01-31-24, 04:26 PM
Russia is not a monolithic society. Of course, open, organized opposition to Putin and his gangster-oligarch supporters is dangerous. But there are significant forces in Russia who are not supporters of Mr Putin. You have to know where to look for them.
About ten years ago, a 'rock opera' was written there, based on the life of real figure in Russian history, a woman named Fanny Kaplan. She was a member of the anti-Tsarist 'Socialist Revolutionary' Party, and was sent to prison in 1906 for being part of a plot to assassinate a Tsarist official.
She was released by the October Revolution in 1917 ... but when the Bolshevik government signed a draconian peace treaty with the Germans, the Socialist Revolutionaries, who had been in coalition with the Bolsheviks, revolted. Kaplan tried to assassinate Lenin, failed, and was executed.
It's obvious why producers in Russia would not want to put on a production based on her life.
But ... a couple of months ago, this rock opera was accepted at a 'Festival of the Theater' in a rather conservative Russian city. A fragment of it was produced, and video'd, and is now available on YouTube.
If the YouTube video could get a lot of 'views', and, ideally, a lot of 'thumbs-up' and favorable comments, it would be a boost to the young people who put it on.
It's available here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=d1hj22bTrP8
It's in Russian and Ukrainian, so you'll want to turn on sub-titles. And there is an explanation of the production in English on the YouTube site.
About ten years ago, a 'rock opera' was written there, based on the life of real figure in Russian history, a woman named Fanny Kaplan. She was a member of the anti-Tsarist 'Socialist Revolutionary' Party, and was sent to prison in 1906 for being part of a plot to assassinate a Tsarist official.
She was released by the October Revolution in 1917 ... but when the Bolshevik government signed a draconian peace treaty with the Germans, the Socialist Revolutionaries, who had been in coalition with the Bolsheviks, revolted. Kaplan tried to assassinate Lenin, failed, and was executed.
It's obvious why producers in Russia would not want to put on a production based on her life.
But ... a couple of months ago, this rock opera was accepted at a 'Festival of the Theater' in a rather conservative Russian city. A fragment of it was produced, and video'd, and is now available on YouTube.
If the YouTube video could get a lot of 'views', and, ideally, a lot of 'thumbs-up' and favorable comments, it would be a boost to the young people who put it on.
It's available here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=d1hj22bTrP8
It's in Russian and Ukrainian, so you'll want to turn on sub-titles. And there is an explanation of the production in English on the YouTube site.
You can get a lot further in life with a kind word, and a gun, than you can with a kind word alone.