Thousands protest after Rada passes polarizing language bill

Over 9,000 people yesterday protested outside the Verkhovna Rada after passage of a controversial bill yesterday in the first reading, Bloomberg repoted yesterday. The law will give “regional status” to the native languages of at least 10 percent of the population in each Ukrainian region. It would not make Russian and other languages that might get regional status under the bill (Romanian, Hungarian, Crimean Tatar) official state languages, but would make them suitable for education and for communication with the state.

Brad Wells: The Party of Regions, which initiated the legislation, claims the bill is in line with the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, but we believe it is first and foremost a tool to mobilize their increasingly disenchanted key electorate in Eastern and Southern Ukraine where the Russian language dominates with only four months left before the next parliamentary election. Most importantly, this issue is known a lightning rod – blood was already drawn on the parliament floor on May 24 in an initial debate and the crowd of protestors should grow – the legislation must pass two more readings in parliament and then be signed by the president. The Regions’ decision to push the issue now represents a worrying election tactic: rather than mending the country’s deep political divisions, the Party of Regions’ actions seem destined to further polarize the electorate.