See also: March of the Millions
This issue cannot be described in Wikipedia-pragmatic style. It’s serious, emotional and controversial. Many support it, some oppose it, very few remain uninvolved.
I’m talking about the Russian March. This is a radical nationalist event, which gathers every year on November 4, the National Unity Day. In 2011, nearly seven thousand people came out into the streets of Moscow and marched through the Lyublino district in the south-east of the city.
From such events, you think you’d expect chanting about the precious uniqueness of the Russian nation and radical orthodoxy. But seeing photos of youngsters giving roman salutes, chanting Sieg Heil and carrying swastika-ridden flags put me into a catatonic state.
Trying not to sink into radical disapproval, hate and aggression, I will do what I do best—quote those who said it exactly as it had to be said. I am giving you a translation of a radio show called Mishanina (Radio Silver Rain) that aired November 7, as summarized by the radio station’s Dj Lucy Grin in her own show, Peremotka (Rewind). It is kind of a summary of a summary of a summary, but it does what it was intended to do:
Lucy Grin: I sincerely counted on Mikhail Kozyrev and Fyokla Tolstaya in terms of the competent coverage of the Russian March. And I was right to do so. The broadcast was full of emotions and contradictions that I fully support. There are situations when other points of view just can’t be allowed. Russian March is one of those situations. Hitler’s ideas and symbols of his horrid dictatorship cannot be idealized in the country where 20 mln people were wasted at war with the Nazis.
Mikhail Kozyrev: I actually support the idea that the “Sieg Heil” sign is to be criminally prosecuted.
Fyokla Tolstaya: And don’t we have that kind of prosecution?
MK: Our police guarded this march, standing along it all the way. They don’t punish for “Sieg Heil” in this country.
LG: And as for the swastika, I’m really offended by what they’ve done to it. In my opinion, this is the most beautiful symbol on Earth. This is the symbol of the movement of life, Sun and prosperity. And we associate it with a cruel regime, which is all founded on anti-humanism. I don’t get it. Why do we willingly give them all these sacred things? And then, what if they appropriated the Christian cross? What would we do in that case?
Listener: Well, that Tajik girl was supposedly killed by fascists, and she turned out to be a drug dealer’s daughter. I mean, they intended to kill him but killed the girl instead.
MK: Does it justify his actions in any way?
Listener: It does. Absolutely.
LG: Hilarious, right? All these squareheads just love sporting the idea that Caucasians behave like they have just came down from the mountains they had been born at. Just listen to their principles, to their thoughts. They behave like savages. And that lovely story about the drug dealer, father of the murdered girl, Khulshita, was told by some lunatic priest. Later on it was blown up in the tabloids and caught up among skinheads. And in fact the girl’s dad was a salesman at a market. FYI, he was selling used clothes, not heroin.
MK: Well, of course I am against the horrid situation the region is in during Kadyrov’s regime. I’m even more amused by the fact how people just love counting the money that were used for “feeding” that region. But they keep ignoring the money that flows into our president’s accounts in the Western banks. Somehow that fact doesn’t bother people enough to organize protests. And trust me, I’m sure of it. We’ll survive these 12 years and afterwards.
FT: Misha, you’re right, of course. But let’s not mix all these topics and speak based on the facts.
MK: Somehow we started counting the money doled out to the Caucasus. Money is being stolen all across the country, at every corner of every street. But no walkout against corruption gathers so many people as the Russian March did.
FT: In all of the country. That’s true.
LG: Interesting fact: the majority of those who went to the Russian March seriously consider themselves orthodox Christians. That amuses me a lot. God, faith, freedom, love and compassion—they are best illustrated with the surgical masks that cover faces of our heroes.
MK: One of our listeners wrote an ironic message: “You are so right, Mikhail! Kadyrov should have a golden stadium and a golden life. And we’ll be fine; we’ll get through without electricity or normal roads. It’s all about peace and tolerance, right?
LG: Dear listener, are you in your right mind? Who appointed Kadyrov to his position? Me? Or maybe Kozyrev or Fyokla? All these marching chumps—do they think that Putin is Uzbek? Or maybe Medvedev is Armenian? Here they are, your poor Russians, who own watches, which cost decades of fully supporting the life of one Russian village. That same village, the fate of which Russian nationalists love to grieve about. But marching against Putin is tedious and has consequences. It’s much easier to crash several shops and beat up an Armenian boy, 10 on 1. And these people use the roman salute, from heart to the sun!.. How dare they!”
There isn’t much to add. I just applaud these people, thank them for their sincere opinions.
