Just when I thought I had already seen the 60th anniversary of Russia's victory in World War II hijacked for every conceivable cause, over two months after the date of the celebration, fresh off the plane from Uzbekistan last week, I happened upon an abomination that takes the cheapening of Victory Day to a new low. Someone decided to beautify a row of public toilets right next to Red Square by adorning them with the Georgievskaya lenta, or St. George's ribbon, which has become a symbol of the 60th anniversary celebration, set off by whimsical images of celebratory fireworks:
July 28, 12:35pm, near the entrance to Red Square.
This reminded me of how sometimes in the US you'll see slogans like "Say no to drugs!" and "God bless America!" emblazoned on plastic urinal cake holders which get pissed on day in and day out. Why do people do things like this?
I can't help but linking (for the second time - the first was here) to the website of the lucky company that appears to have the rights to franchise port-a-potties throughout Moscow. No doubt they were the secret lobbying force behind the defeat of the proposed ban on public beer-drinking. But wait - was that ban really defeated? Hopefully someone will comment and set the record straight. Maybe the public drinking ban is already on the books, but looking out my window here in Moscow I can't see any change in public behavior. Beer still seems to be the breakfast beverage of choice for many on-the-go Muscovites, not to mention what one sees later in the day.
Friday, August 05, 2005
Moscow, where the sacred is profaned
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3 comments:
You hit me right where it hurts the most. There are few things more abominable than the habitual beer drinking. I mean there are not evil Pentagon plots necessary to destroy Russia, we are managing ourselves just fine!
As for the ban, I've heard that it was passed, although I don't really follow the news that much... Hope, someone will be able to fill me in on this.
None of the "pervye litsa" (top leaders) of the country speak out enough about alcoholism and its role in Russia's demographic crisis, not to mention the proliferation of gambling establishments - slot-machine halls, etc. - one thing that in my mind may be worse than the incessant beer ads.
One of the last lectures in a Soviet Geography/Society class I had this past spring focused on the success of grass-roots AA organizations in Russia, because, according to the prof, they were similar to many aspects of kolkhoz life. One of the textbooks mentioned early evidence of this success in the mid-nineties--the book was from '99 though.
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