Putin's Back and a Forest Festival

Well, he's back: Putin was inaugurated as President of the Russian Federation on 4 May 2012 for the third (but probably not last)  time. Then again, has he ever really been gone? Like the US Constitution, the Russian Constitution prevents a president for running for more than two terms, but Putin is nothing if not clever and seems to leave little to roulettian chance.  His interpretation:  two consecutive terms.  So after a four year stint as Prime Minister in which his cohort Dmitry Medvedev held the highest office, he's once again President (and now Medvedev has revolved back to Prime Minister). During this time period Putin also managed to have the length of the presidential term altered: from four to six years.  If all goes as he seems to have planned, it looks like we might have Putin around for another 12 years -- until 2024! Yes, he's back and back for a while.


Meanwhile I get a text message from Red Kirill:  "You've got to come, you won't see anything like this anywhere else."  So after watching the inauguration ceremony --  an icy, imperial affair, replete with tsarist pageantry that seemed to emphasize the height of power and the isolation of that height  -- I jump on the metro to the Parnas station and from there head by bus to somewhere in the middle of nowhere -- a lake in the woods upon whose shores, promises Kirill,  a four-day festival is in full swing.

And good heavens, Kirill was right! I have never seen anything like this, not in Russia, not in New York. Where did all these people with dreadlocks, tie-dye, and alternative clothing come from? You certainly don't see them promenading on Nevsky Prospect -- to say nothing of Putin's inauguration at which the general populace was strictly excluded in a central Moscow that seemed devoid of people. Rather, this is an alternative art festival in the forest with loud music blasting from speakers at various stages scattered among the trees along with scads of tents and literally thousands of people, many in fanciful clothing, intent on having a good time, hanging out, and creating art.

"These folks aren't the ones that you see at the demonstrations," says Kirill, "they aren't interested in politics. They just want to live their own free life, make art, and not be bothered by any one."


We're sitting around a little campfire -- it's still chilly here in the Petersburg region -- drinking hot tea made from real ginger.  Suddenly a young girl in dreadlocks and alternative clothing goes swooping by, crying "People, be kind, be kind! Kindness! People! Kindness!"


Surprisingly, Kirill sniffs: "Yeah, clearly, she is still living with her mother who does the shopping and cooks dinner for her. She hasn't had to work a day in her life.  Once you start to work, kindness goes to hell in a hand basket. It's productivity that counts.  Well, let her dream..."

Of course Kirill has his own performance event planned: in support of the eco movement it's called "Chase out the Garbage."  Artist Lena paints his face in a medley of colors and he dons an improvised costume to which all sorts of trash -- teabags, cigarette packs, plastic bottles -- has been attached.  He is the "garbage" -- and we all run after him through the forest, with shouts and cries, chasing "garbage" out of the woods.  Rah!

From the tsarist majesty of Putin's inauguration to collective festivities in the forest in a few short hours.  What can you say?

People are strange and so is life!