RUSSIA
Saw a documentary a few nights ago about the inexorable decline of Russia. It was very well put-together and presented by Louis Theroux's more attractive, Russian-speaking brother, Marcel. Hard to believe that this huge, formerly great nation is now in such a terrible mess. The programme contained no great revelations: since the collapse of the soviet bloc, when everyone was poor but provided for (and knew their place and purpose in life), the new world order has benefited a tiny minority and left the majority bereft, poverty-stricken and directionless. Although communism was flawed, it gave meaning of a sort to the lives of its citizens. Freedom, choice and independence are only meaninful against the background of imminent, or at least some fledgling signs of prosperity. For the majority of the now-declining population, the concept of prosperity or material comfort does not even exist in the imagination. There have never been any realisable, attainable models in evidence to aspire to - either before or after communism (oligarchs don't count). Add a massive AIDS crisis and institutional corruption for a truly bleak picture.
The programme interviewed a businessman - one of those types who did well by sweeping up land and assets after the fall of communism. He looked exactly like Harry Enfield got up as a dodgy Russian businessman. He was in the process of securing himself a municipal appointment, wanted to clear away local housing to create a hotel and golf course, and had made allies of the local administration. When the residents tried to protest about the proposed demolition of their homes, they were chased by armed guards. Their behaviour was in the process of being criminalised. All par for the course, apparently. Of course, I may have re-told the events slightly more crudely than they were presented in the show, but the patterns of corruption are predictably along exactly these lines. (Fact: there is no Russian word for 'business'.)
Alcoholism is becoming all-pervasive and life expectancy across the country seems to have declined by eight years in the last 15 years. Life expectancy for men is now in the mid-50s. The birth rate is half what it needs to be just to sustain the current population which will soon, if trends are to be believed, become ravaged by AIDS.
Also, along the border of one of the former-USSR countries (Krygstan, Kazakstan?), there is a community of Meshket Turks systematically persecuted, harrassed and discriminated against by Russians. It turns out that 30,000 Meshket Turks are to be accepted into Buaffalo, New York... which suggests a decidedly dodgy and politicised US immigration policy.
It is hard to foresee how Russia will emerge from this period. Its problems don't seem to have a profile or receive any attention here, although policy-makers in back offices must surely be giving the situation some urgent attention - not least because the country is so rich in oil and gas. Also, I can't help thinking about the presentation of society in the great 19th century novels - in Tolstoy and Turgenev and Gogol, where of course things were less than ideal but compared to now, no less so than anywhere else.
All those great novelists, scientists and composers! And now look...
Saw a documentary a few nights ago about the inexorable decline of Russia. It was very well put-together and presented by Louis Theroux's more attractive, Russian-speaking brother, Marcel. Hard to believe that this huge, formerly great nation is now in such a terrible mess. The programme contained no great revelations: since the collapse of the soviet bloc, when everyone was poor but provided for (and knew their place and purpose in life), the new world order has benefited a tiny minority and left the majority bereft, poverty-stricken and directionless. Although communism was flawed, it gave meaning of a sort to the lives of its citizens. Freedom, choice and independence are only meaninful against the background of imminent, or at least some fledgling signs of prosperity. For the majority of the now-declining population, the concept of prosperity or material comfort does not even exist in the imagination. There have never been any realisable, attainable models in evidence to aspire to - either before or after communism (oligarchs don't count). Add a massive AIDS crisis and institutional corruption for a truly bleak picture.
The programme interviewed a businessman - one of those types who did well by sweeping up land and assets after the fall of communism. He looked exactly like Harry Enfield got up as a dodgy Russian businessman. He was in the process of securing himself a municipal appointment, wanted to clear away local housing to create a hotel and golf course, and had made allies of the local administration. When the residents tried to protest about the proposed demolition of their homes, they were chased by armed guards. Their behaviour was in the process of being criminalised. All par for the course, apparently. Of course, I may have re-told the events slightly more crudely than they were presented in the show, but the patterns of corruption are predictably along exactly these lines. (Fact: there is no Russian word for 'business'.)
Alcoholism is becoming all-pervasive and life expectancy across the country seems to have declined by eight years in the last 15 years. Life expectancy for men is now in the mid-50s. The birth rate is half what it needs to be just to sustain the current population which will soon, if trends are to be believed, become ravaged by AIDS.
Also, along the border of one of the former-USSR countries (Krygstan, Kazakstan?), there is a community of Meshket Turks systematically persecuted, harrassed and discriminated against by Russians. It turns out that 30,000 Meshket Turks are to be accepted into Buaffalo, New York... which suggests a decidedly dodgy and politicised US immigration policy.
It is hard to foresee how Russia will emerge from this period. Its problems don't seem to have a profile or receive any attention here, although policy-makers in back offices must surely be giving the situation some urgent attention - not least because the country is so rich in oil and gas. Also, I can't help thinking about the presentation of society in the great 19th century novels - in Tolstoy and Turgenev and Gogol, where of course things were less than ideal but compared to now, no less so than anywhere else.
All those great novelists, scientists and composers! And now look...
 | If I were a Dead Russian Composer, I would be Dmitri Shostakovich! I am a shy, nervous, unassuming, fidgety, and stuttery little person who began composing the same year I started music lessons of any sort. I wrote the first of my fifteen symphonies at age 18, and my second opera, "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District," when I was only 26. Unfortunately, Stalin hated the opera, and put me on the Enemy Of The People List for life. I nevertheless kept composing the works I wanted to write in private; some of my vocal cycles and 15 string quartets mock the Soviet System in notes. And I somehow was NOT killed in the process! And Harry Potter(c) stole my glasses and broke them! Who would you be? Dead Russian Composer Personality Test |
