#soviet regime

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

[dalliancekay]

Shostakovich’s Fifth

So I wrote about Aziraphale's choice to seek out and play Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony at the beginning of S2 before.

But now I would like to invite you to experience a Prom from this past weekend at the Royal Albert Hall in which the Aurora Orchestra with Nicholas Collon conducting and amazing actors on stage, replayed ideas and thoughts on Shostakovich, his life, his fear and struggle under Stalin, his defiance and the deep subterfuge hidden in his music. And how, even if you pretend to be a good ange-citizen, doing things right (to protect your loved ones), doesn't mean you don't also live your truth and express it for those who know how to see. And listen. Please, if you have a spare hour or so - give the performance a chance:

Just look at Aziraphale's pained face. To think he wanted Armageddon?

"That's it, then," said Crowley, with a gleam of triumph. He knew Aziraphale's weak spot all right. "No more compact discs. No more Albert Hall. No more Proms. No more Glyndbourne. Just celestial harmonies all day long."

He'll fight for us alright. And for music and whatever salmon dish was that.

[sleepydrummer]

The official Soviet photography of 1970-1980 was under total ideological control. The Soviet photographer was forbidden to take pictures of normal everyday life, not to mention dirty yards and garbage, drunks and beggars, queues in the shops. The ideologically correct picture was supposed to record the 'heroes of socialist labor' and the 'labor feats' of the Soviet people and their daily enthusiasm. Against this background Masha Ivashintsova photographs stand out as an artistic and documentary record of the real, everyday life of the Soviet people, without socialist grandeur.

Asya Ivashintsova-Melkumyan, discovered her mother’s marvelous work.

[hydeordie]

'Ilya Kabakov and Emilia Kabakov are singular figures in how big cultures, dominant cultures, are never the whole story.’ – Robert Storr

[awesome-casuallyfamouscollector]

Chinese people ordered to think like Xi as Communist Party aims to tighten control

Days after entering its second century, the Chinese Communist Party has set out its priority for the new era -- tightening ideological control over 1.4 billion Chinese people.

(..) Under President Xi Jinping, the party has waged its toughest ideological crackdown in decades. It has repeatedly warned against the "infiltration" of Western ideas, stoked aggressive nationalism, and stifled academic and press freedoms. And now, despite having silenced nearly all forms of dissent, the party appears to worry that it still doesn't command enough ideological and political loyalty -- and is launching a vast effort to redouble education on both fronts.(..)

P.S. There is a clear red warning signal, but it is still "amusing" to watch greedy capitalists continue to invest money in the communist economy and help build the Chinese communist army and navy. Interesting! Who else thinks that history doesn't repeat itself? Check history of Soviet industrialization or how German and American companies helped to build communist industries during 1920s and 1930s... And then, surprise, surprise threats of Soviet invasion and Cold War... ! 

[baylordigitalcollections]

Soviet print of anti-religious propaganda, 1905.

Collection

Keston Digital Archive

Source

Baylor University, The Keston Center for Religion, Politics, and Society, Waco, TX

Full Item

http://digitalcollections.baylor.edu/cdm/ref/collection/keston/id/110

Citation Information Baylor University Libraries Digital Collections, Baylor University, Waco, TX. Please email [email protected] for more information.

[igorgouzenko-blog]

Picture #3: After arriving in Canada Igor Gouzenko and his wife, Svetlana (who he lovingly called Anna), started to enjoy the freedom of an individual in Canada. The drastic change of Igor Gouzenko’s demeanour from the first picture represents how the contrasting lifestyle that he experienced while living in Canada caused him to start having doubts about the Soviet Union’s oppression and instead start to feel strongly for the Canadian identity.