If we had Yeltsin as our prez...

[nikimcbee]

Pelosi refuses to step down and give up the gavel...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101105/...use_leadership


The Prez responds...

[CCIP]

Never wish for this. NEVER

The story of the 1993 parliamentary crisis is a tragic one, and is one of three main reasons I will never be able to forgive Yeltsin. "Parliamentary crisis" as such is also a great euphemism to hide what really happened in those days - and let's make no bs about it - an all-out, violent civil war between the legislative and executive branches of government. The executive decidedly won. NEVER wish for this to happen, because that's death of democracy as such.

To me personally, having been in Russia when this was happening, this was a more defining a moment of my lifetime than Sept 11th (even if objectively, Sept 11th repercussions are more global). According to some sources, about 3,000 people died - a similar figure to Sept 11th. More importantly, this is where many people's faith in a safe, democratic Russia also died - and a year later, Yeltsin made a gambit to repair his reputation through a "fast and victorious" war in Chechnya. This is also the point where Russia's current style of presidential leadership, so often blamed on Putin rather than Yeltsin, was almost irreversibly set. I know the alternative (i.e. commies) wasn't pretty either, but honestly, this is just something that put history on a path that can't easily be derailed now. The train has passed. 1993 was the year that my family began seriously considering emigration. By early 1995, we didn't see any other option but to leave the country, all because of precisely THIS.


Here's a favourite Russian song written about these events, with more video from the ground... always sticks in my mind, quite painfully at that:

[nikimcbee]

I was there 6 months after it happened! Here's 1 picture I took from behind the Bely Dom:


There were still bullet holes all over the place.

[CCIP]

You gotta give some due irony for torching the white house black. I'm sure we all wish for it sometimes

[nikimcbee]

OMG!!! CCIP, the wall in the video at 6 min, that is where my photo is from, I was FREEKIN there when they erected that cross monument!!!!

I have a bunch of pitures from that wall!!!!

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

OMG!!! CCIP, the wall in the video at 6 min, that is where my photo is from, I was FREEKIN there when they erected that cross monument!!!!

I have a bunch of pitures from that wall!!!!

I'd be really curious to see more of those

I know of the memorial, but I'd never been. It was never really shown on Russian TV, for obvious reasons

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by CCIP

I'd be really curious to see more of those

I know of the memorial, but I'd never been. It was never really shown on Russian TV, for obvious reasons

I found another one:



I was there the day they erected the cross there. I have more pix of that day, but I need to find them and scan them. We got there right as the demonstration/memorial started. I had never seen so many police in my life! They were everywhere! When it all started, the only people there were cops and reporters. It was really boring, so after an hour we left. (several more bus loads of cops showed up so we decided it was time to go) If we had stayed there another hour, we could have been on the international news.

[krashkart]

Is there a translation of the lyrics, CCIP?

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by krashkart

Is there a translation of the lyrics, CCIP?

The only one I know of was made by me... they're rather symbolic and sometimes difficult to get at since they draw on a lot of images and expressions from that time, but I'll try.

Originally Posted by translated from Russian

Yuri Shevchuk / DDT - Truth on Truth

The country tossed about this night, like a dirty wretch
Exchanging good for evil, like old banknotes for new ones
Tore off - asphalt, when it's on your cheek, like vodka with bitterness
And windows, windows - they were the first to fall

And evil, on its galantine horse, swung its sable
Good - as always, without fists - was shaking its stumps
Pity tried to convince, to help come to senses
But all the faster and more precisely, the cavalry flew

Applause - onto the racetrack, under the starlit cupola
The night released its beasts - and started meowing
And started helloing, was covered in sweat and instantly aged
And started wheezing, got frightened, and stuffed itself

With what god sent - and the devil, devil, devil shoved to them
Ah, he is an old theatric - he loves disguise
The bodies suddenly became giant and hollow
And the drunken shoemaker left only blank tapes for memory

Truth on truth
Faith against the icon
And the earth - against the flowers
This is you, and this is me...

The country tossed about this, this night like a wretch
Sunset - when it's on your cheek, like vodka with bitterness
Fear covered everything with curses, like with sweat - fear walked the city
The night-time sky - it was a machinegun nest; it also resembled somebody's beard

The province yawned deafly, nervously into their TVs
And someone just walked back home and ate scrambled eggs
The corpses breathed quietly, evenly, under the scalpel of the coroner
And somebody already turned about his face in front of the mirror

The country vomited, bent over in half it begged for help -
And help, with a tank in market stalls, crushed vegetables
Applause, encore! - All around, the spectacle roared
Right fired on tragedy - where else will you see this?

