In 2004, there was a presidential election in Ukraine between between leading candidates Viktor Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovych. A run-off vote won by Yanukovych was widely perceived to be interfered with, which led to the Orange Revolution. Widespread demonstrations, protests, and disobedience led to the vote being annulled, and the Supreme Court ordered a new vote, which showed Yushchenko to be the clear winner (although not before he was poisoned by Agent Orange and scarred for life). Yanukovych is currently exiled in Russia, wanted for treason.

This happened less than a decade ago, and back then it seemed like the plot of Mission: Impossible VII to me. Now it’s a bit more… visceral. This song became the unofficial anthem of the revolution, the title translating to “together we are many, we cannot be defeated.” In this case, orange was the color of the resistance movement, not the Oompa-Troumpa color of an asshat-elect… think what you will of the song and even the movement, but people got behind it and it helped them get up into the actual streets, into the actual cold, and demand something different. Razom nas Bahato.

Brook Reeder