Here's to you, Madonna, and a free country

When Vitaly Milonov was at the beginning of his journey in 1993-1994, holding the position of assistant to a deputy, the collection of Madonna’s best songs, released in 1990 in the States, which was included in the list of “500 greatest albums of all times,” was still being sold out all over the world. times according to Rolling Stone" and became one of the best-selling in the history of music. In 2006, being a world-famous performer and an active participant in charitable and human rights organizations, Madonna came to Russia for the first time with a long-awaited concert. Milonov then, for those interested, graduated from the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation with a degree in municipal management.

By the way, Andrei Kuraev, in the same 2006, during a radio broadcast, called Madonna a “fifty-year-old whore,” against the background of which Rogozin, who did not admit that he threw a stone into Madonna’s garden with his statement on Twitter, today looks like just a faded repeater. Still, from the deacon, forgive me, it will be fatter. Although, God bless this, it is not a subject for debate, and Madonna is far from an example of moral purity. And those who love her love her for very different things. For example, for good deeds. For example, after the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, Madonna donated 250 thousand dollars to the affected islanders. Milonov at this time, if anyone is still interested, somehow, through a scandalous election campaign marked by stories of bribery and falsification, became a member of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly.

And so, while Madonna donated money, made impressive speeches about humanity, advocating equal rights, drawing attention to the problems of xenophobia and homophobia, calling to stop the war in Iraq, Milonov consistently spoke out first against hookahs, then against the theory of Darwin, then director Sokurov and , finally, for the slogan “Orthodoxy or death!” And this is how it has always been, you know. The chances of meeting and at least somehow influencing each other’s lives, deputy Vitaly Milonov and singer Madonna, a citizen of the United Kingdom, were not only unequal; the life paths of these two people, it seemed, if they could intersect, it would only be somewhere in parallel universe. Well, or perhaps Milonov, somewhere in the Mariinsky Palace, in a conversation with a colleague, on occasion would have called Madonna an old whore, and that would have been the end of all the failed influence.

But this summer everything suddenly changed. And while the Mars rover Curiosity lands on the sands of the “red planet”, broadcasting videos directly from its surface, here on Earth, for violating the law banning the promotion of homosexuality to minors in St. Petersburg (the main brainchild of Milonov the legislator) against the singer or the organizers of her concert in Russia (it all depends on who exactly the deputy decides to sue) a merciless threat of a fine ranging from 5 to 500 thousand rubles has been imposed. That is, here’s St. George’s Day for you, grandma. Madonna has finished her game, the time for permissiveness is over, now we just have to return to earth and answer before the law. And then there is freedom, equality, justice, and then sex, debauchery, blasphemy, and he talks about some kind of hatred with enmity - no, we don’t have such problems, we just have gays to blame for everything.

However, jokes aside, of course, there is nothing funny about Madonna’s visit to Russia. Because the world-famous defender, albeit from the stage, but still of freedom of speech, openly declaring the demand for equal rights, the scandalous but very popular singer Madonna, known, I repeat, not only for her music, but also for her impressive shows, and for a past in which there is a lot interesting and controversial, which throughout her career attracted and continues to attract crowds of fans to her, comes to Russia, where she makes a couple of speeches and gives a couple of concerts, and receives a lawsuit from a St. Petersburg would-be deputy for this, accompanied by an action to burn her portrait Orthodox banner bearers.

No, of course, local actions against Madonna have always taken place and not only in Russia. We are not even talking about Poland or the Czech Republic, here we can immediately talk about the state of Israel, with which for some reason they like to compare us in light of the Pussy Riot case - Madonna is generally threatened with death there. As for Russia specifically, the queen of pop music, who dedicated a significant fragment of her Moscow concert to the girls from Pussy Riot, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, not only came to unfriendly Moscow, but ended up in the most unfavorable one. For a country, there is a period when everything that happens in it is so embarrassing to show to others that it would be better to refuse to receive guests altogether. But we can only count on guests and their support. But this is a terrible, humiliating situation for the country.

Here, in our 2012, Russian Orthodox religious and political activists first burn a portrait of the Madonna near the walls of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior along with portraits of girls from Pussy Riot (by the way, with open fire in a public place, provoking a situation that is much more threatening to public safety than a harmless "punk" prayer service”, which did not endanger it more than completely), as if declaring: this is not just an action of militant fanatics, but this entire country, which allows and to some extent approves of the ongoing trial, is gripped by the desire to burn. And now deputy Milonov is going to sue the singer.

Well, there’s no point in telling decent people that homosexuals are people too, and hatred is bad. There is, of course, a suspicion that the spectators of Madonna’s concert, buying tickets several months before the event, may have been her fans and, well, by some indirect hints they guessed where they were going, and even, probably, went exactly for what got it... but who really cares. The law, in which it is not entirely clear what is considered propaganda and what is simply an expression of one’s position, is above all else in our country. Some special concert in defense of freedom of speech. Especially when it comes to deputy Milonov, who convinced after the announcement of the slogan “Orthodoxy or death!” extremist, that there is nothing bad in him, and he brings to the masses exclusively good, bright and positive.

Still, this is an amazing ability in response to criticism to prove its absolute validity, managing in some cases to expose oneself to ridicule. No, I’m not a fan of Madonna at all, but I’m convinced that homosexuals are also people worthy of respect. And Orthodox activists burning someone’s portraits near the walls of churches do much more harm to religion than any concerts. However, what can I know about it? I just really want musicians, artists, directors and writers, guests of the country and its citizens, whoever they are, to feel free and safe here, and for the rest of the world to know that Russia is a country in which a person can live comfortably, because that his rights and freedoms are the main and real value. That's all. Too much? Probably, but who will forbid you to dream.

PS: Forgive me for my gloating, but while I was writing this post, this truly beautiful thing appeared)