes, and NASA space programs need advertising—so much so, that each company has a channel on YouTube, which they update regularly.

I want to work in a system where a You Tube channel is perceived not as a whim of a creative class, but as a functional necessity.

You may laugh at us looking funny with the handles to the mop. But knowing that I’m holding the same pole as my brother 9 years ago, I’m sure of the correctness of my actions.

The colors of our flags are different, but the reason why we were on Maidan is one and the same: we have been fighting for truth. We don’t want them to lie to us.

Source: Українська правда