#soviet times

[herukapadmajungiansworld]

Decolonisation is beautiful.

Here’s just one example from one small corner of one small Estonian town, Viljandi.

Picture 1: An ugly communist party building and car park, built by the soviet occupiers on top of a memorial they demolished for local people who died fighting for independence.

Pictures 2 & 3: The memorial, lovingly recreated down to every last detail, is back at the heart of a public square.

There are some commentators abroad who like to lecture russia’s neighbours not to “erase history” by removing the scars of occupation.

It’s weird because this kind of thing is normal everywhere else in the world. In fact, the very same people who get particularly upset about occupation monuments being removed here also tend to be very articulate about the importance of removing statues to ousted oppressors elsewhere. They just think russian imperialism gets a free pass.

Newsflash: It doesn’t.

Rather than erase history, plenty of occupation junk across the Baltic countries has been transferred to museums so that future generations can learn about it in its proper context. But it doesn’t belong in our public spaces. Local people here hated that brutal communist party building, which desecrated the memorial in a way so symbolic of the wider ugliness of russian imperialism.

Public spaces belong to the people who actually live here and should reflect the kind of free, modern, open, independent countries that we are - and which remember those who made it possible.

The other bad take on this issue is to constantly frame this kind of thing as a ‘reaction/response/message to russia’. That, again, is imperialist thinking. We make decisions for our countries based on what we want our countries to be. We’d want to remove this kind of junk even if russia had ceased to exist in 1991 or if it had flourished into a friendly democracy.

In fact, here in Viljandi, it took three decades of planning and sculpting to recreate the monument based off grainy photos of the original. The building was finally knocked down a couple of years ago and the memorial unveiled this midsummer.

In the interim, the building was expanded after the occupation to serve as Tourist Information, which was pretty ironic considering the communist aim was to keep us closed to the world. But that has a new home and the time has come to return the space.

There was quite a debate locally about whether to recreate it exactly or update it with some kind of modern reinterpretation. Both are legitimate, interesting ideas.

In the end, the only difference is that the materials are now of a much higher quality. I think they made the right decision.

And the fact that it was recreated in perfect detail by people who never saw the original but emerged from occupation with the same determination to live free does send its own new message from our time too. We will continue to exist.

Decolonisation can suffer setbacks, horrendously painful as we see in Ukraine, but the long term trend is unstoppable. The special protection that russian imperialism still enjoys in the minds of many around the world is starting to shatter.

I stopped by to take a photo of it for you all and a rainbow appeared. 🙂

#decolonisation #viljandi #estonia #soviet times #russian imperialism #ukraine resistance #stop russian invasion #putin war criminal #ukraine war #help ukraine #i stand with ukraine #slava ukraini #give weapons to ukraine

[oldbutnotlost]

Happy Spring Equinox!

(Photo by N.Burgilov from Zapovednik "Kivach")

#old photography #old photos #springtime #catkins #Retro #vintage photography #Soviet Times #1970s #1979 #nature photography

[kristina100000]

i randomly bring this up to people once in 2 years just to remind them love is universal

#mexico and yugo go way back.. yugoslavians were no longer consuming soviet media when they were thrown out of the cominform #so they turned to mexican films including un dia de vida😹 ive seen it a couple of times its good

[serialunaliver]

"Diplomacy the American way"

#my all time favorite soviet propaganda poster

[akiraal]

it's time to klance-fy bro movies

#doing digital art is so fun #I know that technically chicken scratch is bad for art improvement and I'm working on it (lies) but for now it is what it is #this is supposed to be a redraw of a scene from a russian 90s movie about the unforgiving time that was in the early post soviet period #and I have Thoughts and Ideas on how to make it into an au #anyway. take this messy sketch before I change my mind about exposing myself on The Internet #voltron #vld #klance #keith kogane #lance mcclain #au #my art #Brother 1997 #90s au #voltron legendary defender #also I may or may not have a colored version that I'm not exactly proud of. lmk if someone wants to see that

[idiotsonlyevent]

throwing my hat in the ring with my own cunty chilchuck amv that happens to push the slavchuck agenda w a classic russian club banger (and a companion to my yalla senshi amv!)

#L.txt #L.mov #amv #dungeon meshi #chilposting #slavchuck #chilchuck tims #chilchuck #cuntychilchuckamvs4life #song is . mr. saxobeat 💀 by alexandra stan #'how is this pushing the slavic chilchuck agenda?' they played this song LITERALLY every time #ive been to a russian/other post-soviet state restaurant. this is a Formative Diaspora Experience™ #also jfc it so hard to make him serve. yall have my utmost respect

[harminuya]

Labels of Soviet Armenian non-alchoholic drinks.

#armenia #armenian #armenianblog #soviet #ussr #vintage #design #one of these is supposed to taste like cognac?? you all need to come up with a time machine or something

[sovietpostcards]

At the samovar. Photo by Maya Okushko (1970s).

