2012: already the third thaw ends in nothing

New Year's greetings

“Dear friends! Compatriots,” as L.I. Brezhnev would say in his congratulations, whom, compared to the current rulers, I now remember as a kind Grandfather Frost. “Another year has passed. It hasn’t been easy...

There’s no arguing about it - the year was certainly a great one... I would call it the year of a great experiment to create the seeds of a civil society in our country... Which, of course, failed miserably.

But here something else is interesting - what kind of force suddenly brought the people into the streets, who organized these rallies, processions and marches, and then took and turned off the switch? The people themselves, the opposition, the authorities or some higher powers?..

It seems to me that this was done by human nature itself, which year after year threw at us facts of theft, corruption and other abominations on an unprecedented scale, which would have caused any normal country to become alarmed long ago, and then looked with mute amazement at our silence of the lambs. They stole a billion, ten, a hundred, the whole country!... And silence. Endemic crime, incompetence and corruption! And again there is no answer. Visiting bandits travel around the country and shoot at local residents for fun! So it’s tolerance, and they haven’t hit us yet. Fantastic!

“Your mother, how much is it possible!..” - that same force exclaimed here, pressed some keys and brought the people out into the streets. The people walked around the streets, got tired, cold and returned home. What else could you expect from the country of the winning TV with three dozen free TV channels?! Turn it on soon, they will dance, sing and properly congratulate you on the upcoming holiday!

And on the surface, as happens after a powerful wave, only bubbles remained, loudly called the Coordination Council. For some time they will swell and gurgle, demanding television airtime, money and other material goods. But then they too will disappear, and the surface of our society will again resemble the wonderful Dnieper in calm weather, when it freely and smoothly carries what it needs exactly where it’s supposed to... It won’t rustle or thunder, it’s a finita la comedy, the third thaw in my memory has ended zilch.

Look at these faces , I've been photographing them all this year. These are the faces of a few brave people who believed the leaders and took to the streets, but they were taken and betrayed. Because the leaders decided that the revolution is something like a trip to a resort or a pop concert in the KDS - they are on stage in the rays of glory and spotlights, and the people are like free backing vocals: they shouted and dispersed, thank you for your efforts , see you again on air.

I think that the coming year will be unprecedented in the scale of the taking away of our remaining rights and civil liberties. But we deserve it, don’t we?

Happy New Year to you!