Irish Examiner view: Individual bravery can turn the tide
Marina Ovsyannikova stunned viewers of Russia's Channel One TV network with her protest against her country's assault on Ukraine. File picture
If anything illuminates the way in which a single individual can create change for the better it is the separate actions of two individuals: One the president of Ukraine, the other a Russian TV producer.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has not only inspired his own people to defend their homeland, he has also galvanised Western democracies to respond to the Russian invasion with the kind of united resolve not seen for decades.
Marina Ovsyannikova, who was a senior producer with Channel One, Russia’s state TV channel, staged an extraordinary anti-war protest live on national television when she waved a sign reading:
That is the kind of reality TV that could turn public opinion in Russia.
The flip side of all that, of course, is that a single individual, particularly one in a powerful and dominant position, can affect change for the worse, as Vladimir Putin is attempting to do in Ukraine. We have had monsters in the past, from Cromwell in Ireland to Stalin in Russia, to Hitler throughout Europe. Now we have Putin, whose Trump-like obsession with making his country great again has already cost thousands of Ukrainian lives.
The question in this instance is will the forces of good overcome the forces of evil?
Ovsyannikova’s defiance of media suppression in her homeland is one of the few ways in which the Russian people can learn of the invasion of Ukraine and, powerful and all though Putin is, there are signs of growing popular revolt. Russians, especially younger citizens, no longer live in isolation from the outside world and there have been reports of protests by young people brandishing homemade placards saying ‘nyet voine’, no to war.
In Ukraine, Zelenskyy’s courage and composure has galvanised Western democracies to act. He refused an offer from the US to evacuate him to safety. “I need ammunition,” he told the Americans. “Not a ride.”
His defiance roused the US and its allies to impose unprecedented sanctions on Russia, causing the ruble to lose half its value against the US dollar.
There have been other geopolitical changes, too. Setting aside its post-war policy of pacifism, Germany is now pouring over $100bn into its military, while Switzerland has broken from its tradition of neutrality to support sanctions. The EU has agreed to put Ukraine en route to membership, overcoming years of internal resistance. Messages of support and aid, both military and humanitarian, have also been flooding into Ukraine.
At the same time, Putin’s reliance on China’s support may prove to be overly optimistic. While China sided with Russia in the vote against the invasion at the UN’s international court of justice in The Hague, it abstained in a vote against the war at the UN General Assembly.
It is becoming increasingly clear that Putin has moved from being an asset to a liability. Protests at home, dogged resistance by the Ukrainians, and growing Western solidarity show Putin to be a loser. The Chinese don’t like doing business with losers.
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