The country cried out greasy truth, never understanding essence
The emergency room screamed, howled like a stupid woman, like our last resort
Pensioners with sticks played games against the police
And reporters with checklists - they were treated to newsflashes

The country drank, crossing itself, and screwed around with magicians -
Toothless old hags plodded along, but with their teeth as banners
Yes, the hunger-cook mixed into their soup plenty of gunpowder
Heroes covered, here and there, every rustle with open fire

And justice thought to take somebody's side,
But then decided - as usual, let there be equal death for all
Yes, they died, these windows and these roofs fell first
All bullets here were equal, all the thoughts were right

Applause, encore! - All over roared this spectacle
Right fired on tragedy - where else will you see this?....

...And only in the green room of the church - emptiness, in silence and incense
Where there is cleanliness and simplicity, where there's no barricades of hell
It burned, high above, a fire without smoke
I also got down on my knees, touching this only banner...

Truth on truth
Faith against the icon
And the earth - against the flowers
This is you, and this is me...

The country tossed about last night, like a dirty wretch
The country scraped a shovel against blood, covered with frost
Yes, in the mornings, all the mud, all the puddles reflect the blue
Asphalt - when it's on your cheek, like vodka with bitterness

For memory - photos of pyramids with empty eyesockets of windows
Applause! - A wonderful view, with maple leaves and finches
And the future, which was just born, silently cried
And time just ticked its way along, and the heart tacked...

Truth on truth
Faith against the icon
And the earth - against the flowers
This is you, and this is me

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by krashkart

Is there a translation of the lyrics, CCIP?

Now to get Krashkart hooked on Russian music....

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

Now to get Krashkart hooked on Russian music....

A man after my own heart! This also happens to be perhaps my favourite song of all time. Means a lot to me, it really does

Translation for that one...

DDT - Rain

Rain,
As a ringing shroud, the sky was filled with May rain
Thunder,
Rumbled through the roofs, the thunder scared away all the cats

I opened the window,
And the playful wind scattered everything on my table -
Stupid poetry
Which I wrote in this stifling and gloomy emptiness...

The thunder of May rumbled,
And joy with a stormy, intoxicating wave
Rolled over me -
Hey get up now, and go jumping after me

Come out to the yard,
And run through the puddles, until morning if you will
Look how they run -
The funny and sacred children

Droplets on my face -
Is this simply rain, or maybe I am crying
The rain cleansed everything,
And my soul, sogging, suddenly poured out

Flowed as a stream,
Far from here, to sunny unmowed fields
Turning into steam,
Flew with the wind towards undiscovered worlds

And I imagined
That the city flooded with happy people
Everyone came out in the rain,
Sang something together, and danced - to hell with all!

Forgetting about shame,
And the risk of later falling ill with complications
People under rain,
Like fireworks greeted thunder, the first thunder of spring...

Written, oddly enough, by a non-state-approved (i.e. underground) band at one of the high (i.e. low) points of the cold war and Soviet domestic stagnation and political repression, in the early 1980s. That is some unrepressable hope for you!

[nikimcbee]

This is probably one of my favorite Russian songs:


My new favorite Russian song, I think I understand most of it.

[CCIP]

Yep, Talkov is one in a long line of late Soviet-era rock musicians and songwriters tragically lost Shevchuk and B.G. are practically the only survivors of that time that remain sharp and relevant.

The former still writes some really biting songs, too. DDT has really taken a turn in a very modern, industrial music direction, but the lyrics still hit that spot. Dunno if you've seen their new stuff, but it's pretty easy to tell what it's all about:
http://vimeo.com/14128856

DDT - The New Master is Here

Why are you here?
What century is it outside?
I am a beast, I am revenge
Come up to me
I was born in the dark
I am foreign to you
My number is on my tail
I'm on a chain, I'm angry

The faith of the people is strong but blind
Everywhere - enemies, cannot see anything
What is this crowd doing here?
Whose brains are dripping down that wall?
Why do you need this freedom?
It only gets in the way of eating!
He does everything for the good of the people -
The new master is here!
The new master is here!
The new master is here!

I was born in the dark, like Christ in the stable
But I'm not on a cross, I'll outlive you all
Life is quite good, a new regime has come
I look out from my bag, and I have jaws
Globalization is coming - they finally cleaned out my ears
I passed all registration, now I am killing flies
I am killing flies!
I am killing flies!
I am killing flies!

I am killing flies!

...if ever there were truer words spoken of the true nature of the Russian regime that was largely spawned by the events of 1993!...

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by CCIP

Yep, Talkov is one in a long line of late Soviet-era rock musicians and songwriters tragically lost Shevchuk and B.G. are practically the only survivors of that time that remain sharp and relevant.

The former still writes some really biting songs, too. DDT has really taken a turn in a very modern, industrial music direction, but the lyrics still hit that spot. Dunno if you've seen their new stuff, but it's pretty easy to tell what it's all about:
http://vimeo.com/14128856



...if ever there were truer words spoken of the true nature of the Russian regime that was largely spawned by the events of 1993!...

Wow, that is a different sound for them.

That song made me think of this song:


and this song:

[nikimcbee]

Now to switch gears:

Just for krashkart: