Dubossary, November 4. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. Today in Dubossary they recalled the events that took place in the city 30 years ago. On November 4, women went on a political hunger strike in the main square of the city.
This decision was made by the activists after death of three Dubossary residents during the first attack of the Moldovan armed forces on Dubossary, which took place on November 2, 1990. And on November 4, Dubossary residents gathered in the central square of the city to protest the firing on three civilians.
Eyewitnesses of those events recall that the initiative for the hunger strike was taken by the residents of Dubossary, Ludmila Martynenko, Nella Paugulis and Lubov Oleinik. 70 women activists responded to the call of these women. And by the evening of November 4, a tent camp was set up near the building of the City Council in Dubossary. They were people of different ages, professions and nationalities. Some Dubossary people participated in the protest together with their entire families. Among the hunger strike participants there was a young mother with a two-month-old child, who later traveled to Moscow as part of a delegation of women from Dubossary to inform the highest authorities of the Soviet Union about the bloodshed that began in Dubossary.
Among the delegates from Dubossary there was Svetlana Shapa, a medical worker by training; from the first days of the hunger strike she joined the protesters and represented the city before the USSR leadership.
“It was a critical period in our life, but we succeeded. We filed a report - a request to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, in which we expressed our concern about the events that took place in our city. We met with Alexander Rutskoy, Dmitry Yazov, Deputies of the Supreme Council, we visited the Government. We asked to protect us, because we wanted to live peacefully and on our own land. No, it was not easy; we were threatened by the Moldovan authorities. But we are glad that the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic has succeeded, we live in a peaceful country - our prosperous Pridnestrovie,” Svetlana Shapa, participant of the 1990 hunger strike in Dubossary said.
The political hunger strike in Dubossary lasted 10 days. Representatives of the authorities repeatedly asked the women to stop the protest, but they did not agree. The whole world found out about the events in Dubossary. Correspondents of the leading news agencies of the Soviet Union and foreign countries came to the city.
“I believe that the political hunger strike by the Dubossary women was worth it. We have proved that not only men, but women too can fight for rights and freedom. The hunger strike in Dubossary gave an impetus to the fact that the inhabitants of our city and villages of the region were able to make a choice in which state we want to live in further, in what language to communicate and whose traditions to preserve. We stood up for these rights 30 years ago and will keep standing up for them,” Tatyana Dolishnyaya, Chairman of the Dubossary Women's Union said.
Many of the participants in the political hunger strike later became members of the Dubossary Women's Union public organization. They showed courage and fearlessness during the armed aggression in Dubossary in 1992. Today, women paid tribute to the memory of the dead and deceased defenders of Pridnestrovie with a minute of silence and laid flowers at their burial sites.
