STEPPING THROUGH MOSCOW

SOVIET PARADISE

среда, октября 13, 2004

Signs of Representative Democracy

Outside Ochotniy Ryad, Moscow, Kremlin Posted by Hello

This picture was taken outside of the Kremlin walls in August, 2004. To the left is a large park where the changing of the guards takes place - along Aleksandrskiy Gardens, and to the right is a large center with shops and an outdoor square where many people gather to have beer and relax. Thus is directly in between and has fountains, an alleyway along the right with many restaurants, beergardens, and places to simply sit.

What shocked me most was the lack of signs - saying that it would be dangerous to walk so close to the water. The railings are also low and people simply climb over them to get close to the water. If you look carefully you can just see the fence along the top layer and lots of people on the other side, many of whom sit on this wall, teetering on the edge of potentially falling over to the other side and down into the water below. So many children, so many people, consuming evil alcohol on a hot summer day, with no government writing signs forbidding people to exercise any judgement where they intend to relax and enjoy themselves. Surely this is a society on the edge and maybe this year no accidents happened, but soon people will be falling off the fences by the thousands and then they will realise that they need a parental government committee to explain to them the dangers of walking too close to the water, to watch their children, to not jump off a two storey fence, and to not drink in public places, especially gardens where just on the other side of the wall, an alleged despotic ruler lives who dictates to everyone what to do. It is not in this picture, but while walking around I saw many off duty police officers behaving in basically the same way as everyone else with their time off. Is this what Thomas Jefferson really meant by self government?

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