| Revision as of 12:45, 2 April 2012 editGreyhood (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers91,196 edits →Symbolism: technical self removal of well-sourced material per request (the re-added paras removed), now this gets more confusing and lacking context - perhaps it will show you why adding this material is obviously relevant← Previous edit | Revision as of 13:26, 2 April 2012 edit undoToddy1 (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers48,717 edits Undid revision 485152512 by Greyhood (talk) this is silly - gaming the systemNext edit → | ||
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| ], a traditional ]n icon which Zhirinovsky has controversially replaced with a donkey in his video.]] | ], a traditional ]n icon which Zhirinovsky has controversially replaced with a donkey in his video.]] | ||
| The ] is a traditional Russian ] combination. The name ''troika'' (тройка), "triplet" or "trio") is unique in that it is using three ]s harnessed abreast and riding with different ]s – the middle horse ] and the side horses ]. At full speed a troika could reach {{Convert|45|-|50|km/h|mph}}, which was a very high speed on land for vehicles in the 17th-19th centuries, making the troika closely associated with the fast ride. The troika was developed from the 18th century, first being used for speedy ] on the ].<ref> at zooclub.ru</ref><ref> at damascus.ru</ref> | The ] is a traditional Russian ] combination. The name ''troika'' (тройка), "triplet" or "trio") is unique in that it is using three ]s harnessed abreast and riding with different ]s – the middle horse ] and the side horses ]. At full speed a troika could reach {{Convert|45|-|50|km/h|mph}}, which was a very high speed on land for vehicles in the 17th-19th centuries, making the troika closely associated with the fast ride. The troika was developed from the 18th century, first being used for speedy ] on the ].<ref> at zooclub.ru</ref><ref> at damascus.ru</ref> | ||
| Troika has become a ], especially after it was featured in a scene of ]'s novel '']'', where a "troika-bird" rides through the vast expanses of Russia (''". "Only among a hardy race of folk can you have come to birth—only in a land which, though poor and rough, ], and spans ]s the counting whereof would leave one with aching eyes."'').<ref name=troika-translation/> | |||
| Gogol's "troika-bird" became a literary symbol of ] despite it was noted that the person carried by the troika, the protagonist of the novel, ], was actually a fraudster buying the "dead souls", i.e. the documents on ownership of the dead ] whose death was still not registered by population censuses, in order to put them ] and in such a way to make money as well as a fake fame of rich serf owner.<ref name=Ekho/><ref name=young-guard/> The paradox that the "troika-bird" of Russia carries the swindler Chichikov has been discussed in ]'s short story ''Started Skidding'' (''"Забуксовал"'').<ref> schoollibrary.ioso.ru</ref> | |||
| ] in a sleigh, as depicted by ].]] | ] in a sleigh, as depicted by ].]] | ||
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On 6 February 2012, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party of Russia party, released a thirty second election video on the Internet that featured him on a sleigh that was harnessed with a black donkey. Zhirinovsky later stated during a televised debate that the animal was named Proshka (Template:Lang-ru, diminutive from Prokhor), after Mikhail Prokhorov another candidate in the Russian presidential election, 2012.
The featured animal, which Zhirinovsky claimed he owned, became prominent during the presidential election campaign. In the controversial video, he claimed that the "little wretched donkey" (Russian осёл) is the symbol of Russia and that if he would become President a "daring troika" would return as a symbol of Russia. In the video, Zhirinovsky furiously whipped the animal to move the sleigh across the snow-covered backyard of his dacha. Animal welfare and rights organisations accused Zhirinovsky of cruelty to animals in relation to the video.
Background
Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky, 65, is a veteran of Russian politics who has participated in five Russian presidential elections.the founder and long-standing leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. Despite its name and its proclaimed centrist and reformist outlook, the party is frequently described as "neither liberal nor democratic." It is usually regarded as far-right and is identified with Russian ultranationalism, right-wing populism, or national populism and Conservative. Its ideology is based primarily on Zhirinovsky's ideas of "imperial reconquest" (a "renewed Russian Empire") and authoritarian vision of a 'Greater Russia.'"
Zhirinovsky is "often viewed as something of a clown" and "a showman of Russian politics, blending populist and nationalist rhetoric, anti-Western invective and a brash, confrontational style". His campaign slogan for 2012 was "Vote Zhirinovsky, or things will get worse". This is the latest piece in series of his bright populist slogans, including such mottos as "No lie, no fear!" and "For the poor, for the Russians!".
Zhirinovsky confronted with a rival presidential candidate oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov on several Russian TV talk shows and presidential debates in 2012; he also criticized Prokhorov on debates with other candidates and in various interviews. On the last episode of debates with Prokhorov, just before the elections, Zhirinovsky produced a scandal, calling those Russian celebrities which supported Prokhorov, including a pop-diva Alla Pugacheva, "prostitutes" ("I thought you are an artful person, politician, cunning man, but you are just a clown and a psycho" replied Pugacheva. "I am what I am. And such is my charm" replied Zhirinovsky).
