Labor Day Parade in St. Petersburg Russia

So while I was out and about Nevsky Prospect I witnessed the rest of the Labor Day parade. Before recording some of my impressions I have to put in a disclaimer that I am all in all very ignorant of all things political and current. I never watch the news and don't believe the news from the media in any country so I hear what friends and family tell me and make my deductions from things I hear in real life from people around me or see with my own eyes in the real world. I am in no way assuming I am right about anything, these are just the impressions I have from my own perspective.

The parade consisted of political factions represented by civilians, not politicians. The factions I think I witnessed, based on what I heard them screaming through their loud speakers, are as follows (some names given to factions are my own, I don't know all their real names): Neo Communists, Anarchists, Nationalist Bolsheviks, Labor Union, Russian Socialist Movement, More Anarchists, Veganism is Easy!, Women's Rights, Great Russia Party, Nationalists (more like Neo Fascists), Green Party (more like Animal Rights Party). 

I did do research about each flag that I saw in the procession, all names are either direct translations or based on the proclamation of the party. For example the Neo Fascism party is a nationalism elitist philosophy with pretensions of being God's chosen people and their mantra was "get rid of the parasites" meaning the people who were not from Russia, which is a very difficult thing to state since Russian people are of various mixed origins, with Germanic and Mongolian and Arabic genes to list just a few of the things making up the "Russian" population. 

It was strange to me that with all these very opposing views walking together, and some extremely charged with hate, no one did anything violent. Also, the military presence was not scary. I was also surprised that more people did not show up to march for the political parties such as women's rights. It was also weird that LGBT rights did not march, considering the times we live in, I wonder what would have happened if they did show up? The biggest contingent was the green party, they were also the nicest, because they did not yell anything and said nice things like "we hope you're having a good day." 

The only violent thing I saw was a white man who spoke English who for some reason felt like yelling obscenities at everyone that was in the procession. I could take it no longer when he started yelling at the women in the women's rights section, he said things like "no one wants to touch you" and "you're ugly" and other such things, in English. I caught him doing it on the video. But then I cussed him out and told him he's disgusting. I caught that on video too.

To wrap things up...It was really strange to see fascist inclinations so publicly exhibited in a nation that suffered so much at the hands of fascists and invested so much of itself into the fight against fascism especially so close to May 9th, the day we celebrate beating the Nazis. It was also really strange to see very young people march in the name of communist ideals, although they called themselves socialist, they certainly had the looks and the speeches of communists. It was also really strange to hear a middle aged, white male yelling obscenities at women standing up for their rights in English in Russia. Generally I have a sense of political regression.

Russian Grandmothers

I usually try to avoid answering my phone when it's my mom or my grandmother. Most of our conversations consist of them telling me how I should be doing things differently and how my life isn't what it could have been had I listened to them. So I listen to them less and less as I grow older. For a while though my grandmother stopped calling me altogether because she got used to the idea that she had nothing to say to me that I would want to hear, so when she called I answered.

She said she's getting surgery and I must immediately fly to Russia. She thinks her surgery will be sometime in May, although she doesn't know exactly.  A preliminary consultation with a doctor is scheduled and at this consultation she will be given a specific date for the surgery. Surgery is imminent.

I bought a ticket and came to Russia. I thought my grandmother was getting a surgery. I went with her to the "preliminary consultation" and it was certainly not a visitation to schedule any surgery. Rather it seemed more like a routine check up with a doctor who decided to send her to do an MRI just to make sure she doesn't have cancer. Although I did not ask the doctor weather my suspicions are true because the time and place were not appropriate for such questions, I did think this may have been a yearly routine for my grandmother.

So while I'm here I'll take the time to share some of my impressions about St. Petersburg, the city I was born in.

First on the list is the May 1st celebration. I did not know this but May 1st is Labor Day and is very much observed in St. Petersburg. My grandmother tells me it's observed all over Russia since the Soviet Times. I went downtown to the central city street, Nevsky Prospect, to see what was happening. There was a parade and tons of people came to watch it.

When I first got off the metro I thought the parade was wherever these lovely ladies were and I followed them until the main square in front of the Hermitage where the parade culminated and there was nothing more to see. A small stage was set up there with an awful sound system that hurt the brain so I left. I walked through the arches and back towards Nevsky Prospect.

I thought all the festivities were over and people were just walking the streets now, but suddenly I saw a mass of red flags descending  upon us in a solid wall of human flesh and I knew there was more to be seen.

Fortunately I took a video. To be continued...