Taha Asadi / Staff Reporter
In 2004, historical and controversial protests erupted in Ukraine after the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, between Viktor Yanukovych and Viktor Yushchenko, was viewed as fraudulent in the country creating division in Europe. 16 years later in America, a similar situation occurred.
On June 21, 2006, an historical agreement was announced that the orange revolution allies had reached a compromise that would restore Yulia Tymoshenko as prime minister of Ukraine and end months of uncertainty in the country. Ukraine’s former Orange allies reach coalition deal (irishexaminer.com)
After the 2020 American presidential election, supporters of Donald J Trump viewed the results in favor of his rival Joe Biden as fraudulent and took to the streets in protest of this claimed victory.
The Ukrainian people’s symbol in their protests was the colour orange. Millions of Ukrainians would take to the streets with orange flags, banners, shirts, face paint and more, because of this reason, these protests where given the name Orange Revolution and it became part of a trend of colour revolutions that occurred around the world, especially in eastern Europe.
In the states, the Americans didn’t rally around a colour. Their symbol of protest was a man, who was their leader U.S president Trump. Anything about him from his face to his flag. Especially, his presidential campaign slogan: “make America great again.” It was clear that these protesters supported Trump with all their hearts and even the thought of him losing the election was unthinkable for them.
One of the key differences between the post-election protests in Ukraine and America was that in the states, it was right-wing political supporters not protesting a change in the system and the constitution of America but contesting the results that were in favor of Biden.
In Ukraine the people were against their system at the time and demanded change in their constitution.
Although protests in different cities of America were a key part of the post-election crises that occurred Trumps republican party was also contesting the results legally an through the court especially because of the high number of controversial mail in ballots that the Republicans were against, the main reason such high amount of mail in ballots were casted in this contentious election was because of the fact that this election was occurring in the middle of a global pandemic referred to COVID-19. United States Capitol attack of 2021 | Background, Events, Criminal Charges, & Facts | Britannica
Although in Ukraine they ended their post-election crisis in an agreement, this was not the case in America.
The American peoples concerns about the right-wing groups became a reality on January 6, 2021. When a mob of Trump supporters raided the capitol building and threatened the safety of everyone inside. These people were not only mad at the election results but also at many of the congressmen and women inside the building; some went as far as bringing gallows and yelling, “lets hang some people.” During this attack, four people would lose their lives afterwards Trump conceded the election ending months of uncertainty and protest in the nation.
Sources
United States Capitol attack of 2021 | Background, Events, Criminal Charges, & Facts | Britannica
Ukraine’s former Orange allies reach coalition deal (irishexaminer.com)
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