Ukraine's Orange Revolution Memory

I remember a few years ago while working at an Export shipping company, a Ukrainian group of customers came in. The date was January 24, 2005.


I will never forget them. I smiled as I greeted them, noticed they were Ukrainian and said "Congratulations. Pomarancheva. Viva Ukraina." Silent tears welled up in their eyes and they nodded stiffly.


They asked me if I was Polish and I nodded yes. They shook my hand and I will freely admit that my eyes started to tear a bit with them. This moment probably meant nothing to the other workers and customers there at that moment. But it didn't matter. It meant something to us.

And in that moment, this tiny bleep of a moment that will never be recorded in any history books and which does not need to be, one of the men of this group of Ukrainian immigrants clasped my hand, pointed to me and said "Krasnoludki. Pomarańczowa. Poland." No other words needed to be said.

Na razie...



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30 Years Ago Today in Poland: Martial Law

30 Years Ago Today in Poland: Martial Law

30 years ago today, on December 13, 1981, Martial Law was imposed on Poland.  We had just fled Poland a couple of short weeks before.


I cannot imagine what my parents must have been going through.  I was born in June of 1980.  The following month, general strikes began to ripple their way across Poland.  Wroclaw was an important center of this movement.


I know in the textbooks in Amerika, Gdansk is the city mentioned in regards to Poland's Solidarity movement.  But the textbooks like to sum things up in a neat one to two sentence note about anything having to do with Poland and that summary really doesn't do the movement, that historical movement, or Poland for that manner, any justice.


Perhaps you have never heard of the Orange Alternative or Pomarańczowa Alternatywa.  Let me give you a brief tidbit about it.


The Orange Alternative was a new option that made it easier and safer for more people to peacefully protest the Communist regime. Basically, they drew graffiti art and slogans referring to dwarfs (krasnoludki) and wore orange hats like dwarfs in mass gatherings and other such activity.  None of it was illegal and if they were arrested, it made the arresting officers look like ridiculous because they would be arresting people for wearing dwarf hats.  It was a brilliant idea...




I cannot imagine how my parents must have felt, watching events unfolding around them with a brand new baby girl.


I plan to share some photos tomorrow that I found which were sent to us by family and which I believe have to do with that movement.


Na razie...


Links You Might Find Useful:

New York Times Article: "Dec. 13, 1981 | Poland Cracks Down on Solidarity Movement"

Poland Cultural Institute of New York article about film "The Orange Alternative"

Not An Alternative

Wikipedia's Orange Alternative

Wikimedia's Dwarves in Wroclaw (photos)