#samovar #tea time #1970s #russia #ussr #soviet

[justacynicalromantic]

People be like "Russia is not imperialistic"🤡 - and then the most famous Ukrainian chef cannot open a restaurant of the most famous Ukrainian cultural food in Japan, because Japanese widely consider borscht a Russian dish and so would avoid the restaurant thinking it to be Russian🫤🫤🫤🤯🤯🤯

#ukraine #japan #ukrainian culture #borscht #russian imperialism #russian invasion #ruscism #genocide #like.... thank you to Japanese for avoiding all Russian products #and for supporting Ukraine #this is not your fault #its fucking Russia's and its imperialism #moreover #the far East of Russia is where Russian regime forcefully displaced many Ukrainians #during Soviet times #so I am almost sure Japan actually learnt borsch from Ukrainians #they just belived it to be Russian cause it was coming from Russian territory near them🫤 #culture appropriation #україна #укртумбочка #укртумба #укртамблер

[marauderivy]

“… The Soviets and Americans did their best to overcome differences of language and culture as they worked together. The language gap was not only a hurdle; it was an opportunity for the occasional prank. One of the US personnel taught a Soviet soldier guarding the entrance to headquarters to greet every American officer with the following words: ‘Good morning, you filthy son of a bitch.’ The soldier was proud when he said those words: his pronunciation was not perfect, but the message got through. Deane thought such episodes meant that the Soviets and Americans were learning to get along.”

—Serhii Plokhy, Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front: American Airmen behind the Soviet Lines and the Collapse of the Grand Alliance

#ww2 history #rusame #the one time when americans and soviets fought together #and they sure had a beautiful relationship

[paradise-and-cola]

a cozy evening at Baker Street

#i've been really enjoying drawing with gel pens. and i wanted to get at least one take at baker street #truth be told i'd add more detail but that would take way more time #the glass screen is of course the iconic one from the soviet movies. other details i referenced from the baker st museum #sherlock holmes #acd holmes #221b baker street #my art #ink art #description in alt text #described

[deldotpng]

my favorite duo as my other favorite duo

I love em so much you don't understand

#goofy ahh clowns #arlekin and piero respectively (from soviet movie 'the adventures of buratino") #//bro I hate coloring so much?? omg #pryaing that it doesn't look off #I shoud have probably go with greyscale for this one but greyscale is even bigger pain in the ass #aside from that it was very fun to draw #giggled the whole time I was doing goo's part #he IS arlekin fr #I made twt acc btw!! go to deru_png if you wanna witness my art flop there #del.png #lookism #lookism fanart #park jonggun #gun park #kim joongoo #goo kim #gungoo

[70sscifiart]

A Soviet Soyuz spacecraft  in Earth orbit docks with an American Apollo spacecraft, painted by cosmonaut Alexei Leonov in 1974

#Alexei Leonov #Soviet sci-fi #cosmonaut #space art #self-portrait #Leonov was on board the ASTP at the time

[noonewilleverknowistealkneecaps]

Look they are anxious golden retriever x mental support black cat coded

P. S. Ignore the amount of different signs, it just that i have different signatures for different art accounts on different platforms, confusing i know, i think ill have to unite them sometime soon.

#this is so true #oh i love them so much #just check out the watson being kind of sarcastic mostly but also genuinely cheerfull and honest about his admiration at times #and the constant stress the dude goes through #and the way he truly cares and worries and misses his girl best friend #and theres sherlock #calm accepting #childish at times #kind #he mostly silently smiles at his friend but can also rant excitedly about his findings and watson will listen and sherlock will appreciate #this comfort that they can provide to each other and how well they are the opposites of each other #they create this perfect balance that makes their friendship work #idk im no damn psychologist i just like to overthink them #five papers of practice in and check this out they look cooool #sherlock holmes x doctor watson #soviet sherlock holmes #russian sherlock #fanart #drawing #doodle #sketch #art

[dayurno]

something that always tickles my funny bone is when people mention in fanfic (or even in aftg canon itself iirc) that kevin is reading history books. books on history. what history? historical history. history of what? of the people. just the neutral entity of history. don’t worry about it. this isn’t a dig i’ve done it before it’s just really funny

#soviet history fan kevin day 2k24 i choose to believe #i think kevin would have a lovely time as a soviet history fan because its #all about correcting people and criticizing propaganda #and kevin loves correcting people and criticizing things. #he would make a fabulous ml but that’s besides the point #what i will say is that i think when people choose some random emperor from fuckwhen bc for kevin to be obsessed with #its kind of boring #i dont think kevin would be all that interested in ancient history and he wouldnt care much for ye olden empires #the way i see it at least! #txt #kevin

[deadpanwalking]

What did you think of the first episode of The Regime? I'm not sure what to make of it yet.

Neither am I—I really hope that it comes into its own and doesn't rely as much on the Veep and Succession house blend. Kinda digging Elena and Herbert's Kronk and Yzma thing, though.

#girl in cookie monster pajamas and her simp familiar is a dynamic of all time #one thing i loved about the death of stalin is that iannucci didn't just copy paste a satire of american or british politics into 1953 #he demonstrated an understanding of a distinct flavor of soviet-era satire—a chimera of literal and figurative gallows humor #i hope we get to see some of that here #that is to say—i hope it employs central europe as more than a set dressing and plays with cultural and historical context #anonymous #assbox #the regime