2015年经济学人 乌克兰的抗议者（在线收听）

Ukraine's protesters

乌克兰的抗议者

Still out there

仍然在那儿

Viktor Yanukovych's government still faces protests—though smaller ones

维克托·亚努科维奇的政府依然面对着抗议活动—尽管规模变小了

ANATOLY HRYTSENKO, a leading member of Batkivshchyna, a Ukrainian opposition party, was expelled from a party meeting for “participating in an information war against his own faction” on January 13th. His offence? Mr Hrytsenko had noted in a blog that there seemed to be fewer protesters camped out onKiev's Maidan than in previous weeks. The numbers protesting against the government have, indeed, fallen since President Viktor Yanukovych signed a series of deals withRussiainstead of the European Union in mid-December. Yet, as Mr Hrytsenko also noted, the Maidan lives on: the turnout on January 12th was a respectable 50,000, according to Reuters, despite the driving rain.

1月13日，乌克兰反对党的领导人之一安纳托利 西托洛茨基因为“参与针对己方阵营的信息战”而被党派会议驱赶。他的罪行是什么呢？西托洛茨基先生在博客中提到过在过去的几周中在基辅广场露宿的抗议者数目看上去减少了不少。人们抗议说政府实际上在12月中旬，总统维克托 亚努科维奇与俄罗斯签署一系列协议用以替代与欧盟的协议之后已经“灭亡”了。然而西托洛茨基还提到，尽管下着倾盆大雨，广场上的抗议活动依然在持续，根据路透社的报道在1月12日时，至少还有50000名抗议者。

Not for the first time, the authorities cack-handedly gave the protesters a new reason to come out into the square. Yury Lutsenko, a former interior minister who is now an opposition leader, ended up in intensive care after riot police beat him round the head during the night of January 10th. He was among a dozen people who were injured in clashes between police and protesters after a court had sentenced three nationalists to six years in prison for plotting to blow up a statue of Lenin in 2011.

当局中那些愚蠢的左翼份子已经不是第一次给那些抗议者们一个新的理由集结在广场上。1月10前内务部部长，现在某个反对党的领导者尤因 李森科在重症监护室里结束了自己的一生（之前防暴警察击打了他的头部）。当时他待在与警察冲突的人群中，所以受了伤；同时当局对3个试图在2011年推倒列宁雕像的名族主义者判了刑。

Mustafa Nayem, a journalist and blogger who was one of the first to call for demonstrations afterUkraine's government backed away from its planned deal with the EU in November, expects tensions to remain high for months. Mr Yanukovych, he says, knows from polling evidence that he cannot win the presidential election due early next year. “I think we can't even imagine how tough Yanukovych will get on the opposition,” he says.

在乌克兰政府放弃他们原先预期与欧盟签订的合同之后，记者兼博客主穆斯塔法 纳耶姆是第一个号召抗议活动的人，这种紧张的气氛像预期一样持续了好几个月。这位记者表示：亚努科维奇通过投票调查已经知道自己不会赢得明年早些时候的总统选举。“我认为我们甚至不能想象他会多么粗暴地对待那些反对党。”他说。

Yet, like many opponents of Mr Yanukovych, Mr Nayem is pessimistic about the chances of an early election. Arseny Yatseniuk, who leads Batkivshchyna while its official leader, Yulia Tymoshenko (a former prime minister), is in prison, is also now talking largely of a strategy for 2015. Mr Yanukovych and his party see little need for immediate concessions, and several influential business oligarchs still support the regime. Reports that they were deserting the president look premature: it seems they were hedging their bets rather than wholeheartedly backing the protesters.

然而和很多其他亚努科维奇的反对者一样，纳耶姆对早期选举中获胜的几率也觉得很悲观。祖国党的首领耶森 尤克以及它的官方领导者尤利娅 季莫申科（前总理）虽然入狱了，但是他们都在积极地为2015年的大选造势。亚努科维奇的和他的政党看上去并不需要马上做出让步，并且那些影响国家命脉的行业的老总们仍然支持着现有政体。不过据报道，他们可能会提前放弃总统；不过这看上只是他们在给他们的筹码保值，而不是全心全意地去支持那些抗议者。

The main demand of the Maidan remains the resignation of the government and the president. And the protesters say they will not stop until they win. Yet frustration at the lack of progress is mounting, especially as cracks show in an opposition leadership which even many of its supporters find uninspiring.

广场抗议者们主要的要求还是政府和总统辞职。抗议者同时表示将坚持到底，直到胜利。然而在这个过程中最欠缺的就是动力，尤其是在反对派的领导者之间都出现裂痕时，他们的支持者也必然丧失斗志。