Russian soldiers marching on Red Square in Moscow. Reuters
Julia Smirnova, Ozy: In Moscow, Absurdity Is Routine
Julia Smirnova is a correspondent for Germany’s Die Welt newspaper.
In the greenish light, the doors open and dark human lava pours into the metro. The faces are earnest and sleep-deprived — of people who have been getting up for years on dark mornings to commute to Moscow to earn a piece of prosperity for their families, and for whom it wasn’t the first time in their lives that they had become poorer overnight.
A cheerful voice floats over the gloomy crowd from loudspeakers, as if there were a big party to celebrate. It announces that on this day 226 years ago, Russian troops had taken the fortress of Ochakov in the Russo-Turkish War. Ochakov is located in present-day southeastern Ukraine, in one of the regions that Russian president Vladimir Putin likes to call Novorossiya, or “New Russia.” Does anyone notice?
It is a country that is not never in the news, and its leader continues to evoke anxiety if not fear across the globe. But for the 11.5 million people in its capital city of Moscow, life in Russia is forging on in a curious way, bordering on theater of the absurd. Absurdity is part of daily life. And the higher its concentration, the less people seem to notice it, since they’re not only the audience but also have to get on with their lives in the middle of this play.
WNU Editor: After reading this commentary I would never want to go to Moscow .... oh yeah .... I forgot .... I do live here once in a while. This is a narrow-minded commentary (I am being very polite here) but one that unfortunately is shared by a lot of people in the West. Does Moscow have its drawbacks, yes .... is life in Moscow difficult, yes .... are politicians destructive and corrupt, yes .... is life better somewhere else, probably .... but I can say the same thing about any other city in the world.
2 comments:
WNU Editor,
One aspect of these "commentaries" that is often not mentioned, is that they are often made by Beltway Insiders,
People who have town cars sent to pick them up for interviews, with muffin baskets and bottled water.
They don't take the bus to work in Washington, or live in Carver Langston, this often is as close to "working class", they will ever get.
If you substitute "Moscow" and replace it with "New York" and change the population figures to represent the population figures for NYC this article in all respects would be 100% accurate except for Russian exploits in the Russo-Turkish war. Instead the cheery voice would be filled with the latest gossip from Hollywood or something equally trivial or stupid. Otherwise change Moscow for New York City and you'd be completely accurate!!
For that matter any big city in the United States would likely do. At least Houston, TX would where I lived for a time.
Frankly, I've always admired Russia's awareness of its history or at leas the one its leaders want it to be aware of. Whereas Russians are taught the virtues of its history, Americans are generally taught about how bad their nation was in its past. Having a positive view of one's heritage will no doubt be extremely helpful to them in continuing on strong through adversity.
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