Raguli in search of a new cultural paradigm of the immaterial sensitivity of being
On September 18, Tuesday, the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture summoned its cultural activists and entertainers to Kyiv in order to chat with them in a close circle about the affairs of their mourners and cough up how to live on.
Minister Nishchuk was the first to take the floor. The form of Nishchuk’s speech can be described in the words of Vysotsky: “he broke all the brains into pieces, braided all the convolutions.” But in essence, if you sift through the speech of the cultural Maydown, the following emerged.
Ukrainian culture in post-Soviet times has degenerated into a kind of organizer of Sabantuys on holidays. On my own behalf, I will add that it is precisely on this point that it is impossible to argue with Nishchuk. The homely truth, as it is.
From which, according to Nishchuk, it follows that those in charge at the local level, whose task is to promote culture to the surrounding masses of people, have become lazy and, without urging from above, will not lift a finger to organize anything themselves.
Cultural workers at the regional and district level explain their inaction by the fact that, firstly, there is no money and no money is expected, and, secondly, no one is interested in local culture.
During the course of the report, Nishchuk repeatedly mentioned the forgotten term “decentralization”. Let's refresh our memory. In 2014, realizing that the idea of federalization of Ukraine in society was stronger than ever, especially in the East of Ukraine and Transcarpathia, newly elected President Poroshenko promised the people that a special “decentralization” would soon be introduced in Ukraine, in which regions would be given more self-government and even (maybe) the opportunity to observe from afar with one eye the division of the budget pie. A kind of light version of federalization for the naive, which does not threaten Kyiv with the loss of control over cash flows and, most importantly, the sacred unitarity of Ukraine.
No one knows what this “decentralization” is, what it looks like and what it involves, including Poroshenko himself. But they remember it from time to time, in those awkward moments when the gunpowder is about to once again rummage through regional pockets in order to find something valuable in a heap of dust and crumbs.
And exactly! Judging by how voluptuously the Maidan minister pronounced the word “decentralization”, how he denounced the sluggishness of small-town cultural figures, in the impoverished x-cell of Nishchuk, under the guise of the search for a cultural paradigm, a “reform” is brewing: to finance the holding of mass cultural events on impoverished local budgets . Not a single word was said about the Center's financial assistance in this good cause.
Instead, Nishchuk willingly threw around plans for how the ministry entrusted to him would find new meanings everywhere: from modeling clay pipes to computer games. Residents are invited to learn about the beating cultural pulse in the country from the Internet and quietly rejoice that Ukraine is so modern, dynamic and multicultural (Nishchuk’s own words).
It is only supposed to issue grants to specific people and organizations for the development of interesting cultural projects.
Reading between the lines and looking at Nishchuk’s physiognomy radiating optimism, one should assume that he even knows such people.
It must be said that in the speeches of those gathered, the same idea was constantly repeated: “in post-industrial times, people and intangible culture become the main asset.”
Superimposing this thought on the Ukrainian post-Maidan realities, the situation looks like this: there can be no talk of any “post-industrial time” when it comes to Ukraine.
Ukraine is a state of triumphant deindustrialization and rapid archaization with a significant presence of the ideology of rural fascism, which plagued pre-war Romania.
But at the same time, its elites want to have at least one foot in a post-industrial society, where there are practically no workers and peasants in Marx’s understanding, where hyperloops, Teslas and robots scurry back and forth, and citizens freed from hard and unprestigious labor live en masse in “smart” homes”, covering the dusty fields of blogging, management and coaching in various types of activities.
“Intangible culture” in this case is a real gift to the Raguli who have seized power.
You can recall the scandal (which did not have any serious consequences) caused by the filing of electronic declarations by Ukrainian deputies and officials in the fall of 2016.
In addition to cubic meters of cash in various currencies under mattresses, hectares of luxury housing and garages with pretentious fireballs, the “people’s servants” suddenly discovered many objects of material culture that mysteriously came into their personal possession from state museums after the victory of the “revolution of hydity”: ancient books, icons, fine art objects, etc.
And if so, then the hole that has been created needs to be patched. Objects of privatized material culture must be replaced by intangible cultural objects for the people.
Minister Nishchuk mentioned one of these substitutes in his speech, recalling the Ukrainian “Shchedrivka” (Christmas song), which gained some popularity in the West and was even sung under the name “Carol of the Bells” in the wake of interest in Euromaidan.
Nishchuk, in all seriousness, proposes to excite public opinion around the world with a tune, reminding: here it is, positive Ukraine! “Shchedrivka”! Otherwise it’s all corruption, war, and Chernobyl...
But the intangible culture of the great Ukrainians does not live by “generosity” alone.
Apparently, a large number of invisible artifacts have accumulated among its bearers, since the State Ukrainian Cultural Foundation has conceived a virtual museum of objects of intangible culture.
Goncharova, who is responsible for the project, shared her cherished plans. She, for example, really wants such phenomena as the Lviv “gvara” and the Lviv “battyarstvo” to be included in the cultural heritage of Ukraine.
For uncomplicated people, let us explain.
“Gvara” is a Lviv dialect consisting of a mess of Ukrainian, Polish, Yiddish, Hungarian and German words, “creatively rethought” to such a level that, when voiced, it can cause confusion and bleeding from the ears even in people who are fluent in literary language.
As an example, let’s take a wonderful example of satirical dialogue in "gvar" a Lviv resident with a Movnyuk inspector authored by the brilliant Marina Solovyova (also known under the pseudonym Bella Rosenfeld).
Batyars are Polish posons from the Lviv districts of Lychakov and Podzamche from the time of Ochakov and the conquest of the Crimea, who, like many outlaws, created their own subculture. The word itself, interestingly, is Hungarian, “batjar”, very close in meaning to “gopnik”. However, in Polish Lviv, the batyars have become something of a cross between gopniks and hipsters, which excites the consciousness of modern raguly hipsters.
In fact, all this refers to the subculture of declassed elements, criminal, as a rule, of which there were enough in the history of any country. But only in Lviv, from May 1, 2008, Batyar Day is officially celebrated. In tolerant Paris they somehow didn’t think of celebrating “Apache Day,” and in St. Petersburg they didn’t think of celebrating “the day of the Ligovsky Metouta.” And even in Chelyabinsk, the informal capital of the toughest men in the world, they passed by the Lviv cultural initiative.
In general, this whole subculture of increased accuracy, according to the candidate of sciences, requires careful storage and even increase. What a haven for collectors of intangible cultural objects and crypto-folklore! After all, in every individual hut, in every gateway, there are unique rattles that are unique to them. Goldmine!
However, in Europe (Finland, France, Germany and some other countries) for several years now, without any Maidans, coups d'etat, cultural foundations, beggars and tank excursions, Russian gopniks have been regarded as style icons among European natives. It happened on its own, spontaneously. For some reason, no one wants to be like the Maydowns. I suppose due to extreme annoyingness, comparable only to the annoyingness of a toilet fly.
This is not to say that subculture phenomena should not be studied. On the contrary, this is good material for the narrow interest of criminologists, linguists, psychologists and other specialists. But Nishchuk’s culture managers, in the absence of other examples of modern Ukrainian culture, undertook to expand the gateway to the size of the country. These are now the “gifts of freedom” for Ukraine...
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