Cannabis Fun Club in Russia

The Cannabis March in Kyiv turned into a pleasant party in all respects. Instead of demanding the legalization of smoking marijuana, the organizers suggested fighting for a tolerant attitude of society towards drug addicts, sexual minorities, national patriots, etc. Why do honest Rastafarians need all this? This is in the material of RIA "Novy Region" observer Dmitry Belyansky.

The holding of the Freedom March in Kyiv on May 6 resembled a fragment of a canonical Rastafarian tale from the collection of Dmitry Gaiduk - supposedly, the bastard Germans brought us to the area and said that now you will go and build a narrow-gauge railway. Yeah, we answer, now - we will smoke and we will build.

In other words, the very fact that the March did not take place meets, of course, all the canons of the Rastafarian genre and testifies to the complete authenticity of its participants. It’s great that the participants are authentic, but there was no March. After standing in the police cordon for several hours, the Rastafarians and those who joined them were forced to disperse. They had nothing to say to the strange group of citizens under the UNA-UNSO flags (the organizers could not even organize a megaphone), they had nothing to say to the police officers standing in the cordon, and they conveyed mainly three messages to journalists: 1) for legalization ( although the official position provided only for “decriminalization”); 2) the fascists can, but we can’t?; 3) the police are covering up drug dealers since they don’t let us march. Statements of type 2 and type 3 clearly no longer refer to delirium caused by hashish intoxication, but usually appear after ingestion of something completely sour or white.

The Kiev part of the World Hemp March, scheduled for May 6 under the regional name Freedom March, did not take place for a number of reasons. But it turned out to be a pleasant party in all respects of young and not so young people, dressed in specific clothes of bright colors and bringing musical instruments with them. But going into history there are reasons why the March was thwarted, and coming out of it there are huge doubts that the action of May 6 improved public attitudes towards easy civil liberties like marijuana.

About a month before the event, the Freedom March began to be actively advertised, mainly on the Internet and in journalistic circles, thanks to the efforts of characters from the class of NTN journalist Taras Ratushny (owner of the copyright for the expression "kitty, kuku!" and the creator of the eponymous concept of online communication) and Anastasia Bezverkhaya, the former press secretary of "Pora". The mobilization slogan was called - "Legalize yourself!"

When the clouds started gathering over the March, the organizers changed the legend into two - instead of legalizing cannabis smoking, they proposed to fight for the decriminalization of cannabis smoking and, in general, for a tolerant attitude of society towards drug addicts, sexual minorities, etc. A discourse arose. In relation to this story, discourse is such a strange thing when you are ready to go out and demand the legalization of cannabis, but if you do this, then society will be tolerant of the "gays". A Freedom March instead of a cannabis March - what will be its results? It is easier to believe that the state will be favorable to demonstrations of sexual minorities than to legalize marijuana - therefore, by taking part in the Freedom March, you are fighting for anyone's rights and tolerant relations, but why would you do this? Why should Rastafarians call for Ukrainians to be favorable to the "gays"? What's the trick here?

Trying to save the Cannabis March from a complete ban by the authorities, the organizers deprived it of any meaning. The funniest thing is that not only in the legal, but also in the PR shell - even in "their" parties (not in courts and not in official messages for the media), they reported that we are for decriminalization and tolerance. What does tolerance and decriminalization have to do with the legalization of cannabis?

In short, a problem with the goal-setting and motivation of potential participants in public resistance has emerged. Why should Rastafarians defend "gays"? And why should AIDS patients call for the legalization of soft drugs - it even sounds almost indecent? Why should "gays" promote the use of marijuana? In a word, complete achtung and confusion have emerged under this discourse.

The discourse made a huge gift to both the OUN-UPA activists and the parishioners of the "Embassy of God", who decided to PR themselves on this day with their irreconcilable fight against drug addicts - instead of a positional battle with "stone smokers", there was an almost heroic confrontation with all the social groups that were questionable, from the point of view of the majority of members of society. Everyone was called to account.

The organizers of the March couldn't come up with anything more outstanding than to call the guys from UNA-UNSO "fascists". Because if it's a Freedom March, then the "fascists" demand a special tolerant attitude from society, it was necessary to fraternize with them, kiss each other's gums.

Another crazy, from a futuristic point of view, act was the statements addressed to the police, which did not allow the Rastafarians to start the March - why was it necessary to publicly accuse the police of "protecting" the drug business on the grounds that they did not allow a bunch of Rastafarians to be brutally beaten first by UNA-UNSO activists, then by parishioners of the "Embassy of God", and then by residents of the Kyiv suburbs strolling on Khreshchatyk? Who will mistake the Freedom March for a parade of sexual minorities.

Well, now about the consequences. When next year in Ukraine they will organize another hemp march with the money of Mr. Joe Soros, each potential participant should understand that he is simultaneously participating in a g-parade, an action to support AIDS patients, a public demand to eliminate the police from the drug business as an unnecessary layer and, finally, a demonstration of one's own strength to moderately drinking Ukrainian national patriots. Why do honest Rastafarians need all this - there is no answer.

RIA "New Region"