I am "Bandera"

Over the past few months, ideas about the boundaries of the possible have been smashed many times. When the confrontation on the Maidan was just beginning, I said: "It cannot be, they will not go by force, they do not need an international scandal." A week passed, and force was used. Then I said that yes, they use power, but they will probably not allow the victims - a little time passed, and the first dead appeared on the Maidan. Then everyone understood that the Maidan would most likely accelerate by force, with anxiety watched the events in Kyiv, but something incomprehensible happened: the “Golden Eagle” went on a hard assault and suddenly retreated. Snipers shooting from the roofs of buildings on people? No, no one suggested that: this cannot be in reality.

People - regardless of their political beliefs, education and language - cried in front of TV screens. I have repeatedly heard about it from completely different people. We cried for the dead, but, I think, from the shock: because this could happen at all. Not in the cinema, not in the abstract "hot spots", but in the very center of Kyiv, where many of us were, walked, sat in a cafe. And suddenly we ourselves became this “hot point”.

After the "snipers" everything turned upside down. Those frantic opponents of the Kyiv Maidan, who shouted a few days ago in angry impulses: “Crush the Maidan, they broke such a beautiful Kyiv and ruined the entire paving stones,” they suddenly changed their rhetoric and began to speak angrily to the then current president.

Suddenly, unexpectedly for everyone, the president escaped. On Saturday morning, TV screens were full of personnel from the Mezhigorye, demonstrating a jumping and tasteless luxury, in which the ex-Garant lived.

On the same day, a strange congress of deputies of all levels of southeastern regions was appointed in Kharkov. Those who carefully monitored what was happening understood that these two events were connected-and soon a rumor passed that Yanukovych was somewhere near Kharkov. But for some reason the congress turned out to be absolutely clown and empty. We realized that the plan for the separation of the southeastern regions broke, but did not understand why.

Very soon, the Verkhovna Rada removed Viktor Yanukovych. Kyiv rejoiced. In Kharkov, on this day the largest rally in support of Euromaidan gathered for all the time - it ended in the central square of the city. The calls sounded to destroy the monument to Lenin - a revolutionary euphoria.

For many who have lived in tension and constant anxiety in recent months, this day has become the day of liberation and joy. No, not about the fact that the regime will be overthrown, and not about the victory of justice - there are certainly few people in the last. Just because now everything will finally be calm. Reality will again receive the outlined boundaries-yes, others, since it will never be. It was a huge impulse to restore order, work, to leave head in peaceful everyday worries.

Others, especially those who did not realize the seriousness of the situation earlier, on the contrary, the time of anxiety has come. When, after the events that took place, I went into one institution, tense silence reigned among the employees, the air seemed to be ringing. No one smiled. Everyone was afraid. All the conversations were only about what happened. The fear of the “Bender” who is about to come before the ban on the Russian language (someone in the corner of his ear heard that some kind of language law was canceled in the Rada), that even a meager salary of $ 150-and there will be no more. But then several days passed, people began to calm down and get involved in everyday life. The defenders of the monument to Lenin remained on the square - it caused a smile rather than real fears: protecting the symbols of the USSR in 2014 - is it absurd?

At the same time, in a personal conversation, my acquaintance suggested that riots in the eastern areas will now begin. I did not agree with this, because I know that people are really politically passive. Many people believe that nothing depends on them, many passively obey the current government, whatever it may be. That active minority with pro -Russian sentiments could hardly significantly affect the situation and create riots in the city.

Apparently, not only we understood this: that is why on March 1, our boundaries of the possible were destroyed again.

Another ordinary Saturday day. The first day of spring. I return home from work and settled for a laptop, out of habit I open the news and turn on the stream of the local information agency Media Port. There is a broadcast from the Square of Freedom. I find myself in the last 30 seconds of the broadcast, when it is clear that some people step on the administration building, and then something similar to shots is heard. The broadcast is interrupted. What is this? We call each other. We find out the latest news. We see the people set to the knees, who were dragged from the administration building. We see a photograph of bloodied Zhadan. Pictures are mixed, reality cracks again at the seams. Blood massacre in the center of Kharkov. The humiliation of people, girls are spitting in the backs, insulting, people are put on their knees, beaten under the slogans of the fight against fascism ... with the participation of mercenaries from a neighboring (friendly) country.

All this resembles an old joke about the pioneer of Vovochka, who translated his grandmother across the road. "What, the whole class was translated?" “Well, yes, she resisted.”

