A Clean Landscape
Kyiv has a reputation of being a well-tended city worth showing off to foreign tourists. However, “worth showing off” appears to be an overstatement, even with regard to the downtown section and all those historical landmarks frequented by Ukrainian and foreign tourists. For example, Kontraktova Ploshcha Square is so littered on run-of-the-mill and red-letter days, it’s as though the place were left off the municipal cleaning schedules. To an extent, the same is true of Khreshchatyk, especially on festive occasions, as could be seen recently on Ukrainian Independence Day. Obviously, special equipment and specially trained teams are required for this, but above all, non-stop operations.
In fact, there are places in downtown Kyiv that are never tidied up. This author wonders if the esteemed mayor of Kyiv has ever ventured down the stairs from Volodymyrsky Uzviz Street to the footbridge spanning the Dnipro. All year long Kyiv residents and guests constantly use this bridge to reach the Trukhanivksy Ostriv residential area. Has he ever walked down the steps leading to the Magdeburg Column? Or down all those scenic steps linking the Monastery Garden with Poshtova Ploshcha? I am sure that our renowned mayor has never made any such trips; otherwise the “recreational stairways” in the center of the Ukrainian capital would have never become a garbage heap, instead of a major tourist attraction.
Anyone walking by the lakes and rivers on the outskirts of Kyiv will realize that we are still not part of the European world. Despite having adopted its standard technologies (plastic dishes, spoons, forks, knives, bottles, polyethylene wrappings, etc.), we have failed to adjust to the appropriate culture of daily life. Before, paper garbage would vanish after winter, washed away by fall and spring rains. The earth protected itself. Now the situation is entirely different. Plastic containers take hundreds of years to dissolve and disappear. Some modern synthetic materials can last longer than the planet, scientists say. Not surprisingly, a noticeable and very durable layer of garbage has formed around us in the past 10-15 years, and it continues to grow and will shortly dominate the suburban landscape.
The situation in the courtyards in front of housing blocks is a little less disheartening, with huge garbage cans positioned a short walk from every entrance, although these places look more like garbage heaps littered with rags, pieces of discarded furniture, etc. The condition of apartment windows is astonishing: it is as though most tenants never bother washing them, not even on Maundy Thursday, on the eve of Ukraine’s Independence Day, or on any other secular and religious festive days. I remember visiting a coal miners’ town in what was still the German Democratic Republic many years ago. With its polluted atmosphere and omnipresent coal dust, the place instantly reminded me of all those Donbas settlements. In striking contrast was the tidiness of the German miners’ homes, especially their windows-shining and spotlessly clean. An old hausfrau told me she washed her windows every day, that it was part of her morning cleanup procedures. As always, everything boils down to one thing: ability and willingness to work. Otherwise, one lives and celebrates holidays amidst one’s own garbage.
Likewise, we seem in no hurry to rid ourselves of public and political garbage. Here is only one example. In the course of the presidential race Ukraine has found itself faced with several dozen candidates. Why so many? Is it because most of these are well known personalities? We all know that this is not the case, to put it mildly. The list of candidates presents a motley crowd, including obvious plants meant to compromise serious contenders, dОclassО intellectual losers, even mentally unbalanced individuals and cynical adventurers. There also those who have long played their small political roles, but are loath to exit the political arena, and they continue to pose for the media, after putting on their high boots, like the ones worn by actors of classical tragedy. In a word, the list offers a remarkably heterogeneous collection, no “worse” than the characters of Gogol’s Inspector General.
The presidential candidates (May God have mercy on them!) are the point, however. The trick is that every candidate must collect 500,000 voters’ signatures. Together, this number almost equals that of the entire Ukrainian electorate. Who are these people who are supporting all these candidates? What kind of criteria did they apply in backing them? Why? Because they couldn’t figure out who was what, or because they were paid to do so? As a result, we have substantially higher campaign spending, borne by the central budget (the cost of television appearances, complications in the tally of votes, etc.). Yet this is not the main point, even considering all our financial problems.
What makes the situation worse is that most of the electorate is markedly indifferent. These people either don’t give a damn or are unable to figure out the current situation. This attitude may be manifested on the election date, so those go to the polling stations will care little about whom to vote for. Somehow, the current presidential campaign, with its motley crew of candidates, reminds me of Kyiv’s littered and polluted landscape. Here we are confronted by all the disorder that my fellow Ukrainians appear reluctant to admit to, not to mention do anything about. Afterwards, they will complain about having the wrong kind of government, being faced with corruption. Right, but who is actually to blame?
