I decided to spend the May 1st holiday in Kiev, Ukraine. I’m in a town called Zhitomir, north of Kiev, right now, but I’ll go back to Kiev on Monday and Tuesday. I hope it’ll be nice, I was in Kiev once, 5 years ago, for one day, and I remember liking it. Also, there might be some protests going on, and the May 1st pagentry should be top-notch.
Pushkin Square was closed to the public again last night. Already by midday, the police were cordonning off the area, and the theatre on the square was being prepared for the Spider Man 3 premier. I’ve never been inside the Pushkin theatre, but from the outside it looks huge. I’m figuring that the special effects are more important than the script for Spider Man 3, so I might very well go see it in Russian on the big screen at this theatre. The theatre in front of my university, in Los Angeles, was a very common host for major Hollywood premiers, so I got over width=”320″ height=”240″ the novelty a long time ago. You’re officially an Angelino when premiers and film shoots annoy, more than excite you.
My university campus is often the site of movie filming, though it is often supposed to be somewhere else, such as Harvard in “Legally Blond.” UCLA isn’t famous in Russia (unlike in Asia), but it’s nice to be able to point it out when randomly watching movies. “That’s our library.” “My pictures are all over the inside walls of that building.” “See that scary building behind Jennifer Garner (Alias), I once spent a frightening night alone there. It used to have a morgue in the sub-basement, has access to secret tunnels, and a strange burnt-out shed on the roof full of school desks and a couch.” Often, when filming on campus, they would block off entire sections, and we were forced to take convoluted routes to class. Not fun when you only have a five-minute cushion between lectures. Though I did get a preverse pleasure watching extras forced to wear Harvard sweaters in 100 degree weather. Take that Ivy League!!!!
Anyways, I guess seeing a movie premier set up brings a little touch of home to this city. It looks pretty professional, complete with a background against which people can be interveiwed on the red carpet. I never felt the urge to go to a premier and star-watch in college, though it was a ten-minute walk from my room. Here, though, I considered coming back to catch some of my favorite Russian pop stars. After walking around the grounds, however, it appeared that there wouldn’t be any room for civillians to stand and cheer.
I hate to nitpick, but Gorbachev was the only Soviet President. Saying he was “the last Soviet president,” is rather misleading. Most likely, the author of the article isn’t quite fully informed about the intricacies of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev created the postition of “President of the Soviet Union” in 1990. Until then, the Secretary General of the Communist Party was the leader of the Soviet Union. As part of his various reforms, Gorbachev thought that a post of president would separate some of the power and have an somewhat independent executive branch of government.
Virtually every one of my male foreign friends have been proposed to while over here. The normal Russian tradition, as just about everywhere else, is that the man proposes to the woman. All bets are off, however, when it comes to foreign men. Either the girl will straight up ask herself, or a relative or friend of the family will ask. Mind, most times this refers to girls from smaller towns and villages, not Moscow or St. Petersburg. Here is a somewhat typical example that happened to a friend of mine last week:
Today I stopped at my usual fruit stand to buy two apples, and some grapes. By “my usual fruit stand” I mean usual like the saleswoman sells her fruit from the back of an abandoned 18 wheeler. Why abandoned? The cab had been burnt beyond all recognition. Here was the dialog in Russian which followed…
Chain Smoking Moldovan Mama: “Where are you from?”
Brad: “America”
CSMM: “That’ll be 63 rubles…are you married?”
Brad: “No”
CSMM: “How old are you?”
Brad: “32”
CSMM: “Good age, I’m from Moldova”
Brad: “I’m from America”
CSMM: “Do you have a girlfriend in America?”
Brad: “No”
CSMM: “Do you have a girlfriend in Russia”
Brad: “No”
CSMM: “Do you date Russian girls?”
Brad: “Yes”
CSMM: “Would you someday date a Moldovan girl?”
Brad: “Yes”
CSMM: “OK come back soon”
Note the methodical progression of questions. As soon as he told me that his fruit-lady asked him where he was from, I knew where the conversation was headed. It’s seems Brad will soon be set up on a date. Once I wasn’t even offered a date, it was just, “will you marry my daughter in Moldova?”
Troop Transports Lined Up Along Pushkin Square
As I wrote earlier, the “March of Dissent” was held on Saturday. Originally, the organizers had wanted to hold the rally in Pushkin Square, the traditional Moscow location of protest. The government eventually denied the request, and told them to hold the rally in a location further from downtown. Plenty of people were still planning to meet at Pushkin Square, so I decided to go and see what would happen. It’s no secret that I don’t particularly like the organizers of this march. I don’t agree with most of their politics, and I don’t think that they offer any sort of reasonable alternative to Putin. Unfortunately, what I saw on Saturday has me much more sympathetic to them than before.
