Oleksandr Volodarsky is an action artist from Luhansk. He has a popular blog. On November 2, Volodarsky and an anonymous female partner stripped in front of the Verkhovna Rada and imitated having sex in full public view. They described this performance as one aimed at attracting attention to the actions of the National Expert Commission on Public Morals.
To quote from the blog’s supportive message, this act was meant to “attract public attention to the intolerable situation with massive violations of human rights in Ukraine, which is the result of its ignominious legislation and the ineffective, unprofessional work of the National Expert Commission on Public Morals.”
The young man was arrested and charged with “an act of hooliganism perpetrated by a group of persons” under Article 262-2 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code. On November 4, the Pechersk District Court ruled to hold Volodarsky in custody for two months for the duration of investigation into his case.
Indecent public exposure, especially with two naked bodies and especially when the two are imitating it. Horrible, isn’t it?
However, where can decent formulations be found for the indecent conduct of our ranking bureaucrats? The two young people simply performed their quiet, brief, and dangerous act in front of one of Europe’s largest whorehouses. As for those against whom Volodarsky protested by staging his “act of hooliganism,” they never imitate anything — these politicians and bureaucrats are raping Ukraine, doing so every day, insolently, aggressively, and without any pangs of conscience.
Against the backdrop of this political orgy in parliament and the Cabinet’s offices across the street, what these two young people did is child’s play. However, Ukraine’s power-wielding perverts are not content with what they have done in the political, economic, judicial, and other spheres. Now they want to have our culture under control — precisely the reason why they set up the above-mentioned commission. The latter’s payroll uses our taxpayers’ money and it assumes the right to determine what we are allowed to watch or read.
What Volodarsky did under the circumstances was a perfectly logical and rather restrained action. After all, there was nothing radical about it. In Western democracies — with which we are supposed to integrate — such nude public acts are standard practice; they are staged to attract public attention to certain problems — something we might find ridiculously unimportant, compared to our own. Our domestic problems are too horrible; we have to shout out loud about them, yet our society does not seem to heed any such outcries. So what are we supposed to do?
Volodarsky and his supporters hit the bull’s-eye. From the outset the repressive machine started making a Luhansk-based blogger into a true hero. Even now it is clear that he will be meted out a harsh legal punishment for doing something that has not harmed anyone or anything. Two months in custody pending trial, being denied the right to receive parcels with warm clothes, and with attempts to impose an information blockade produced an effect that was the exact opposite of what had been intended.
Only very recently Volodarsky was a lone freak. Today, he has thousands of supporters, and their numbers are increasing. On November 10, they picketed the Lukianivka Penitentiary where he is incarcerated. The following day they organized a rally under the motto “Cowardly Reading” in front of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kyiv. The stronger the pressure the government machine applies, the stronger the public counteraction, which is only natural.
A dictatorship can start in a variety of ways, often with professional bigots babbling about violations of public morals. One could shrug this off as a funny misunderstanding, but in this case the ignominious commission’s actions look like testing this society for its acceptance of an iron-hand regime. So far it is about banning movies (including productions boasting world-known directors’ names) and books by domestic authors. Our society does not seem to mind. Attacks are made on the authors during the launches of their books and art galleries are set on fire — our society does not care a hoot.
Now we have entered another phase when people who do not fit into our fixed — collective farm-like, to be precise — morals are thrown behind bars. If this society keeps silent, the result could be terms of imprisonment for even those who are now silent.
If my memory serves me right, the Nazis also started by combating “degenerate art.”
You can help Oleksandr Volodarsky by signing the petition at http://tisk.org.ua/.
I did just that.