Eventually, in the 2012 Russian presidential election Zhirinovsky was fourth with 6.22% of vote, just behind his arch-rival Prokhorov, who received 7.94% of the vote.
Controversial video
The thirty second video was released on the Internet on 6 February 2012, as a part of Zhirinovsky's election campaign. The video is titled "Troika" at the official site of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia.
In the video, Zhirinovsky wearing a black fur coat and a black ushanka hat, sits in a sleigh harnessed with the black donkey. Zhirinovsky begins to speak, claiming that the "little wretched donkey is the symbol of Russia" and that if he, Zhirinovsky, would become the President, a "daring troika" would return as a symbol of Russia. While making the proclamation, Zhirinovsky whips the animal. As the donkey does not immediately pull, Zhirinovsky shouts "It cannot move... The whole country got stuck..." and continuous "Go! Go! Go!" while furiously whipping the animal into moving across the snow-covered backyard of his dacha. A voice-over concludes the video: "Zhirinovsky — it will get better!"
The video was wildly discussed on the Internet.
Symbolism
Zhirinovsky stated during a televised election debate with Gennady Zyuganov, another presidential candidate, that the animal seen in the video is called Proshka. Proshka is the diminutive form of the Greek and Slavic name Prokhor; Zhirinovsky stated that the animal is named after Russian oligarch and presidential candidate, Mikhail Prokhorov.
The troika is a traditional Russian harness driving combination. The name troika (тройка), "triplet" or "trio") is unique in that it is using three horses harnessed abreast and riding with different horse gaits – the middle horse trots and the side horses canter. At full speed a troika could reach 45–50 kilometres per hour (28–31 mph), which was a very high speed on land for vehicles in the 17th-19th centuries, making the troika closely associated with the fast ride. The troika was developed from the 18th century, first being used for speedy delivering of mail on the yam routes.
Troika has become a cultural icon of Russia, especially after it was featured in a scene of Nikolay Gogol's novel Dead Souls, where a "troika-bird" rides through the vast expanses of Russia (Oh troika, winged troika, tell me who invented you?". "Only among a hardy race of folk can you have come to birth—only in a land which, though poor and rough, lies spread over half the world, and spans versts the counting whereof would leave one with aching eyes.").
Gogol's "troika-bird" became a literary symbol of Russia despite it was noted that the person carried by the troika, the protagonist of the novel, Chichikov, was actually a fraudster buying the "dead souls", i.e. the documents on ownership of the dead serfs whose death was still not registered by population censuses, in order to put them into pledge and in such a way to make money as well as a fake fame of rich serf owner. The paradox that the "troika-bird" of Russia carries the swindler Chichikov has been discussed in Vasily Shukshin's short story Started Skidding ("Забуксовал").
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Gogol's "troika-bird" must have strongly influenced Zhirinovsky, since for many decades it was (and continues to be) a part of the standard Russian literature course in schools. The scenario of his donkey video has been compared with parts of Gogol's monologue about troika: "And you, Russia of mine—are not you also speeding like a troika which nought can overtake? Is not the road smoking beneath your wheels, and the bridges thundering as you cross them.." Zhirinovsky, who have replaced troika with a donkey, has been criticized for not perceiving a complex symbolism and mysticism of Gogol's text. It has been noted that the 2012 Russian presidential election happened on the day of 160th anniversary of Nikolay Gogol's death.
Zhirinovsky's riding on the "troika" has been compared by some commentators with Chichikov riding through Russia and, in the 21st century, "'buying'" votes of the people" instead of dead souls, according to the pro-Kremlin youth group Young Guard of United Russia.
The beating of the animal has been compared to a scene in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel Crime and Punishment where Rodion Raskolnkov (the protagonist) sees a scene in a dream, in which he as a 7-year old boy became a witness to a cruel beating of a horse harnessed into a cart. Zhirinovsky riding the donkey also has been compared with boyarynya Morozova in a sleigh, as depicted on a famous picture by Vasily Surikov.
Choosing a donkey to replace the troika has been also compared with Jesus Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a donkey. It has been argued that an image of a Messiah and a Tsar sent by God corresponded to Zhirinovsky's presidential ambitions.
In a televised election debates, Putin's representative Natalya Narochnitskaya accused Zhirinovsky of disdain towards the people of Russia, by projecting pessimism and aggression through this video. Zhirinovsky replied that the video is an allegory of what the rulers of Russia had made with the country in the last hundred years.
