The era of degeneration

The holding of the football world championship in Russia and the successes of the Russian team - accompanied, of course, by national glee - allowed some of my colleagues to talk about the final design of the "postcrymal" political nation. Nation, which, it turns out, knows how to be one. In which, at the time of the success of the Russian team, everything is strongly happy - from a worker from Nizhny Tagil to a liberal publicist from St. Petersburg, from Putin to Navalny.

If I did not have my own experience of the football championship, I would think about the rationality of such assumptions. But I had such an experience - with the European Championship in Ukraine.

Then it also seemed that the Ukrainian political nation finally reached the desired unity that was not observed since the proclamation of independence and which could not be dreamed of against the backdrop of the confrontation along the East - West, Yanukovych - Yushchenko, Yanukovych - Tymoshenko. The championship was all happy about - from the Lviv restaurateur to the Donetsk Shakhtar. And this despite the fact that even then Yanukovych’s regime looked frankly usurpator and criminal, and the opposition leaders were sent to prison for far -fetched accusations.

Time showed that what was happening during the championship was not so much unity as with temporary oblivion, a drug of joy, drove the patient into a vein. The championship passed - and he was forgotten, as if it had never been. One thing turned out to be significant - preparation for it was a strong blow to the Ukrainian economy. And not only because there was no funds in the budget for expensive entertainment. And also because the conduct of international competitions in countries such as Ukraine or Russia becomes part of the corruption mechanism, an additional large -scale theft of money from the state budget. Sooner or later, this cannot but affect.

The Unified Ukrainian Political Nation was formed not on the days of the championship, but during the Maidan and the subsequent war with Russia. Nations are not formed at all thanks to spectacles, fireworks and trips on cars with flags. This is just a tinsel, a heavy hangover oblivion, intimate with his homeland for one night. To form a nation, a common goal is needed - only real, not playing. And, to my great regret, general trials. Life and fate. Here is what united in 2014 the West, Center, South and East of Ukraine.

And Russians today are not united by anything other than the short -term pride of fans. Only a few days will pass - and everything will still be. The worker from Nizhny Tagil will think about the elusive pension, the intellectual from St. Petersburg - about dying freedom, Navalny - about Putin's corruption, Putin - about power over the world. In fact, these people are not united by anything but living in the same territory limited by state borders. Even these borders now see many in different ways.

And in general, when the emergence of a political nation speaks during football championships, this indicates rather not about the origin, but the degeneration of this very nation.