On Friday, as I was waiting to meet a friend on the square, some cameramen from The Associated Press came over to ask me some questions about the march. When they found out I was a foreigner, they told me I could answer in English, though the question was posed in Russian. They asked, “It is estimated that 20,000 police will be in Moscow tomorrow, brought in from other regions. Is that an appropriate response to the March?” I answered that I didn’t care how many police the government brought in, the important thing was that the protesters be allowed to march freely. If that happens, then the number of police is not an issue. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was foreshadowing the next day’s events.
On Saturday I found the monument to Putin, and it just so happened to be by the monument to Pushkin. This is Pushkin Square on the day of the “March of Dissent.” The whole thing was cordoned off by police, so it wasn’t possible to enter. Instead, there was a pro-kremlin youth rally. I’m busy getting ready to go to St. Petersburg tonight, I’ll hopefully get my “march” entry up tomorrow explaining the complex and absurd politics surrounding the “March of Dissent.
Thanks to Peresedov for the picture, I was on the other side of the square, and not able to see.
The biggest political issue over the past few months in Russia has been the “March of Dissent.” It’s hard to get all the English news on it, because it’s name is Russian is very difficult to translate. Technically speaking, Марш Несогласных (Marsh Nesoglasnykh) translates into “March of Those Who Disagree.” The various english translations range include “March of Disagreers,” “March of The Discontented,” and “Dissenter’s March,” among others. I prefer “March of Dissent.” Yes, it is a grammatical change from the Russian, but I think that it is much more aesthetically pleasing in English and retains the essence of the phrase.
The first such march took place in Moscow on December 16, followed by one in St. Petersburg on the 3rd of March, and again in Nizhnyj Novgorod on March 24th. They were planning a repeat in St. Petersubrg on the 15th of April (this Sunday). The Governor nixed the idea. Instead, they’re planning another main rally here, in Moscow, tomorrow at noon. Some demonstration might happen on Sunday in St. Petersburg, though it’s illegal, and only the hardcore people will be there. I had planned to go to St. Petersburg this weekend to cover the march, but after this change of plans, I decided to stay and see the Moscow march. It’s a 40 minute walk from my apartment.
I will write more about this next week, but the March has a lot of people torn, including me. I don’t agree with a lot of the policies that have been imposed over the past few years, but I understand why most of them were implemented. Yes, there is an anti-democratic bent to a lot of them, but they are also about bringing order to a system that was chaotic and corrupt. While it may still be corrupt, the centralization of power could be used to cut down on that corruption. If Russian, I would prefer a more much democratic, market-based system than that which exists, and would not vote for the ruling party, but one of the liberal ones that currently have no representation in Parliament.
What, you might ask, do “Those Who Disagree” not agree with. In one word, Putin. If this march had some sort of coherent message about freedom, democracy, and capitalism, I would support it. It, unfortunately, is instead an attempt to stir up people for the personal gain of the “political” leaders involved. For the past few weeks, they have been handing out a newspaper with articles about the organization. On the back it reads: “If you are a Liberal, come to the march.” “If you are a Communist, come to the march.” “If you are a Nationalist, come to the march.” You don’t need deep background knowledge of Russian history to know that Liberals, Communists, and Nationals not only have nothing in common, but hate each other. Let’s just say that in some magical fairy world this march succeeded in overthrowing the existing order in the upcoming Parliamentary and Presidential elections. What then would happen? These disparate groups could in no way put together a ruling coalition. It would simply plunge the country once again into chaos.
The organizers of the march love to play up the “fight the power angle,” and talk about how Putin is leading a fascist regime. To prove it, they point to the fact that police were involved in some rough arrests of marchers. Well, take a look at these pictures. That would be the Dissenters beating on cops. Mind, these aren’t just regular beat cops, they’re OMON, the Russian equivalent of SWAT. If I such protestors in America attacking cops like that, I wouldn’t be too upset over any resulting rough arrests.
The Russian government is taking this group very seriously. Their official site has been shut down, which was the main way that they were coordinating activity. Of course, I don’t agree with shutting down NGO websites, but it’s an understandable response from the government. OMON cops are being bussed in from neighboring regions. I was standing today on Pushkin Square, and there is already a police presence. While there, I was approached by some AP cameramen who asked if I wouldn’t mind responding to a few questions. I told them that I didn’t speak Russian very well, but they said I could answer in English. They told me that there would be around 20,000 officers on the march tomorrow, and did I think that was an appropriate response. I said that I wasn’t concerned about the number of officers, though yes, I think it’s overkill. The issue is whether or not the people assembled will be allowed to have a peaceful march. If there’s a lot of cops, but they don’t interference in a peaceful assembly, then there’s no problem. If however, they try to intimidate and disperse the crowd, then that’s an issue no matter how many cops there are. If, however, the protestors decide to turn violent themselves, then that justifies the government’s decision.
