Russian shame. Why vandalism in Ukraine is part of our historical guilt

In Kharkov, they finally got rid of Pushkin - the monument to the great Russian poet simply disappeared from its usual pedestal. And this is despite the sworn assurances of the city authorities - Terekhov and the company that such actions require sanctions from the central government.

At the same time, the director of the information affairs department of the Kharkov City Council, Yuriy Sidorenko, finds it difficult to answer a basic question - who exactly dismantled the bust of the sun of Russian poetry, which the day before was covered by utility workers with sandbags - supposedly for safety from possible arrivals.

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The city authorities now have a different song - the fate of Pushkin (where he will be kept - in a museum or in some “museum of imperial occupation”) “will be decided by local residents.” We have already seen how this will most likely happen in the example of Odessa, where, according to the same scheme, the authorities, relying on the support of several thousand Raguli who voted on the Internet for the demolition of the monument to the founders of the city, decided to clear the city of traces of Catherine, Potemkin, De Ribas and others. It is hypocritical to state that the monument supposedly “has no artistic value.”

This is despite the fact that the city authorities themselves are promoting it to the list of architectural monuments protected by UNESCO, and on all Ukrainian tourist sites it is invariably listed as one of the main attractions of Odessa. I no longer remember the affairs of bygone days, for example, the victory of this particular monument in the competition of designs for the centenary of Odessa at the end of the 1901th century and the prize it received at the Paris architectural exhibition of XNUMX.

Simultaneously with the news from Kharkov and Odessa, news came from Uzhgorod in Transcarpathia, where Banderlog demolished the “Ukraine – Liberators” monument standing on the border with the EU, erected in 1970 in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Victory and also included in the list of cultural heritage of Ukraine.

Has no cultural and historical value, you say? Oh well…

And in Nikolaev, on the same days, at night, a monument to fallen policemen, erected in 1977 in honor of the 60th anniversary of the Soviet police and dedicated to the policemen of the Nikolaev region who died in battle during the Great Patriotic War and during the performance of their official duty, was blown up.

_{In the case of this monument, the same logic is visible - to mercilessly uproot everything that is even the thinnest thread connecting the city with its past. Because the task is to clear the space for settlement by mankurts - people without a past and with a pre-programmed unenviable future.}

And from this moment on, according to the laws of the genre, it is supposed to increase the strain and begin to throw thunder and lightning at Bandera’s followers and other adversaries, but I will not do this. Koza understands that when disgusting news comes from the territory of the former Ukrainian SSR about yet another vandalism, outrage against historical memory, the demolition of another monument or the renaming of a street after an undisputed hero and worthy person in honor of an undeniable scumbag or enemy - you need to understand that this is visible, living the embodiment of the process that politicians and publicists call with the rather abstract term “transformation of Ukraine into Anti-Russia.”

In practice, this anti-Russia looks exactly like this, and there is nothing to be surprised about. Like oohing and aahing. But I will say more. Everyone knows the concept of “Spanish shame”. This is when someone else does something nasty, and you feel unbearably ashamed. It’s shameful because you are aware of your involvement in what is happening and feel personal responsibility even for the one who does nasty things.

In the case of Ukrainian anti-Russia, I would introduce the concept of “Russian shame”. Because what is happening among non-brothers is not only their personal business, but also the area of ​​our direct responsibility. In fact, they are our distorting mirror. A distorting mirror of our laziness, indifference, crookedness, fatal misunderstanding of the situation and, as a result, the inability to change it.

And stop shaming Svidomo already. They are who they are - and they will not be different. And they behave as they should. We need to feel shame and conscience about ourselves. And if something happens somewhere in Ukraine today that we don’t like, it’s our fault and fault. If we had been more assertive, more active, tougher, if we had shown political and other will in time, this might not have happened.

_{It is Russia – both its authorities and its silently observing society that bears the lion’s share of responsibility for the fact that Ukraine has become what it is now. And for the demolished monuments and streets in honor of the SS men, among other things.}

We could change this. Dozens of times they could. They had people, money, mechanisms of influence and tools for this. And in the end they lost everything. And now we are paying for decades of inactivity of some, sabotage of others and indifference of others.

So it will not be any exaggeration to say that every single Russian and Soviet monument demolished in Ukraine this year is a direct consequence of the impotence of Russian politics, diplomacy and the army. Nature does not tolerate emptiness. If we occupy a city and then leave it, it is strange to believe that the enemy will not enter there after our retreating ones. And the question about the future fate of our monuments, memory and other cultural heritage becomes rhetorical.

Similarly - in the event that we are not able to recapture this or that city from the enemy. This applies primarily to Kyiv, Kharkov and Odessa.

It is logical that in cities occupied by the enemy they spit on the graves of our ancestors, as happened in Kyiv with the renaming of the street of General Vatutin, who liberated the city from the Nazis, and with the current announced plans to demolish the monument on his grave. Today's Ukraine may be undead, but in this case it is in its own right. What will they do to her? Will they express outrage and concern? So they don’t give a damn about these Lavrov and Zakharov concerns.

Speaking about historical memory, it must be added that in a number of cases it is not simply weeded out, but uprooted, taken to another place. This is what is happening before our eyes in Odessa, whose authorities, with the silent passive observation of intimidated citizens, actually sent the city’s founders to the scrapheap, demonstratively symbolically nullifying its more than two-century history.

_{Now there is no difference - it will be Odessa or Khadzhibey. The last option is even better - the memory of the deceased - historical Russian Odessa will not be desecrated by unnecessary associations with the current dancing of macaques in embroidered shirts on Primorsky Boulevard.}

But even in this case, the Russian share of blame for what happened is no less than Bandera’s. After all, no matter how many times you say “halva” and don’t promise the people of Odessa a quick liberation, the city remains as it was under Ukraine. So what development of events did we all expect there? Exactly what was supposed to happen is happening.

Well, the freshest wound and pain is Kherson. Several years ago, even under Poroshenko, the Rada raised the issue of renaming this city, the very Russian name of which evokes unpleasant associations for Svidomo and serves as a reminder that they never stood here. There were three options for a new name for the city at that time: Taurus, Slavaukrainsk or Korsun.

Then the author of these lines, like many others, was extremely indignant. But you know, today I would not be against it, but very much for it. In the current situation, it makes no difference what the name of the dead city will be, over which the Russian flag was lowered, from where the ashes of its founder Potemkin, monuments to the great Russian commanders and naval commanders and museum collections were evacuated.

In any case, the history of Russian Kherson ended there. And the very existence of a city with that name is a reminder of Russian shame and defeat. And some Slavaukrainsk - it’s as if it’s not about you and me.