Who are these people who have become a catalyst for aggression? Literally on the same day we find the page of the Muscovite VKontakte, which hung a Russian flag on the building of our administration. Information appears about visiting aggressive Russians. We believe right away. Indeed, local forces to arrange aggression, which we never had equal, simply would not have happened due to the nature of the population. Here we needed visitors, who were soon nicknamed "Russian tourists." They became a catalyst. And they continue to work. Just at the moment when I write this, Stream's broadcast from the rally near the Shevchenko monument in Kharkov, where Vitaly Klitschko performed, stopped. The gaps of the firecracker were heard. A person from the monument was 100-150 people with Russian flags. It was not noticeable for the police to intervene.

They say that they are going to “change” the “tourists” and arrange provocations on behalf of the “Right Sector”. The school of the Soviet KGB is felt, which was known who was known. We recall the story: the Soviet intelligence services on behalf of the OUN-UPA in Western Ukraine are organized by provocations against the local civilian population. The results of provocations are used in propaganda.

“Propaganda” now is the main word that does not come from languages. The greatest personal reaction is caused by me tools for Russian propaganda and local anti -Maidan propaganda. I will not talk about the fabricated plots of Russian TV with thousands of refugees from Ukraine, who are actually not, about the beast “Bandera”, who are also not there, and so on. The Anti -Maidan group VKontakte is a masterpiece of this propaganda. The fact that local residents went to defend the symbol/monument to Lenin ceases to seem so absurd. In this group - a photo of Soviet officers, and the flag of the Ukrainian SSR, and the photo of Stalin with a signature like “Where did I leave you?” And the photo of Soviet devices with mineral water, signed something like this: “Remember how no one stole a glass?”, And joyful pioneers in the sunlight. In addition to Soviet rhetoric, the imperial rhetoric is very strong: the Great Russia, the empire, the great and mighty Russian language, the unity of the Slavic peoples. Another tool for propaganda is an appeal to lower emotions, inciting xenophobia, right there is the use of images of Soviet propaganda (terrible mythical “Bandera”, Ukrainian nationalism as a frightening phenomenon and so on). All these tools reach their targets and work.

Are anti-Maidan struggling or pro-Russian citizens for something? Or only against something? I bow to the second. They are against changes. Any. For the conservation of the situation. For the soil under the feet and a sense of stability, which gives them belonging to the USSR or the new Russian Empire. Against incomprehensible innovations, against the "decaying West." It is strange that even now, when many relatives live in Europe, in the USA, Soviet propaganda continues to bear fruit. Selling America, rotten Europe, “stupid Americans”, who for some reason have one of the best universities in the world and Nobel laureates, all these cliches overwhelm the heads of our fellow citizens and pushing them, as it seems to me, to make one of the largest historical mistakes.

Non -Soviet propaganda works. She responds to those who have Soviet “codes” and “matrices” at an unconscious level. It seems that fans of the “Russian Empire”, whose position is somewhat different from the Soviet one, is still less.

If there is now some kind of conflict of opinions, then this is not the separation of the Western and Eastern, national and pro-Russian. This interaction in one field of two types of consciousness, very different, and one of these types is the consciousness of the “scoop”. At the same time, the “scoop” is hidden, unconscious, not explicit. This “scoop” is afraid of the emergence of a million “Bandera”, who allegedly go from somewhere and are about to come and capture everyone who protects the symbols of the “scoop”, around whom “soviet” stylistics is concentrated, this “scoop” passively obeys everything and always says that nothing depends on us. Now all this is very visible: in critical situations, what is smoothed on ordinary everyday life is very bright.

Reality has changed catastrophically quickly. Its usual boundaries were erased, and we prepared to determine the new reality in the new borders. All ideas about the previous reality suddenly stopped working. After the snipers, it seemed that the boundary of the possible was reached, then - the abyss, darkness, vacuum. Therefore, when my colleague for work in the first days of the victory of the Maidan and somewhere a week before the introduction of the Russian troops very calmly suggested such a course in the development of events, I laughed and said the same phrase: “This cannot be. They will not go against the entire civilized world. ”

In fact, neither I nor most of my circle of communication really evaluated the degree of Russia's involvement in the affairs of our country, which really takes place.

March 1, after the decision of the Federation Council on the introduction of troops into our territory, the world collapsed again.

