It seems that every popular uprising has personal stories of individuals making conscious, courageous decisions to take a stand against the absurd system. The situation in the Ukraine is no different.
This story just makes me smile every time I hear it.
The state media was long heavily biased in favor of the government and its presidential candidate, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich. The state television's news broadcasts ran the usual propaganda. They also had a sign language person who interpreted for the deaf. Well, it turns out it was the she was the one who cast the first stone, if you will.
As the regular anchors read the propaganda, she dutifully signed what they were saying. But at the very end of one broadcast, she kept signing... except she said that everything she'd just signed was a lie. "The results announced by the Central Electoral Commission are rigged. Do not believe them."
She went on to declare that Viktor Yushchenko*, the opposition leader, was the country's new president. "I am very disappointed by the fact that I had to interpret lies," she went on. "I will not do it any more. I do not know if you will see me again."
[*-Yuschenko's Austrian doctors are now confirming widely believed rumors that he was poisoned]
Though only the deaf viewers knew what she was saying initially, word of her defiance and of the rigging quickly spread throughout the Ukraine. Inspired by her act, state media workers later went on strike, demanding the right to present news in an objective manner.
Much like Rosa Parks or Czechoslovakian dissidents, this act will not have single-handedly brought down the regime. But if often takes a single spark by a courageous individual to light a fire.
It also goes to show that true change must be initiated from within, not imposed from abroad.
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