Ukraine Puts Up Statue Honoring Darth Vader

Somehow, I think when president Petro Poroshenko started the “decommunization” process this year in Ukraine, this isn’t quite what he meant to happen.

This past Friday, a statue was unveiled in Odessa, a major port city and one of the largest urban centers in the country. The statue was of the man who once ruled the Empire, in a Galaxy far, far way, though the Dark Side of the Force. Yes, this statue is in tribute to the man once known as Anakin Skywalker, a man who murdered children, and tried to slay his own son, Darth Vader.

Though there are those who still worship his legacy, like Kylo Ren, or at least offer serious Empire apologia, like the always amazingly wrong Bill Kristol, most would be shocked that any country would be willing to raise a statue to a man famed for murdering his generals left and right, as well as responsible for the genocide of the Alderaanian people, and the destruction of the original planet home of the Killiks. But the reason behind it is actually pretty ironic. See, there was already a statue there, of another controversial figure in history, that of Vladmir Lenin, the man who overthrew the Russian Czarist regime, established the Soviet Union, and then turned his own vision of Empire into a totalitarian dictatorship.

Ukraine has been trying to decommunize for over a decade, as part of their stated independence from the Russian sphere of influence. The laws banning any sort of public Communist symbols finally went into effect just a few months ago, stating that all symbols promoting their communist past to be removed, and all public spaces and roads named after historical figures of the movement be renamed. The statue of Lenin was on schedule to be removed in a few weeks time, but instead artist Aleksander Milov decided to modify it instead, with one of the major symbols of Western pop culture, and also a major capitalist symbol, since Star Wars is now owned and merchandised by Disney.

In perhaps my favorite ironic twist, the statue of Darth Vader also double as a public wifi hotspot, encouraging the free flow of information to all who gather near.

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