So yesterday I was totally shocked by some news. Apparently, only the uber-rich of Russia can afford to shop in the grocery stores on a regular basis. I haven't said much about the cost of food here, but it seems pretty expensive relative to what the average Russian purportedly earns salary-wise - I'd say that our grocery bills here are pretty comparable to our grocery bills at home. The people that I see on my daily trip the supermarket are the rich people – this explains the fancy clothing and rude behaviour. So, I guess that most other (average) people live off of what they can harvest in the summer, and from what the men manage to bring home from hunting trips... crazy! I had no idea. The average Russian will buy milk, eggs and vodka at the store (that is if they don't make the vodka at home themselves) and that's it. Wow.
Wow is right. Did you believe that? I hope not! Russia Today did a story yesterday about what Americans think life in Russia is like. I definitely do not want to compare YOUR ideas about Russia with those of the average American... but, the following questions were posed to a number of individuals, with these results:
How long do you think Russians have to wait in line for toilet paper and bread every day?
Answers were in the 2-3 hour range. Seriously....
What percentage of Russians live on one penny per day?
This is shocking... Answers ranged from the 10% (by far the best guess) to 65% and averaged in and around 50%. !!!?!!!
I know that, to make a broad and sweeping generalization, many Americans are fairly ignorant of the state of affairs of countries as far away as Russia (or as close as Canada)... but really!? However, I know that the content of most American media has been tailored for the specific enjoyment and understanding that the USA is the best place, (the one and only place!) to live, with most other countries (especially Eastern ones - oh wait, and African ones and South and Central American ones... and European ones) not being up to snuff to the American way of life and its high standards. This is extremely unfortunate. I mean, I know that a lot of the news that we get in Canada isn't objective or thorough or fair by any means, and it doesn't always paint an accurate picture of any issue or region. Of course, this is a very difficult thing to do. And when most people read the news... they want news! Not necessarily news of what ordinary life is like, here or wherever.
Anyways, yesterday the United States issued its Annual Human Rights Report, shining the spotlight on governments around the world that are committing human rights violations and failing to provide true democratic systems to their deserving, democracy-hungry citizens. In the report, the USA points its long and accusatory finger at Russia, and asserts that last year both human rights and democracy regressed in this country. The head of the European branch of the Democracy and Cooperation institute, Nataliya Narochnitskaya reacted to this part of the report by saying, “We should not be alarmed by such reports as Americans are alarmed by the reports we publish regularly about human rights violations in the US." Good comeback.
It just seems way to pretentious and presumptuous to assume that what is good for the United States is good for everyone else (duh), especially when it comes to political systems! I'm no expert by any means, and I agree that with the right conditions a democracy is the way to go... but maybe Russia isn't quite there yet. I remember my conversation with the pharmaceutical rep a few weeks ago, and his insistence that the Russian people weren't ready for a democracy... He was a little disillusioned by the fact, but pretty emphatic that with the way things are now politically, the country (and the people) will enjoy much needed improvements in almost every facet/aspect of life. Including the financial stability to go grocery shopping on a regular basis... !!!
The report also criticized the level of corruption in Russia's law enforcement agencies... which are, apparently, about as corrupt as they can get. On our walk a few days ago, Dasha and I passed the city's main police hall... and we started talking about corruption. She asked me if people bribed police officers at home - I said no, that I thought people would get into more trouble if they made such a proposition to a cop. Here, she said, you would get into more trouble if you didn't offer the policeman/woman a bribe. The only reason she doesn't have her driver's license is because it unofficially involves a bribe to city officials... which her father refuses to pay. Transparency International is an association that fights! corruption... and has some neat information on their website. Okay enough for now... it's wet and slooshy-slushy outside, but I'm going for a run anyways!
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