“Conditions for Ukrainian citizens on which I may agree to become president”

On Oct. 24, 2009, when all the key political players, except for Viktor Yushchenko, had already been nominated for presidency, and when the media bubbled with the candidates’ bragging about making one and all happy, solving all our problems at one go, a certain reader under the nick L2006, posted a message on forum. pravda.com.ua. It is fairly short, so we quote it below almost unabridged. The message was titled “My conditions for Ukrainian citizens on which I may agree to become president.”

“I am nobody, my name is Thingummy, and I’m not after any office or position.

“Here are my conditions:

“1. You shall stop littering.

“You shall stop littering in the streets and entrances to apartment blocks; you shall stop dropping litter in our common home.

“I declare a big clean-up in this country: any serious matter should start with putting things in order.

“2. You shall stop swearing.

“3. You shall stop boozing up.

“4. Normal people should stop smoking (i.e., littering).

“5. You shall recover the historical memory of yourselves as a nation, a community. Instead of retreating to your individual cages in high rises, you should unite, choose your leaders and representatives at the community level and above. Together with the newly elected leaders, you shall roll up your sleeves and start working on the program, which you have elaborated together.

“To talk about a program without this is to waste time.

“Of course, some may say, ‘If we had a worthy goal, we would…’

“Cleaning this country, doing away with dumps, solving the problem of garbage disposals, GMOs, falsified foods and medicines, and so on and so forth — isn’t that enough? Just start cleaning – and you’ll see more and more dirt: in the police, in the prosecutor’s office, in courts of law, etc.

“To give beauty the top priority, isn’t that enough? Yes, we might talk about quality in everything, but what quality is there in the dirt?

“One can get researchers together, inspire and support them, but what for, to make a mess of what they will create?

“Try and get the idea of what good life is – not for a thievish tycoon, or an oligarch in politics with a dictatorial style – but for the community, i.e., just for ordinary people.”

At first glance, quite an artless message. Meanwhile, it reveals a chasm between a serious talk, necessary for a dignified society, and all the ballyhoo offered by presidential candidates. And the greater the pomp (Yanukovych’s and Tymoshenko’s nominations might well be compared to presidential inauguration ceremonies in terms of their scale and the resources involved), the bigger the surprise: Who on earth is all this aimed at?)

It looks like today even the most experienced sociologists cannot give a ready answer to the question: How will society (not just this or another candidate’s staunch supporters) perceive this pre-election flirtation? Here is another tough one: Are we able and ready to fulfill these very five simple conditions?