Translated material
Navalny's nephews
“Government Decrees. Amendments to federal laws. Changes to the Constitution. (495) 606-…-…”. Such ads were found on the Moscow metro trains this week - next to the usual "Registration at the place of residence", "Prints, ...
“Government Decrees. Amendments to federal laws. Changes to the Constitution. (495) 606-…-…”. Such announcements were found on the trains of the Moscow metro this week - next to the usual "Registration at the place of residence", "Stamps, cashier's checks, medical certificates, sanitary books." The telephone number that I immediately wanted to dial turned out to be real: this is the Unified Information Service of the Office for Work with Citizens' Appeals of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation.
It was an underground action "Metrosticker". It was invented and made by three young men and one girl - Denis, Matvey, Mikhail and Tanya. How the posting went and how the public reacted - a photo report in Denis' LiveJournal, very funny. The post went straight to the top. The Internet public was delighted with the action and offered their own versions of announcements in the subway: “Cessation of criminal cases. Arrow translation. Extinguishing fires. I'll ride on Kalina.
And for a second I flashed: “War” is back? The Voina group, from St. Petersburg, which drew an erect penis on Liteiny Bridge (and when the bridge was pulled apart, the half-bridge-sized drawing turned out to be exactly opposite the UFSB building). The one whose leader Lenya Y. jumped on the hoods of the Kremlin cars, putting a blue bucket on his head. They did a lot of provocative things, artists, after all. And now they are in the "Crosses" - I don't remember what they sew, and what's the difference, because everyone knows that in reality their article is called "Dissent".
"Metrosticker" was invented and made by other guys who will certainly do something else funny. But not just funny - after all, they express their civic position, for which they want to be immensely respected. Her darling, in the form of a very talented banter, is expressed on the Web by the peers of Denis and Co.: Zhgun and Norwegian Lesnoy, Vasya Oblomov and Ilya Varfolomeev and many other smart, educated, caring people. By age, this is the generation of 20-25-year-olds. That is, Alexei Navalny suits them as uncles.
This generation - Navalny's nephews - has never seen another life at all. They don’t consciously remember the 90s, they didn’t swallow freedom alive, they didn’t see how the familiar world is collapsing before their eyes, and you are standing with a shovel and no one tells you whether to build a new one or clean up the old one. If you want business - well done, if you want an exhibition in Izmailovo - well done again. You are for the Whites - well done, you are for the Reds - again everyone is interested.
This generation is deprived of that amazing nutrient broth called freedom, in which new countries and civilizations are born. This deprivation makes them very creative in finding their "I". This generation will soon come to power and will govern us, because Putin is not eternal, at least physiologically. But it seems that they will come before this "physiological" comes, because they have in their hands the most terrible weapon - laughter.
They are joking, they are ironic and do not call anyone to the barricades with bestial seriousness. On the Web, a whole generation laughs at power. An entire generation laughs on the subway, in universities and offices. And I want to tell them that we were like that too. And that didn't stop my generation from depriving you of your freedom.
We are in ecstasy from our youth, freedom, mind, education, from involvement in various global processes - from culture to the problems of genetically modified products - we have passed the mold, it has grown and deprived us of everything. While we were at the forefront, punks, losers, suckers and losers went to work in the prosecutor's office and the police, in the KGB and the tax office. We were not interested in them - they did not read anything, did not know and did not want to know. And they took revenge on us, and showed who is the sucker here.
... The other day I was at a conversation in some filthy department of the Investigative Committee, on Presnya. I was interrogated by a pretentious boy of 23-25 years old. He did not know the laws and structure of his own investigating authorities, did not understand spoken language well and was very at odds with writing; his horizons made me dumbfounded. And in the next office sat the second, exactly the same. And the third. And again it's scary - not for myself anymore.