Voices of protest: interviews with student protesters in Ukraine, Turkey, and Venezuela.

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Long before a Tunisian fruit vendor sparked the Arab Spring, student protesters in Paris led a revolt in 1968 that spread to the labor unions and touched off similar protests in London, Berlin, Mexico City, and Rome. The protests took on the pertinent social issues of each city, and it was a turbulent year around the world. Decades later, in the midst of another tumultuous period, university students continue to be a force that sparks and sustains protest culture around the world. The Journal of International Affairs spoke with university students in Ukraine, Turkey, and Venezuela who joined the protests in their respective countries. The students spoke about their experiences, the impact of their actions, and their visions for the future. (1)

UKRAINE

Demonstrations began in Ukraine in November 2013, when activists protested then-president Viktor Yanukovych's decision to halt the process of signing a free trade and association agreement with the European Union. After security forces beat protesters and the situation turned violent, protesters called for the president to step down. In February 2014, after the deaths of protesters in Kyiv, President Yanukovych was ousted from power and fled to Russia. The Ukrainian parliament appointed an interim government until elections were held in May 2014. The Journal spoke with Mila Moroz, a 22-year-old student at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy School of Journalism about the protests and their aftermath. Journal of International Affairs: Can you describe what the protests were like?

Mila Moroz: The first protest was in the evening, after the message "Let's go to Maidan," was posted to Facebook, which later made Ukrainian journalist Mustafa Nayem famous. Hundreds of people who lived in Kyiv went out to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the president's changing policy on European integration to bring Ukraine closer to Europe. Some of the students made an amateur video for online streaming so that everyone could see what was happening. The next day, the protests grew as people came from other cities by trains or buses.

In the first week, the protesters were smiling and friendly. Students and adults danced, sang songs, waved EU and Ukrainian flags, and held posters decrying Yanukovych and his party. Some Ukrainian stars who supported the protests gave concerts. Today, different experts say the protests continued for so long in part because of the violence of the regime.

But in the second week, it happened: At around 4:00 a.m., the police violently broke up students who were merely dancing or drinking tea. Fortunately, no one died, but some activists were injured and bleeding or had broken bones. Some were hiding from the police in a nearby church. There was an unprecedented arrogance and cruelty, which the authorities had never shown before. The next day, the streets were full of ordinary people who said, "We will not allow you to touch our children." In fact, from that night, the real protests began after the beating of students. The first month it was like a peaceful, permanent strike in the center of Kyiv with songs, while living in tents.

Journal: How did students play a role in the protests, and how did you organize?

Moroz: We organized our own groups to attend the strikes. Of course, we used social media tools such as Facebook, VK [a Russian-language social networking service], arid Twitter. It was very useful for us later, when it was necessary to collect a variety of medications for people's health or to call volunteers who accompanied the activists to hospitals in order to protect them from the police.

My fellow group members were not involved in the planning process like the activists; we all went there alone and everybody did different jobs. Some people brewed tea, some people filmed, and some people interviewed people or were on duty at the hospital. Even in the more difficult days of protests, when people died, there was an indescribable atmosphere of unity and cohesion. Perhaps that is why I always wanted to come back. I could not leave the wonderful people who had decided to fight for change while taking on such dangerous risks.

Journal: Can you describe your feelings when President Yanukovych left the country?

Moroz: When he ran away. I could think about victory no longer than a minute, because then the price we paid became clear. The number of deaths and funerals did not give us time to...

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