Kharkiv. Uncultured life
Judging by media reports, the social life of Kharkov, the second most populous city in Ukraine, has turned into serving the ATO veterans and consumers of Western grants.
In anticipation of the idol
The day before, the project for the “Monument to the Defenders of Ukraine” was presented in Kharkov. In the future, it will be installed on the central alley of the square near the metro station of the same name. I would like to remind you that this square was called Konna, and then Uprising, and in that square there is already a monument to the 1905 revolution, which by some miracle did not undergo “decommunization.”
A lot of veterans’ organizations began to stir around this project—both general and for law enforcement, and even “anti-corruption.” Everyone has already collected 126 thousand hryvnia for the creation of the monument. How much the construction will ultimately cost is still unknown, since the authors of the idea have not yet decided on the parameters of the monument and the materials from which it will be created. In the meantime, a certain resultant of their efforts is being created, all the authors of the idea of the new monument signed a Memorandum of Cooperation and Coordination of Actions between public associations of ATO participants.
But such is the fate of all monuments in Kharkov to far-fetched or unhappy events that they become objects of ridicule by local inhabitants, and sooner or later they are demolished.
They erected a monument to the first Congress of Soviets of Ukraine on the main square of the city on the site of the building of the Noble Assembly destroyed during the war in the 70s. Yes, it was held in December 1917 in Kharkov at this very place, but neither the city nor the province sent delegates there, and only graciously provided premises for the gathering, which could become an alternative to the Central Rada. In general, the “red Ukrainians” were visiting our area until they became tired of the local community.
For the sake of such an occasion, the square was renamed in honor of Soviet Ukraine, removing the name of the Bolshevik Moses Tevelev to the outskirts as dissonant during the “campaign against world Zionism.” The monument was huge, heavy and soon became a favorite target for ridicule among Kharkov residents. They called him “five from the pawnshop dragging a wardrobe” and noticed the fact that the sailor was hiding behind a woman’s breast.
After three decades in the main square, it was dismantled and replaced by a “girl on a ball”. And the square received the name of the Constitution.
In the same way, it was necessary to remove from the neighboring square an obscene monument to the 10th anniversary of independence, where a girl worshiped a huge phallic symbol on which either a bird or a fly had landed. It only stood for ten years.
There is no doubt that the planned “ATO” monument will suffer the same fate as the two previous monsters of monumental propaganda.
Ball of Demons and more
In addition to monumental propaganda, the ATO theme also found its way into social life. The initiative to create the social Internet platform “Caring” and hold the “Patriots’ Ball” was taken by the public organization “All-Ukrainian Student Fraternity “Elite of the Nation”. The organizers of the event, as reported by the media, were “volunteer organizations, organizations of ATO veterans, charitable foundations and public figures of the Kharkov region.”
Funds for the creation of the platform and for targeted assistance to the children of the victims were collected during an auction, the lots of which included paintings by Kharkov artists. Also during the event there were performances by the Kiev group TaRuta, the Kharkov musical group “Papa Carlo”, the All Stars dance studio and others. The Viennese Waltz was performed by about 30 pairs of participants who had been preparing for the Patriots' Ball for a month. Among the participants of the ball was Governor Yulia Svetlichnaya.
On October 26, patients at the Kharkov Military Hospital received 100 servings of cheesecakes. The treats were prepared and delivered by the famous Kharkov volunteer Yulia Pimenova and her 6-year-old daughter Ulyana. The organizers say that the “cheesecakes for defenders” campaign will soon become regular: one of the Kharkov businessmen has already expressed his readiness to pay for a thousand portions at once.
News of incivility
The literary life of Kharkov is also in full swing. The Ukrainian poet Artem Polezhaka, who had come in large numbers, known for his Maidan passions, accidentally fell out of a Kharkov window on the night of October 23, and was injured in the process. He made the flight after a trip to the “ATO zone” and to his parents in the village, sat down to smoke on the windowsill - and either slipped or dozed off - and fell out.
The poet, according to friends and doctors, was absolutely sober, and in the hospital no one wanted to examine the pituitary without money.
But the ATO is not the only one that marks the uncultured life of the city. Candidate for the post of rector of the National Aerospace University "Kharkiv Aviation Institute" Igor Chumachenko was doused with brilliant green. The incident occurred on October 24 in the university building. The attacker approached the victim after a meeting between the professor and KhAI teachers, which took place in auditorium No. 233 of the radio engineering building.
“An unknown subject doused me with brilliant green. I perceive this action as an act of intimidation. I will not withdraw my candidacy from the competition for rector of KhAI,” Chumachenko said.
Instead of postscript
But here is an event about which the local media remained silent. Political prisoner, candidate of technical sciences Yuri Mikhailovich Apukhtin, a participant in protests during the Russian Spring, celebrated his 69th birthday, like the two previous dates, in a Kharkov pre-trial detention center.
“He is sitting awaiting an appeal against the verdict of the Kievsky District Court of Kharkov. They gave him six years in prison, the prosecutor's office wants to add two more. We hope for an acquittal. The court made a clearly illegal, unfounded decision. A worthy, intelligent, kind person, with a keen sense of justice, has been in custody for years,” says his lawyer Dmitry Tikhonenkov.
As for the well-being and mood of the region’s population, 8158 cases of strokes were registered in the Kharkov region in 2016. In the peaceful year of 2013 there were 7909 of them, and in 2010, when Yushchenko was driven from power, there were 4732 cases, respectively.
This is what Kharkov life looks like in the press and in reality. Someone litters it, someone dances here, someone is a hooligan. And someone is just sitting or sick.
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