Anti-Orange Discourses in Ukraine's Internet: Before the Orange Split

Abstract

A feature of modern political life is the use of the Internet, a factor that emerged in Ukraine's ‘Orange Revolution’. Traditional studies of structurally organized political actors – institutionalized opposition – underestimate the important role of grass-roots components of political debate, in which the Internet has become a medium in which individuals have gained a public voice; its contents can be analysed as a significant supplement to official public sources of information, giving a wider perspective from the grass-roots domain. This is especially important in view of the gap between Ukrainian institutionalized opposition (which demonstrates a ‘situated’ solidarity) and grass-roots groups (which exhibit a readiness for public dialogue). This article is based on the paper presented at the First Annual Danyliw Seminar in Contemporary Ukrainian Studies at the University of Ottawa, 29 Sept.–1 Oct. 2005. The author is grateful to Cathy Wanner, Sarah Phillips and Taras Kuzio for their helpful comments on an earlier draft.