"Ani Lorak is not worth the rotten tomatoes"

A participant in protest against Putin’s visit to the United States - about whether Ani Lorak and her similar artists should pay attention to America

The Ukrainian pop singer Ani Lorak in New York on January 16 begins its tour in the United States. Some representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora in America intend to arrange protests against its arrival. Their indignation is caused by the fact that, despite the annexation of Crimea and the direct armed intervention of Russia in the conflict in the Donbass, Ani Lorak continues to perform in Russia. In particular, on January 17, an action "Boycot concert of Ukrainofi Ani Lorak" will be held in Chicago.

"In memory of all those who died for our Ukraine, in honor of those who risk their lives for our Ukraine and for the future of our Ukraine, we will unite and do not allow a concert ... in Chicago, and throughout America, January 17, 2016. Let them sing to Siberian bears! There is a place for her!" - wrote Diana Goldak on Facebook, Ukrainian emigrant from Lviv. There were also calls to the American authorities not to issue ani Lorak to an entry visa. The singer herself declares that "her art is outside politics."

Ani Lorak (Karolina Kuek) in 2008 took second place at the Eurovision Song Contest, for which she was awarded the title of People's Artist of Ukraine. The victory was then won by Russian Dima Bilan, but at that time the post of Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko expressed confidence that it was Lorak that was supposed to take the first place. “Dear, dear and dear Ani! From the bottom of my heart I congratulate you on the victory at the Eurovision Council. That's so - on the victory. I know that you were the first, but chaste and delicate Europe could not come to terms with Ukraine to accept Eurovision twice over the past four years, ” Tymoshenko said, congratulating the singer.

After the start of the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Ani Lorak continued to perform on Russian venues, often appears on federal television channels in Russia. This caused indignation in Ukraine. In particular, on August 3, 2014, about a hundred protesters staged clashes with the police near the Odessa club Ibiza, where Ani Lorak was prepared. A similar incident occurred in Kyiv on November 26, 2014: members of the Freedom party organized the “corridor of shame” to the audience who came to the Lorak concert and tried to break into the hall of the Ukraine palace. Against the tours of Ani Lorak in Ukraine, the Minister of the Interior Arsen Avakov spoke out.

To arrange some kind of action around the arrival of Lorak in New York and other cities is to create a policy where it is not

A participant in the protest against the U.S. Came in September last year of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the native of Donbass, the physicist-physicist Dmitry Boldovsky believes that the protests against the tour of artists such as Ani Lorak are not needed. “They just need to ignore them, in other words, Lorak is not worth the rotten tomatoes,” says Dmitry Boldovsky:

- The very first instinctive desire was - you need to go and express your attitude towards this, let’s say, not very positive. What she does is not bad for me. But then, having thought a little, I decided not to do this. I know that there are quite a few people around me who can make such an emotional decision - to go there. But I would not join them. I believe that this is simply not necessary. The fact is that Ani Lorak and, in general, artists who periodically come here with such things are not figures of Putin's caliber. This is time. Secondly, they do not affect anything exactly. And if Ani Lorak performed in Russia, this is just the thing that is unsympathetic to many - then this was its decision. Thus, she probably earned money. This is an act from the series "Money does not smell." But there is no big policy. And to arrange some kind of action around her arrival in New York and other cities is to create a policy where it is not. This is time. And to make her unnecessary advertising - two. The best attitude to such things is just to vote with your feet or ruble, a dollar. Everyone can make their own individual decision. Even if she likes it as an artist, but performs in Moscow and believes that this is permissible in these conditions, you can simply not buy tickets and not go there.

- And how many share your point of view from those people who participated with you together in promotions against Putin?

- There are those who do not share. But I do not think that this will be an action of the same scale and the same organization as it was under Putin. I admit that there are people who are ready to just go out on an emotional wave and say something, to translate. But I don't think there will be a lot of them. I do not think that this will be well organized, as when Putin arrived. But there is a mood.

"Inflatable" hatred of the Russian language, all Russians indiscriminately - this is just a form of infantilism

- One of Ani Lorak will take place in Chicago. I tried to contact Facebook with one of the organizers of the protest. She answered me in Ukrainian, saying that he fundamentally does not want to speak the language of the occupation country. Is this kind of sharp statements, such moods in your circle create some kind of tension? Are there any difficulties in communication between people who came from different republics of the USSR, in connection with the situation that is now developing in relations between Ukraine and Russia?

- I have no such difficulties. There are no such things in my social environment. You can support the traditions of Ukraine, you can help the country, you can do it or this, but so that someone clings and stops talking just because of the language you speak, I have never heard anything like this. Probably, you are simply not too lucky with the interlocutor in this case. I see and hear similar things sometimes, in principle, they can have a different explanation. I communicate with different people, including "terrible" right -wingers. I never had problems with them in communication because of my Russian language, although they periodically put up the type “switch to Ukrainian”, but nothing more. I have many friends of acquaintances in volunteer battalions, I am friends with the head of the police of the Luhansk region, with army commandos. There were never any problems with the Russians with anyone - and this is with all the fact that they really do something, fight, and not just sit on the Internet. At the same time, these are motivated people - they are ready to risk life and health for the sake of belief. That "inflatable" hatred of the Russian language, to all Russians indiscriminately - this is just a form of infantilism. On the Internet to poured the Russian language - for them the most. I do not encounter this in Connecticut, but I know that this is found, this can be seen even on social networks. I would ignore such things as “cotton wool”, because in fact it is the same mental cocktail.

-It was already almost familiar when meeting a compatriot, first of all, to somehow understand - he is a “Crimean” or “Crimean”. Is this happening in the USA?

- There is no such problem in my environment. Probably, this is somewhere in the Brighton Beach area, where immigrants from the former USSR live compactly. Because there really are most people who left the USSR, but they remained mentally in the USSR, despite the fact that they lived here for many years. There can be such moments. With the beginning of this story, I really became more restrained in making dating. Because you can hear from a person things that I would call stunning, which spoil the mood for a long time, and you do not want to communicate with him. Yes, this happens. But this is a rather rare case. In those places where I live, this is the area of the Big New York, I don’t see this, because we have no “Crimea” as such. There are people with their views, with their more or less standard or non -standard views, but you are bad, unpleasant and you want to leave such things that when you hear, we don’t have that.

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  Andrey Sharogradsky

  International Radio Offer Freedom. Author and host of the information and analytical digest, podcast "Time of Freedom"

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  Alexander GOSTEV

  The editor of the RS information service, international observer, author and editor of the heading and podcast "Atlas of the World"

  Gosteva@rferl.org