Giraffes USSR In 1989 the Gorbachev government had declared a new openness in Soviet society, but Soviet citizens were wary. Under Communism and under the czars, anybody in the Soviet Union who’d stuck their necks out got sent to Siberia or shot. Now Gorbachev was trying to get people to become active citizens overnight. It wasn’t happening. People were scared and puzzled by the whole concept. They needed models of courageous and compassionate citizenship. Aware of the work of the Giraffe Heroes Project, the Gorbachev government asked us to help. |
Within months, Giraffes USSR was in business, finding Giraffes there and broadcasting their stories. Its finest moment came on August 21, 1991. Boris Yeltsin had barricaded himself inside Parliament and called for the general strike that would pull the country back from civil war. On that day, Giraffes USSR broadcast a message across the entire country, calling on the Soviet people to be brave and to take responsibility for the success of reforms in their country. Did that message make a difference on that fateful day? We’d like to think so. |
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