Allegations of animal cruelty
According to Zhirinovsky, the animal featuring in the video was his own — a present given to him on his 60th birthday and is kept on his dacha land, having not being used for any work for the last 5 years. The animal is claimed by Zhirinovsky to be well-fed, to have a separate lodgings and overall to live in conditions found "nowhere in the world".
International organisations People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), as well as Russian animal rights activists, have accused Zhirinovsky of cruelty to animals. Zhirinovsky responded to criticism, saying that similar treatment is commonplace in the Arab world and that in fact the animal been treated "better than many people".
The Central Electoral Commission of Russia commented that there is no regulation on whether and how presidential candidates could use animals in propaganda, but that if the candidates do so, they should take all the risks connected with that.
In popular culture
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Following Zhirinovsky's ass-ad premiere, a video appeared on Youtube in which a donkey called to vote for Zhirinovsky. This video with a clay-made animal met with an angry reaction from some Anglophone users on Youtube, who could not understand who the donkey was, what he called for and why that video was promoted by Russian users. The situation was complicated by a poor work of online translators, some of which translated the Russian title of the video "Осёл за Жириновского" (The Donkey/Ass for Zhirinovsky) as "Zhirinovsky in the ass".
The video also has been featured on the 17 March in the comedy show "Yesterday Live" on Channel One, where it was used in a parody of American TV news: the fictional BBN News reported the situation in Russia in a satirically biased way, including making a claim that Russians had problems with shortages of gasoline and that's why some people had to abandon cars and to resort to other ways of transportation - in which moment Zhirinovsky is shown beating his donkey.
References
- ^ History of Presidential Elections in Russia: Infographics RIAN
- Timothy Colton, Yeltsin: A Life (2011), p. 282; Donald J. Raleigh, Soviet Baby Boomers: An Oral History of Russia's Cold War Generation, p. 327; The troubled birth of Russian democracy: parties, personalities, and programs. p. 244.
- Russian Political Parties Directory (1999), p. 65.
- Peter H. Merkl and Leonard Weinberg, Right-wing extremism in the twenty-first century (2003). Psychology Press: p. x.
- ^ Hans-Georg Betz, Radical right-wing populism in Western Europe (1994). Palgrave Macmillan: p. 23.
- Stephen E. Hanson, Post-Imperial Democracies: Ideology and Party Formation in Third Republic France, Weimar Germany, and Post-Soviet Russia (2011). Cambridge University Press.
- John B. Dunlop, The Rise of Russia and the Fall of the Soviet Empire (2011). Princeton University Press, p. 167.
- ^ Profiles of Russia's 2012 presidential election candidates BBC
- ЛДПР – придаток «Единой России»? (LDPR – an appendix of United Russia?) kursk-izvestia.ru
- Жириновский устроил скандал на дебатах с Пугачевой Lenta.ru
- Воплощение идеи "Жириновский, или будет хуже": бичевание осла (ВИДЕО) newsru.com
- ^ The election campaign video "Тройка" ("Troika"). Official site of the LDPR.
- Zhirinovsky Explains why He Swatted Ass RIAN 07 February 2012
- ТВ не место для дебатов Kommersant
- Владимир Жириновский рассказал про осла Прошку vokrug.tv
- Russian troika at zooclub.ru
- Jingle bells at damascus.ru
- ^ Translation taken from the "Dead Souls" by Nikolai Gogol. Gutenberg.org
- ^ Нарочницки не придумаешь: на ее «русской тройке» мчится мошенник! Evgeny Ponasenkov at Ekho Moskvy
- ^ Кошелек довел Жириновского до Магадана Young Guard of United Russia
- Методический словарь-справочник для библиотекарей. Психология детского чтения от А до Я schoollibrary.ioso.ru
- ^ В мире животного by Alexander Yegorov at the Club of Regions site, the webpage of the representatives of the Heads of regions of Russia.
- ТВ не место для дебатов Kommersant
- ^ О Жириновском и ослике написали мини-пьесу
- Жириновский избил осла и кузбасского депутата info.sibnet.ru
- ^ Жириновский ответил за осла (ВИДЕО)
- Жириновский признался, что любит животных regnum.ru
- ^ WSPA и PETA обвинили Жириновского в жестоком обращении с ослом
- Осёл За Жириновского
- ^ "Осла Жириновского не поняли в Youtube". PubliCiti.ru. Archived from the original on 27 March 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
- Yesterday Live: Выпуск от 17 марта Channel One official site
External links
Categories:- Misplaced Pages articles needing copy edit from April 2012
- Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from April 2012
- NPOV disputes
- All NPOV disputes
- Animal actors
- Animals in politics
- Animal cruelty
- Elections in Russia
- Individual donkeys
- National personifications
- Politics of Russia
- Russian comedy and humour
- 2012 in Russia