September is over and October has begun.
Is this special? It happens every year.
Well, that depends.
This October is special for a number of reasons. For example, it is hot in every respect. It is hard to recall a warm and dry autumn like this one. In addition to this (and perhaps precisely owing to this), the atmosphere beyond our eastern and western borders has grown considerably warmer. Orange phantoms have been prowling these vast expanses in recent days, with inhuman intensity. In conjunction with this, Ukraine has been showered with Russian films glorifying Russian weaponry, special services, and other muscles of the state. Nothing of the kind seems to have come from Belarus, but they are keeping close track of everything.
We are also alarmed by global warming. Out of the blue, Kyiv witnessed the Anticapitalism 2005 march, the first of its kind in our national history. Leftists had a fight with the young stalwarts of Bratstvo, but for some reason didn’t brawl with the militia — maybe they were tired from doing law enforcing work. And, of course, the government was formed. Well, not all of it, but most of it. The posts of justice and culture ministers have not been filled.
In other words, once again justice and culture are bringing up the rear or, rather, they have been pushed far into the background. That’s nothing new, nothing at all.
True, the cultural community is childishly waiting for wonders to be worked, treating the government like St. Nicholas, who will suddenly reach into his sack and produce a good, brand-new, and rich minister of culture. But in the end the minister won’t be new at all. I can tell you that for sure. Autumn is the time when light cobwebs float in the air, along with gossip and hearsay. That’s how we heard that our Kultur Genosse [culture comrade] may well be the director of the cultural preserve in Kaniv (not too bad a choice) or an administrator of mass cultural events, who can’t even organize a mediocre party, or a bureaucrat who under Kuchma held this post twice (which did nothing to improve the cultural situation), or the ex-mayor of Lviv, who is still fondly remembered in Halychyna for what he did to the city’s historic center.
But what is all this compared to eternity — the eternal, wonderful cycle of changing seasons and governments. Just like the inevitable arrival of autumn, all those gray, inconspicuous, and indefatigable bureaucrats have set about carrying out our — i.e., taxpayers’ — mandates in the wake of the colorful revolutionaries, who were childishly sure they were right. They are children of the late cold October.
So I very conscientiously suggest that all those who have once again undertaken to run things (culture included) should be called Young Octobrists.
First of all, this will allow us to adopt an indulgent attitude to their activities, and, second, to hope for the best, since Young Octobrists are followed by more mature, better organized, and responsible Young Pioneers, and then it is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the Komsomol — and to a bloc consisting of communists and non-party members.
Of course, the concept of distance is relative. On the one hand, there is capitalism, the bright future of all mankind; on the other, you could starve before this is achieved.
By the way, this morning was sunny and very humid.
