The return of the living dead

A couple of days ago, in Oxford, I listened to a report about Russia.

The English professor (they used to be called "Kremlenologist") told the audience that the Russian elite is configured for modernization. When Putin’s regime is aiming (this will once happen: sanctions, oil prices, political isolation will take their own), the progressive elite will lead the democratization process, the condition of which in recent years is not blooming. But democracy will certainly bloom; There is a desire to bloom; Here are a little more, and investors will pour in Russia again, etc.

No, the professor was not an idiot. And he was even a relatively informed person. He used the words "Skolkovo" and the names of the oligarchs. And the words "progressive elite" excited the listeners.

A wonderful lady sat beside me - we are good friends - who said that she was going to buy an apartment in Moscow, but for now she was renting a hotel room every month - presidential apartments, naturally; This is a wealthy lady. But he is thinking and buy an apartment: elite real estate is getting cheaper, it's time. Life is not worth it, so the professor assures that everything will work out.

The professors were asked from the audience what "modernization" is in relation to Russia; Of course, I would expand the question: what is it? But they asked narrowly: what is this modernization in Russia?

The professor explained that every person strives to live in a big city, use an iPhone, broadband Internet, pay a credit card, and monitor the novelties of cinema. This is modernization.

I repeat: he did not seem a fool, and he was not crazy either. He runs into Russia, speaks perfectly in Russian, entering various collars.

The professor handed over the general mood of wealthy Russian people correctly: when the fascism smok in Russia will pass, it would be possible to return to the previous life, because it was great! And it will be even better than the previous one: museums of contemporary art in Perm will again grow up, again rich governors will invite intellectuals with lectures about Andy Warhole in Chita; Again, publishing houses, where Columnists receive ten thousand dollars for a weekly column "Why I hate totalitarianism" will own the minds. Oh, come back, the Golden Age! Progressive glossy magazines "Mesoninchik" and "Leisure of a free person"; curatorial; realization; PRAI; corporate parties. All this abundance was only for a moment to constrain ice, “frozen”, in the words of one Russian dialect, but soon the rays of democracy will melt the snow of patriotism.

I did not ask him a question about the elite, although I wanted to ask who this progressive elite is - whether it was possible with a biography. But he did not ask, the lecture ended, as always, a buffet; They raised the glasses for the revived (in the near future) Russia.

And again, with a total efforts, wise with experience, taught by the bitter lessons of patriotism - we will create a viscous warm environment in which the country was squinted for fifteen years in a row

The next day, looking at the Russian newspapers (Donbass, Motorola, Patriotism, Putin, the Fifth Column, Import substitution, we did not violate the Budapest Agreement, etc.), I came to the message that the government was considering the closure of the Institute of Nanotechnology and Skolkov as hopeless and loss -making projects. Perhaps, of course, these are intrigues of the authorities, but in reality Skolkovo not only spends money, but also creates something; It is equal to nanotechnology, perhaps not only a consumable article, but also the path to discoveries. But I believe it badly.

True, against the backdrop of disappointments in nanotechnologies and in Skolkovo, a ray of hope also flashed: it turns out that an Open University has already been created - an oasis, where the same people who have been imposed in society yesterday will try to plant it again for future generations; They will try again to reach the hearts of Russians. Not everyone, of course, can reach, errors will again happen, because how many unrealized opportunities, unfinished villas, uncomputed expositions, unfinished dances. Gelman, Partenov, Erofeev, contemporary art, curators - not everything is lost, we will play back, we will return the lost corporate paradise.

And again, with a total efforts, wise with experience, taught by the bitter lessons of patriotism - we will create the viscous warm environment in which the country was squinting for fifteen years in a row. You look, for another fifteen years there will be enough empty conversations, we will still give an armful of bonuses, and then in this environment something will certainly start again.

And you know, thank you if Putin, Dugin and Prilepin with a motorcycle start again. Dinosaurs may well be started.

A simple mechanism of Russian history: brothel - barracks; bribe - chipper; Fat boyar - sinewy opera. That's all. The gears were ill, the details are rusty - but it works.

Maxim Kantor - writer and artist

Opinions expressed under the heading "Law" may not reflect the point of view of the editorial office