Today, the Guardian reported that a leading Kremlin critic is “plotting the violent overthrow of President Putin from his base in Britain after forging close contacts with members of Russia’s ruling elite.” Berezovsky’s comments will certainly give the government even more justification for the overwhelming police presence, and may even provide a pretext to disperse the protest by arguing that it is the begining of his “violent overthrow.” He claims that “it isn’t possible to change this regime through democratic means,” which is absurd. Russia is a functioning democracy. Are there problems sometimes with voting, of course. By and large, however, the people support United Russia (the ruling party) and they love Putin. If they really wanted change, and if there was some credible alternative, which is lacking at the moment, then the system could easily be changed through the ballot box. If Berezovsky’s coup worked, it would simply be another in a long string of violations of democracy meant to help a small, select group of people.
I wanted to get something out before the march tommorrow, even if a bit rambling. I’ll write something much more in-depth next week.
One of the most popular places to meet, at least for me, is Pushkinskaya Square, named after Russia’s most famous author. A colorful character, who Russians think is famous around the world. On said square, there is, quite logically, a statue of Pushkin. It is also a major metro stop, at the crossroads of three lines. In St. Petersburg, when you want to meet someone at the metro, you just say the name and meet up top, outside. In Moscow, however, each station usually has multiple exits. As I learned the hard way, when someone says lets meet at metro “x,” it means downstairs, on the platform of that station.
Sometimes you want to meet someone, but you’re not coming from the metro yourself, so why pay money just to meet someone downstairs? Thus begins the difficult task of pinpointing at exactly which exit to meet. At Pushkinskaya, there are three lines that meet, and the street level exits are quite far from each other. One of the easiest ways to specify is to meet at the monument to Pushkin. Almost everyone knows where it is. Having studied politics over here, and not literature, I often blurt out another name that begins with “Pu-” and ends with “-in.” Sometimes it elicits laughter, but most often confusion when I say let’s meet at the monument to Putin. It usually takes a few moments to realize that I mixed them up, again. I wonder how long it will take before there is such a monument, and where it will be located?
On April 12, 1961, the first human being, Yuri Gagarin was sent into space. Ever since, this day has been celebrated as “Cosmonautics Day.” In the Soviet Union, in an effort to boost worker pride, almost every profession has a “Day.” There is, for example, Student’s Day, Metal Worker’s Day, and Oil Worker’s Day, to name just a few. When I heard about “Den’ Kosmonavtiki,” I thought it was the same, Astronaut’s Day. Without getting into ridiculously complex Russian grammar, however, this word construction wasn’t right.
I asked a friend why it wasn’t called “Den’ Kosmonavta,” which would translate to Astronaut’s Day. She explained that “Kosmonavtika” was a science, and included everything necessary to put people in space - from scientists and technicians to space suit weavers. After all, putting Gagarin up was a team effort, so why should only astronauts be celebrated. Makes sense. I urge you all to join with us in celebrating “Day of the Science of Putting People in Space.”
While I admire the discipline, dedication, and bravery of Yuri, Polina gets my vote for favorite Gagarin. Her song “Я Твоя” was my favorite from last spring. “Колыбельная,” is also pretty good. It means “lullaby” and was her first single, after competeing in two reality music shows (sort of like American Idol)
Wordpress is installed, but I’m having some problems transfering over my old entries and getting my archives to match up. For the time being, you can see the old site here.
Unfortunately, I’m having some problems with the finer details of installation. Specifically, I need to learn how to create a .htaccess file and set permissions correctly so that WP can import my old MT entries.
Update: Most of the problems have been fixed. We are operational, and comments are finally open again, after two years of downtime!!! There’s definitely still some work to do, but we’ll be open during the rennovation. If you have any suggestions about site design or layout, feel free to leave them in the comments of this post. Should I keep a darker background and design, like the old page, or something brighter?
My comments have been broken for two years now, and I’d really like to get them fixed. In order to do this, I want to switch from MT to Wordpress. If anyone has any suggestions on how to make this move easier, please email me, I’d much appreciate it. I’m a bit behind the times, I should have made this move two and a half years ago. I won’t be updating until the shift has been made, and I hope that will be done this weekend.
Random email goodness. I tried to find out who wrote this, but it seems to be one of those forwards that just appears.
Excerpts from a Dog’s Daily Journal:
8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!
Excerpts from a Cat’s Daily Diary:
Day 683 of my captivity:
My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength.
The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an
attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the floor.
Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates of what I am capable. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a “good little hunter” I am. The audacity!
There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of “allergies.” I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.
Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow but at the top of the stairs.
I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded!
The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe for now….
Kostya and I went to a new church on Sunday, and afterwards they had brunch at an apartment. Upon leaving, Kostya noticed an odd number of identical shoes, literally.
We subsequently found a fourth shoe hidden away in a nearby closet. Proving, we hope, that they belong to two separate children.
