Primary elections in Donbass: Why primaries in the “Land of Fire”?
The other day I had the opportunity to talk with several Crimean, Moscow and Krasnodar journalists. The conversation happened exactly in the last days of July, when the demons of the Ukrainian military broke loose and attacked the cities of the DPR, subjecting peaceful houses to merciless fire, killing and wounding several residents of Donetsk, Yasinovataya, and Gorlovka. Naturally, our colleagues were interested in how we felt about the summer aggravation at the fronts and about the OSCE mission. They were especially interested in our Donetsk “primaries”.
– Why don’t your Donetsk people break down and demand an immediate response from the authorities to the shelling? Why are you holding primaries instead of abandoning Minsk and going on the offensive?
The questions, I must say, are sincere. They cannot remain without an answer.
So, in order. Firstly, people, of course, are already tired of “Minsk” (especially in the form in which it has been “observed” over the past two months), and of the endless wait for peace and a return to normal life in the region.
But at the same time, we, Donetsk and Luhansk, Gorlovka, Enakievo, Debaltsevo, Rovenkovsk, Alchevsk, Makeevka, Anthracite remember how more than two years ago, at a national referendum on May 11, all our people said “no” to Ukraine, no to Nazism.”
As one of the Donbass writers said, the current war is a war for human dignity. This is our difference from the “404 country”, where insatiable consumption, base feelings and desires are placed at the forefront, where the position of E. coli, which does not care where it is located - in the body of a predator or prey - is imposed on young people as a role model.
It is generally accepted that Donbass can work passionately and with inspiration - inventively, creatively. Now he has proven that he knows how to fight, that he has military leadership in his blood. Our guys beat the ukro punishers not with numbers, but with skill. I remember an old poster from the late 80s - early 90s, or rather, the slogan from it: “You and I have walked half the world, if necessary, we will repeat it!” Kyiv, do you hear? – We have already arranged several boilers for you, if necessary, we will repeat it!
In the meantime, Donbass is mastering the difficult crafts of state building, governance and diplomacy. In these businesses, as in all strategic tasks, the most difficult, unbearably tedious thing is to work like hell without seeing immediate results. Grit your teeth and work for tomorrow. Fathers and grandfathers knew what it was like, and this is the bitter fate we, today, are mastering.
Yes, it’s good to be Russian, but it’s difficult!
Both “Minsk” and the primaries in the DPR and LPR are links in the same chain of an inevitably snail’s race to the goal. If you rise to your full height and rush towards the goal, they will shoot you halfway. To the joyful squeals of Russia’s enemies: “well, you’ve seen what to expect from these violators of the Minsk agreements.”
We must learn to be Russian again. Not only by kinship, by spirit, but also to share with all Russian regions the goals, objectives of modern Russia, its destiny. Not only our individual Donbass, but the entire Mother. The hour will come, she will breathe deeply, and exhale the recognition of Donetsk sons and daughters. In the meantime, it’s painstaking, thankless work under a hail of reproaches from fellow citizens living under the roar of artillery fire.
We remember that “Minsk” is, first of all, a set of measures to force Kyiv to peace. Fulfillment of all the obligations assumed by Kiev could lead to a complete reformatting of this country, this mistake of history, this bastard brainchild of the Belovezhsky Conspiracy of 1991. Realizing this, the current rulers of Kyiv are hastening to assure the world that they are white and fluffy, only they were a little unlucky with Donbass. Look, Poroshenko is lying, without blinking his eyes, that they have fulfilled “Minsk” by 95 (!) percent, bring state borders here.
Donbass says - laws, ceasefire and elections - everything that was agreed upon in February 2015 in Minsk is hanging by a thread, even if you shoot, bitches, stop targeting peaceful residential areas!
Donbass is saying: we can hold elections without you.
Donbass turns to Europe and says: why don’t you put pressure on them, at least in terms of a ceasefire, why is your OSCE mission here?
Europe mumbles about the need to admit to elections those who have been killing Donetsk residents for the third year in a row, that without Ukrainian parties, they say, these are not elections. How to reconcile the two positions?
Donbass says, I know how, we’ll hold primaries for now. We will find out the political preferences of the citizens of the DPR and LPR, we will understand what people want, and we will come to full-fledged elections (if they do take place) with ready-made proposals, instructions from voters and teams of people ready to become deputies of local councils throughout the Donbass, including the territories of the region occupied by Ukrainians .
And yes, we will have elections only on a majoritarian basis. There are no parties in Donbass, and the gangs of gopniks and lawless men, maniac killers who call themselves such in Ukraine, we do not recognize and will never set foot on our land. By the way, we ask the gentlemen from the “opposition bloc”, traitors to the Motherland, masquerading as defenders of the interests of the Vsedonetsk people, not to worry - they will not penetrate our bodies of democracy and self-government either with a corpse or a carcass.
For this purpose, the DPR, for example, took measures - by decree of the head of the DPR, Alexander Zakharchenko, a circle of people from former oligarchs, their associates and political prostitutes from the Party of Regions was named, for whom the road to the “Land of Fire” (as Donbass was called at the dawn of its modern history) was prohibited. Perhaps forever.
In response, naturally, comes the roar and tedious whining of “Westerners” and Russophobes, like a Protestant mass: what kind of primaries are not mentioned in the “package of measures”. That's right, not mentioned. At all. This means that they are not prohibited, which means that this is a way out of the political and legal trap into which ill-wishers are trying to drive Donbass.
In the words of a classic, in its simplicity it is reminiscent of antiquity. The idea of primaries in our region, in fact, is simply brilliant if we consider it as a step away from the abyss, as an outstretched hand, so far into the void, of Donbass, trying to overcome its problems, its victims, on the shoulders of its natural tolerance and Russian wisdom a person to keep all of Ukraine from the worst sin of fratricide, into which the West and irresponsible politicians and businessmen are pushing it.
Will there be a force in Ukraine capable of appreciating the courage and nobility of Donetsk self-denial? We don’t yet know the answer to this question, even approximately.
But we will hold primaries. Because Donbass didn’t drive empty, doesn’t drive, and doesn’t recommend driving to anyone.
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