[ANTICORRUPTION PROTESTS] Statement of Social Movement after July 1 vote

The people are the power! Anti-corruption protests have won!

[Edited machine translation] On July 30, a protest against the controversial bill No. 12414 took place near the Frank Theater in Kyiv (pictured). Activists from the Social Movement and allied organizations demanded the complete repeal of this law and the restoration of anti-corruption controls over powerful figures and government officials.

With the slogan “The minimum wage isn't going up because someone at the top is stealing,” we wanted to say that the price of theft and bribery is the poverty of ordinary people. There's a close link between the appetites of those in power and the low minimum wage. As long as money that could be used for social support for the people flows into private pockets, we will move further away from Europe.

On Thursday, July 31, it became known that parliament had approved draft law No. 13533, formally fulfilling the requirements for the restoration of procedural guarantees of independence for the NABU and SAPO.

But have the underlying causes that brought people to the streets disappeared? No!

The oligarchic clique will continue to steal from the population and avoid filling the budget, which means that our army will not receive the funds it so desperately needs.

We are monitoring events and insist that half-measures are not the answer. Full independence for NABU and SAPO should be the norm, not the exception. However, citizens must look at the root of the problem and seek the confiscation of the property of all oligarchs, who are the main sponsors of corruption.

We congratulate all those who joined the people's victory over injustice, and we hope that the experience gained from the protests will help us win back our social rights!