Reflections on the Culture of May 9th Celebrations

Dear readers, now that the proper period of respectful reverence has cushioned the epic Day of Victory in Russia, constructive criticism may shower its sacred memory.

As years dragged on since my involuntary emigration in 1996 at the impressionable age of 10, I tenaciously clung onto ideals most vivid in my memory. Tears poured from my eyes upon hearing songs of the WWII genre, and I don't mean just tango music of the 30s and 40s. I mean there's a real genre of music in Russia that is solely about war, and is rather beautiful; everyone can sing along or at at least hum to its melodies. My empathy for the unknown soldiers who died in wars unknown to me (all those fought after WWII, of which there are many) ran deep and hurt my soul. It was a strange feeling. The emotion was exclusive to my country of origin, it never occurred to me that maybe the empathy should run as deep for other nations and their losses.

The feeling was so innate and I never questioned it, until this May 9th. For the first time in my adult life I witnessed what the actual day looked liked. I saw the televised procession of militant humans and machines. I saw the powerful congregations of civilians walking in memory of their lost ancestors, four generations passed. I thought of the implications of these elements.

The present Russian government capitalizes on the sense of camaraderie of its civilians in this colossal and very righteous event that transgressed 70 plus years ago. The Soviet people beat the Nazis and saved the world. The Russian government can now use this event as the means to justify investing in its military power. On May 9th they can show off all the young recruits marching through the streets of major cities, who can only hope to live up to the deity-status of those who died in WWII. All the civilians can bestow complacent pride upon the rivers of future casualties. People's desire to congregate for a cause is quenched in a union of a politically supported, and militantly accommodated Immortal Regiment to commemorate the much appreciated casualties of WWII. Nationalism is fortified yearly, on May 9th.

I question the sincerity of my government sponsored empathy for the soldiers of my mother nation and their sacrifices for the safety of their families. I no longer cry when I listen to one of my favorite genres of Russian music. I enjoy it with a sober apprehension of its power to affect my mentality.

I can't help but feel a sense of shame for my cavalier commentary, I know May 9th is truly sacred to my people. Nevertheless I feel it is necessary.

Some televised snippets of televised programming:

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.