I had once heard of Indian politicians doing this, and am proud that Ukrainian politicians are doing it as well. The impetus was a group of soldiers during World War II that fought not against the Germans, but not for the Soviets, and instead killed Soviets for the freedom of Ukraine. This group has received veteran status in Ukraine and is vying for more rights, but at a demonstration that they held in Kyiv a few days ago, they were attacked by members of the socialist and communist parties (the communist party is alive and well in Ukraine, and regularly holds rallies that I can hear from my window).
In any case, a bill was being debated about granting them more rights in parliament, and the argument amongst the politicians became so heated that a fist fight broke out. Apparently, this happens quite often in the Ukrainian parliament. I think all politics should be conducted that way: if you’re voting for or against a bill, you should feel pretty passionate about it. I don’t think anyone should block a campaign finance reform bill unless they’re willing to loose a few teeth over it. And vice versa.
Oh, and one more thing about Ukrainian parties: they’ve been holding demonstrations all around Zhytomyr trying to drum up support for the upcoming parliamentary elections. The communist party, with their red flags emblazed with a golden hammer and sickle, like to hold their rallies at 8:00 AM, in support of their right to yell loudly and wake up Americans. Pora (“It’s Time”), the party that attracts a lot of college students and was instrumental in the Orange Revolution last year, has a big bee in the middle of their flags. But what I found funniest of all was the Green party, which holds their demonstrations by the bazaar. The symbol in the middle of their white flag is a smiling sunflower. So picture if you will one of their supporters, a very Mafioso, scowling, well-muscled man of about twenty, wearing a green cloth vest and holding a white flag with a smiling sunflower on it. His look said: “Go on, make fun of my sunflower and see what happens to you.” It was the highlight of my day.