Lenins toppled and proposed law banning Soviet symbols

[Larry1]

Last year a statue of Lenin in Kiev was pulled down and smashed. Now more statues are being smashed, this time in Kharkov.

In Kharkiv, where three Soviet-era statues were toppled in the dead of night, an anti-Russian group called "We've Had Enough" posted a video showing the monuments glorifying Bolshevik heroes come smashing to the ground.

A bill has been proposed in the Ukrainian Parliament to ban Nazi and communist symbols and names. Pro-Russian groups object to the bill.

The attack follows a ban this week on Nazi and communist symbols and names. The pro-Russian Opposition Bloc party, which has 40 of 450 parliamentary seats, said Saturday the legislation was responsible for the destruction in Kharkiv.

The ban, which was rushed through parliament Thursday and must be signed by Poroshenko before coming into force, is stoking tension in the war-divided country of 45 million...

The package of laws bans Soviet flags and means that Soviet-era Lenin statues will have to be removed and streets and town squares renamed across the country of some 45 million...

Kiev sociologist Andriy Bychenko said the parliament's anti-Soviet drive was in tune with widespread belief that Russia is fuelling the bloody rebellion in the east. "Feelings towards the symbols of the Soviet Union have become sharply more negative since the beginning of the Russian aggression," he told AFP..

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/soviet-era-statues-smashed-ukraine-likens-russia-nazis-134142849.html#c4DrnFG

[jone]

Did they get the big Lenin Statue in the middle of Kharkov?  That has been 'round the clock protected by the Pro-Russian faction.

[lordtiberius]

[Larry1]

Did they get the big Lenin Statue in the middle of Kharkov?  That has been 'round the clock protected by the Pro-Russian faction.

At the link in the original post there is a photo of one of the three statues destroyed. It's a small one, and the one you're talking about is very large, isn't it?

[LAman]

IMHO, the country needs a lot of fixing, why do things to further divide the country? I guess it is easier to destroy than it is to repair!!

[Boethius]

I think it is great.  It is a symbolic break from a slave past.

[LAman]

I think it is great.  It is a symbolic break from a slave past.

It's like buying the car while you are interviewing for a job..........

[Boethius]

I disagree.  It is among the first steps in pronouncing, "This past was brutal.  It brought us nothing but misery and alienation.  It destroyed families.  It kept us in poverty.  We reject it."

[LAman]

I disagree.  It is among the first steps in pronouncing, "This past was brutal.  It brought us nothing but misery and alienation.  It destroyed families.  It kept us in poverty.  We reject it."

I agree it is a good step, eventually.......but there is a time and place for everything. Another thing for the pro-russ to hang onto.......like language issue.

Why work on the brakes........ when the car doesn't start???

[lordtiberius]

And how can you go to that job interview when you have shackles around your limbs and neck?  Boethius (sigh) is right on this one.

[LAman]

And how can you go to that job interview when you have shackles around your limbs and neck?  Boethius (sigh) is right on this one.

Hard to get around with shackles around your limbs and neck, agree, but shooting yourself in your foot ??????

[lordtiberius]

Hard to get around with shackles around your limbs and neck, agree, but shooting yourself in your foot ??????

At the end of the day, it is their country.  I can have an opinion of what the Canadian parliament does, but the law is the law and unlike the whims of the Kremlin, laws from democratic institutions are powerful expressions of popular will. 

[LAman]

At the end of the day, it is their country.  I can have an opinion of what the Canadian parliament does, but the law is the law and unlike the whims of the Kremlin, laws from democratic institutions are powerful expressions of popular will.

Ahhhhhhh........... like Prohibition!!!!!!

[lordtiberius]

Ahhhhhhh........... like Prohibition!!!!!!

Not the first time, anti-Democrats have posted here.

[LAman]

Not the first time, anti-Democrats have posted here.

Everybody's got to have a label in your eyes. Politics is for arseholes, on either side. All about power and wealth!!!
I just worry about my own shit!!! You worry about yours!!!

[lordtiberius]

Which is what I just said, UT.  Ta ta

[sleepycat]

Did they get the big Lenin Statue in the middle of Kharkov?  That has been 'round the clock protected by the Pro-Russian faction.

Yep they definitely toppled that one. Took this photo when I was in Kharkiv last October...

No comments from our putinist posters about theses mindless vandalism acts?
 

[Donhollio]

Wow! That Lenin was the biggest in the FSU I was told.  And now they put a religious cross on the base...

[Boethius]

The cross is cultural.  Lenin never was.

[lordtiberius]

Marxism is cultural hence the cross.

[Belvis]

I disagree.  It is among the first steps in pronouncing, "This past was brutal.  It brought us nothing but misery and alienation.  It destroyed families.  It kept us in poverty.  We reject it."

I suppose the second step must be the return of Western Ukraine to Poland. Annexation of part of Poland in 1939 was one of the crimes committed by Stalin. If you reject the Soviet past you have to return the gifts obtained under Soviet rule.
Ukraine has given back Crimea as the process of rejecting brutal and miserable past, so you're moving in right direction I suppose.
Or you intend in battle with past to restrict youself to  only demolition of monuments?
   

[BillyB]

If you reject the Soviet past you have to return the gifts obtained under Soviet rule.
 

Who made that rule up? It's kind of like the spouse who tells the spouse that wants to leave he/she wants their ring and gifts back for being rejected. How about Russia propose something fair? They want Crimea back but will compensate Ukraine for all the deaths and suffering they endured under decades of Soviet rule? Not realistically going to happen but sounds more fair that what is proposed now.

[jone]

Ha, there is only one country right now exhibiting imperial ambitions.  And it ain't Ukraine.  I'm waiting for Russia to give back Koenigsberg. 

[Belvis]

Ha, there is only one country right now exhibiting imperial ambitions.  And it ain't Ukraine.  I'm waiting for Russia to give back Koenigsberg.

Nope. We're not going to reject our past, we respect our past. Who forgets the past that will pay for dearly  in future.

[AkMike]

If you reject the Soviet past you have to return the gifts obtained under Soviet rule.

 Like the Holodomor and the theft of the Kuban Regions and Crimea the first time, not this time., mass murder? 

Quite a "Gift"..