Are we having fun yet? Why the government is telling the creative class to go play outside

(Moscow News – Anna Arutunyan, Editor and Correspondent at themoscownews.com – May 27, 2013)

It was the best of times, it was the worst of… you get it. There is an awful lot of Pinot Grigio being consumed in Moscow this summer, the parks are filled with the same crowds that took to the streets in protest last year, and, when sitting on a beanbag in Gorky Park, I’m haunted by a nagging suspicion that we are all being sweetly lulled into complacency.

With city authorities sponsoring so many fresh-air festivals in Moscow parks, and with outdoor cafes expected to increase by 14 percent this year, Russia’s government seems to be saying to its budding creative class, “Kids, go play outside.”

At least, that’s increasingly the message that some members of the Gorky Park contingent say they’re getting. And it’s making some of them wonder if it’s OK to be enjoying their chilled white wine while riot police are hauling off LGBT activists from an unauthorized rally in a neighboring square.

It all started with Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The café, that is, not the 18th century philosopher (although in the grand scheme of things, I’m sure he deserves credit for any liberal uprising). By late 2011, as the first anti-government protests were breaking out, this trendy Moscow chain ­ with its inexpensive French wine, spotty service and European ambience ­ started being ironically referred to as the cradle of the protest movement.

It even got bragging rights to being in the front lines when riot police snatched several diners from the sidewalk tables on Vladimir Putin’s inauguration day last May.

But after last summer’s scare tactics against the opposition, the authorities appear to have co-opted the lifestyle of the creative class and started feeding it back to them.

According to journalist and protest leader Oleg Kashin, the hipsters of last year ­ the ones who went to the Bolotnaya protests ­ have become the target audience of Sergei Kapkov, the former director of Gorky Park and the head of Moscow’s Department of Culture.

In the past, that kind of culture policy used to be the prerogative of political technologists in the presidential administration. But now, according to Kashin, politics seems to have been separated from culture.

Now, instead of a motley crew of festivals, we’re seeing the bulk of them congregating in Gorky Park, under the auspices of Kapkov, an enlightened government official. The Cherry Forest festival ended this weekend just as the LGBT community tried, unsuccessfully, to hold its rainbow parade in the same park.

On July 6, Gorky Park will host a Subbotnik, with the Arctic Monkeys slated to perform. That’s not to mention the day-to-day wonderfulness of free ping-pong with your kids, endless beanbags, exhibits and whatnot. Just look at the perennial traffic jam of Audis running from the entrance to Gorky Park up to Krymsky Bridge, and you’ll see what I mean.

Here’s the problem with all that: Russian liberals have a penchant for worrying about the meaning of life precisely when their quota for creature comforts has been met. In the 19th century, one famous liberal literary character couldn’t decide whether he wanted a constitution or some sturgeon. The current dolce vita in Moscow is accompanied by a similar angst. Kashin wrote that his friends were wondering if today’s hipsters aren’t any better than their 1960s counterparts, who went to Bulat Okudzhava concerts while Soviet troops brutally suppressed the Novocherkassk protests.

I’m citing Kashin because the question puts a lot of what’s happening today into perspective. The 1962 Novocherkassk protests, which took place during Khrushchev’s thaw, ended with Soviet forces killing 26 people. But the worst of today’s clampdown is 27 people facing jail terms for rioting. Yes, it’s wrong, but there is still a difference. And if you’re worried about the government giving people toys in the park to keep them from protesting, remember this: we may just be witnessing one of Russia’s freest periods in history. Let’s enjoy it while it lasts.