It turns out that we, Russian-speaking citizens, want to protect from someone. Very strange. Who asked? Who infringed us? Over the past five years, I have been in Lviv four times, once in Ternopol and once in a regular Ukrainian village located in the Ternopil region. I have never seen the “Bandera”, I never felt discrimination on a linguistic feature. Being in Lviv, Ternopol and the Ternopil region, I spoke Russian with all the people with whom I had to cross, including in shops, transport and cafes. As a result of these trips, I have beautiful acquaintances and friends living in the West of our country. I never felt aggression, they always answered me politely. When communicating with my friends from Lviv, we usually had a bilingual dialogue-when they spoke Ukrainian, and I am in Russian. In Lviv, the presentation of my book, written in Russian and published in the Moscow publishing house, came as many people as in Kharkov and Moscow. With Ukrainian -language colleagues, we have repeatedly spent literary evenings, where we read poetry in Ukrainian and Russian languages ​​and translations of each other's poems. Within the framework of our capabilities, we always advocated the rapprochement and interaction of the Ukrainian -language and Russian -speaking cultures of Ukraine. After traveling there, I have the best impressions about Western Ukraine - these are pure, cultural cities inhabited by polite and friendly people. The only threat that exists at the moment is a detailed war with the Russian Federation.

- See Bandera? - No. - And they are here. - See the Russian military? - Yes. - But they are not here.

I have never seen such a unity of various people in a fit of condemnation of the actions of the Russian Federation. All those who were, for some reason, are hostilely to each other, began to communicate, call up, discuss what was happening, just find out how to do it. I have never seen such fear and disappointment among people, usually passively configured. Especially those who have a “hut from the edge” - that is, those living in the Kharkov region, on the border, began to worry very much that “it would affect them too.” Everyone understands that he will touch everyone. There were a lot of appeals to Vladimir Putin - with a request to stop the intervention. All this resembles an old joke about the pioneer of Vovochka, who translated his grandmother across the road. "What, the whole class was translated?" “Well, yes, she resisted.” All this resistance is nothing to the pioneer. Neither the condemnation of the whole world, nor the real situation in the eastern regions, it seems, is concerned. He systematically develops his script, the essence of which is known only to him. We can only assume.

From March 1, our speech has changed. Now we are making plans only with the addition of "if." “If everything is fine”, “If there is no war.” The design “if we live” from the speech for some reason disappeared: apparently, her usually her semi-heard character now looks completely serious.

The patriotic wave rose in earnest. Many suddenly felt a love of their land. Another breakdown of the usual boundaries is for us when Russia suddenly becomes an enemy. How can it be? Absurd. Russia, where our friends and relatives live, suddenly becomes a source of danger, an aggressor, an invader, unfolds an information war that affects its scale against Ukraine and Ukrainians, brazenly lies, grins its impudence, covers with absurd arguments and continues to follow its plan. Many had associations with Germany in 1938. The same rhetoric, the same national interests that seem to be necessary to protect. Many recall Austria’s accession to Germany and the accession of Estonia to the USSR. Very similar. Deja vu.

My friend is from Khabarovsk, who does not really know the Ukrainian language and lives and works in Kharkov for many years, suddenly begins to beat himself in the chest and say: "I am a bander, if you call it." I, having read the comments on our circulation of Kharkov writers against the entry of troops on the Echo of Moscow page on Facebook, I can’t recover for a long time: ordinary people write that we are traitors, Bandera, that we were paid for this paper, that we are fascists.

If a Bandera is a person who opens against lies, aggression, violations of all possible international norms, for human freedoms, for modern European values ​​and who has at least a fraction of patriotism, then yes, I am a Bandera. And there are many such-Bandera, speaking Russian.

In recent days, here we can observe a very rapid formation of a new identity - a Russian -speaking Ukrainian who is no less real than Ukrainian -speaking. And if earlier the boundaries of this identity were either blurred or not visible at all, now they are visible quite clearly.

Not only the boundaries of human, subjective reality collapse, but also all those norms that have determined the general world order in recent years. It turns out that you can easily and simply introduce troops into a neighboring peaceful country, hiding behind fictional reasons, continue to rest against these reasons - despite the fact that absolutely everyone sees their false character, to represent a letter of a certain citizen with a request to introduce troops, to say that this citizen who escaped from the country is the president. I really like the joke that has spread recently, characterizing what is happening: “You see Bandera? - No. - And they are here. - See the Russian military? - Yes. “But they are not here.” The degree of the absurd goes off scale. Kafka simply does not fall. Surrealists are resting.

Every night we go to bed with the realization that tomorrow we can wake up and see well -organized “self -defense” on our streets, consisting of military personnel of the Russian Federation. After all, all these provocations and aggressive actions in Donetsk, Lugansk, Kharkov are not just happening. There is an assumption that Yanukovych had to turn to the “fraternal power” with a request to introduce troops on the day when here, in Kharkov, a congress of deputies of all levels was held. Even then, some new country was supposed to arise on the site of the southeastern regions of Ukraine. It seems to me that those who tried to introduce it have not yet been refused from this scenario. But could they assume that here this scenario would not meet such great support among the population? We believe in the best, but prepare for the worst. So far, no one knows what will happen tomorrow. But now one thing is known: maybe everything. Even that which, by definition, cannot be.