Midnight Oil

[Powderworks] Re: Andropovosphere and Oz Artists Booking

jeffm@jeack.com.au jeffm@jeack.com.au
Thu, 25 Sep 2003 08:44:15 -1000


alexei,

from what you have written here, i now have a longing to visit minsk (or
wherever it is you live) and meet you.

thanks for your perspective.  it's truly precious.

cheers,
jeff

>Nope, I've never experienced such interruptions when watching movies... 
>It
>did happen to me, though, twice: once at a food store and once in the
str>eet. >
>On one occasion I was simply asked why I walked so freely during business>
>hours, on the other I (along with a dozen other people, a pregnant woman
>among
>them) was taken to a police station and questioned in a more formal
manne>r.  I
>showed my student's card and said there were no classes and was let go. >
>Please don't get me wrong: when I said that people were taken away, I did>
not
>mean they were executed or anything, no!  People were fined, had other
>administrative penalties, would be stripped of their bonus payments but
t>hat
>is it.  And the idiocy lasted for not more than two or three months. >
>Everybody old enough still remember it but no-one makes a fuss of it. 
So>rry
>if I sounded it was something absolutely awful.
>
>I am still interested, though, what the term means...  Could it mean the
>former socialist bloc because Andropov's was the era when the Soviet
Unio>n was
>doing its best to preserve the integrity of its camp?
>
>I am still in the former SU.  Your question about how and if we like the
>advent of capitalism here will be answered differently by people from
>different strata of society, and answers will be way too long to include
>them
>here.  It's neither black nor white.  I think most people agree that
ther>e is
>no other way to go, trying to re-invent the wheel means more suffering
an>d is
>simply a loss of time and effort, but of course many are unhappy seeing
t>he
>country's riches appropriated by the selected few who were quick or
>industrious enough to make a move and bite off a nice share of the wealth>
for
>themselves...  The period all FSU countries are in right now is that
simi>lar
>to that in the U.S., with entrepreneurs having this mentality of "feudal
>barons".  I hope that gives you some picture, at least.
>
>On the Australian music note, I saw off an Australian female singer this
>past
>Monday whose visit here I had organized.  Her name is Kitto and her
>three-piece live performance at a club in Minsk kicked ass!  I am trying
>on a
>new hat--that of a booking agent for Australian artists in Belarus! 
Mayb>e one
>day I'll get Damien and his band over here ;-)
>
>Cheerio.
>
>jeffm@jeack.com.au wrote:
>
>Hi Alexei,
>
>Wow, this mail is very interesting in itself.
>
>Did that "theatre thing" happen to you?  That must have been terrifying.
>
>Can you see anything bad about the implementation of capitalism in the
>Former Soviet Union?  Do you have the opinion that it was good and bad? >
>And are you still in the Soviet Union?  (I know your mail address ends in>
>usa.net, but stranger things have happened! :) )
>
>Cheers,
>
>Joffa
>
>>Interesting... having lived in the Soviet Union all my life I never
hear>d>
>the
>>term... who was it coined by and what does it refer to?  I do remember
>th>e
>>period very, very vividly, though (was 21-22 then): there you are
sittin>g>
>in a
>>movie theater during the day, and the lights come up and all exits are
>bl>ocked
>>and some special units move in to check everybody's reasons for not
bein>g>
>at
>>work during business hours, and taking away those who did not sound
>convi>ncing
>>or had no excuse...  Andropov had been head of the KGB for many years
>bef>ore
>>he was elected to succeed Brezhnev, and hence these methods of his to
>>discipline people.  I don't recall any resemblance of discussion in the
>>post-Soviet media with regard to the reasons of his passing.  It is
know>n>
>for
>>a fact that Andropov was a very sick man even before he took charge of
>th>e
>>country.  It is widely believed, though, that Andropov's attempts to
>brin>g
>>some order to the country predated many components of Gorbachov's
>interna>l
>>policies aimed at reviving initiative, etc.  The message being, he used
>t>ough
>>techniques just because he did not know any other.
>>
>>
>>>It's "Andropovosphere" and it refers to a Yuri Andropov, very briefly
>th>e >
>>>leader of the Soviet Union in the 1980s prior to the Glasnost of
>Gorbach>ev
>>
>>>and the collapse of communist rule.  As I recall, Andropov was very >
>>>reclusive and very possibly murdered, given the length of his tenure.
>>>
>>>At 12:31 PM 9/24/03 -1000, you wrote:
>>>
>>>>i am loathe to ask, because i know somewhere in the powdies deep dark
>>past
>>>>this subject was covered, but does anyone know to what the
>>>>"androporosphere" refers?
>>>>
>>>>cheers,
>>>>joffa
>>>>http://www.jeack.com.au
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