The Blondes Who Disagree
When Mikhail Khodorkovsky was mounting a serious campaign in a by-election for a seat in the Russian State Duma in the summer of 2005, the Kremlin sought to turn his campaign into a ridiculous farce by suddenly announcing the candidacies of several other prisoners – low-life career pickpockets, multiple murderers, and the like.
It looks like the Kremlin is up to its old tricks again in 2007. In an obvious attempt to ridicule and discredit the recent Marches of Those Who Disagree, which were so brutally suppressed by the authorities, we now have the following story, as reported this weekend by the official Russian news agency, RIA Novosti (we have translated the story to English).
Say what you will about the Kremlin’s well-oiled machinery of propaganda, but nobody could argue that they don’t have a certain dark sense of humor.
Blondes of Nizhny Novgorod come out in defense of their rights
NIZHNY NOVGOROD, 21 Apr – RIA Novosti-Privolzhie, Andrey Rukavishnikov.
Participants in a youth action in Nizhny Novgorod attempted to change the negative attitude that has developed in society towards blondes. Taking part in a “March of the Blondes Who Disagree” on Saturday, that was sanctioned by the city authorities, were not only girls with light hair, but also brunettes in solidarity with them, as well as youths of their acquaintance.
“We consider that jokes on the subject of dumb blondes discredit many women and infringe on their rights. Blondes have the same rights as other people, and hair color does not yet give the right to abuse. Therefore the blondes of Nizhny Novgorod have decided to unite and declare their decisive protest and disagreement towards the existing system of values, which has developed in contemporary society”, declared the head of the event’s organizational committee, Anna Zaitseva, to journalists.
In her words, the participants in the action want to defend themselves from any humiliations and to defend their rights, as well as to prove that hair color does not reflect on intellectual abilities. Zaitseva underscored that the organizers do not have anything to do with the inspirers of and participants in the so-called “marches of those who disagree” that have taken place in a series of Russian cities, including in Nizhny Novgorod.
Before the start of the march, the activists unfurled large white sheets of paper with pink lettering: “Blondes – bright heads!”, “A blonde – this is not a mark, but a distinction!”, “Light hair – this is a reward!”, “Don’t believe it Sobchak – we’re not like that!”, “We won’t let blondes be insulted!”
The organizers had counted on 200 persons taking part in the action, but there turned out to be nearly ten times fewer of them. Having gathered at the “Oktyabrskaya” hotel, the march participants, surrounded by more than 20 journalists and under the watchful eye of ten policemen, went along the Upper Volga Embankment. They chanted slogans glorifying the mind of blondes through loudspeakers.
The final point of the procession became a platform at the monument to Kozma Minin on the central city square that bears his name. There the girls took part in a farcical quiz show, called upon to demonstrate the erudition of blondes.
“We will prove that we are no worse than all the rest!”, declared the head of the organizational committee, adding that the light color of her hair is not real, but that in her soul she is – a true blonde.
