The Likes Of Ms. Wonderbild From Shklou

The officials have nothing but dust in the eyes and bragging.

Yesterday I had to visit one of the non-state offices, located in the building of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. My first attempts weren't a success. There's work humming along, at the approaches to the Ministry. The passage by a small path leading to the porch is sealed. The workers are scraping off the paving flagstones and the asphalt, so focused.

The entrance to the Ministry is closed. There's a note on the door with the instructions to go to some other building and look for the passage somewhere on the fourth floor. While I was wandering about, looking for the elevator and the passage, I recalled: all this stuff, the new pavement flagstones and the asphalt, the alley with benches leading from the parking space to the porch of the ministerial building - all this was done exactly two years ago. And they did not close the entrance to the building back then. And the passage to the building looked quite decently, nothing was ruined in two years. However, they decided to launch a great construction for no reason.

While I was waiting for the elevator already in the closed building of the Ministry, I had a small talk with the local employees. They turned out to be talkative and ready to laugh - I think this happens to the employees of all state institutions when no one asks them harsh questions, but offer to gossip about their bosses instead. So, the sweet ladies, to my question on why the almost brand new flagstones and asphalt were being removed, said: the new ministerial chick wanted it to be cooler than at Shchotkina's time at office. They are competing on who is cooler, just like those characters from the book, Ella Shchukina and Ms. Wonderbild*. So, they said the doors will be sealed till November, while the narrow path to the Ministry's building will be expanded to two lines, so that the ministerial "partymobiles" would freely go to and fro, allowing their passengers to wave at one another from the back seats right at the porch.

Hah, that's what the point is - Ms. Wonderbild. If you are appointed as Minister of Labor and Social Protection, go change the pavement, this is your mission. Make it look richer than your predecessor did. Take the money for this in the budget of the city or the country. Let pensioners starve for a little while, they will see later what a beautiful porch was built for them - if they live long enough, of course. Moreover, they will most likely never be admitted farther than the porch, so let them enjoy the beauty outside, see the care of the state and feel endless gratitude for the right to put a feet on the new flagstones. There's also a large entrance roof overhang, for the protection from rain and snow - in a word, everything's done for having a good time while waiting for the answers to the questions, which no one is going to give.

The Ellas (and all Belarusian officials are Ellas, regardless of their sex) see their neighbours in presidium, or predecessors in a ministry, or partners at work exclusively as Mrs. Wonderbild. The Ellas compete who's got better pavement, more expensive redecoration in their offices, posher service cars, who's got more zeroes in the sums of the bribes they take, and, of course, who is closer to the Chief State Ms. Wonderbild. Everything they do is for that competition of the officials. Dust in the eyes and bragging - nothing more. And it's not going to change.

Besides, about the flagstones. Remember, some 10 years ago the journalists found out that the paving flagstones in the Independence Square emitted radiation of 60 micro-roentgen per hour? The officials claimed back than that this was untrue, but a couple of years later they suddenly started replacing the flagstones, having explained it exactly with the radioactivity. They modestly clarified back then that, initially, when the Square was paved, the workers used the flagstones that were "not of proper quality". According to the norms, such flagstones could only be used outside of populated areas. However, they were of such a beautiful lilac shade that it was settled to pave the Square with them. They said they were going to replace four thousand square meters of pavement to decrease the ionizing radiation background, with the pride for such a large-scale project.

It's just some of the Ellas liked the lilac radioactive flagstones. And then some other Ella came, announced the previous one a Ms. Wonderbild, and made a new pavement, so that it looked richer. Their showing off before one another is endless, just like re-paving the flagstones in the squares and near the state institutions. If you see the workers, this means a newly appointed official is close by. This could become a country saying.

It's interesting though, how many pensioners, ill, disabled people have already died or will die for the sake of those paving flagstones, without pensions, required medicines, surgeries, places in hospitals, or referrals? How many human lives are stuffed in every damn flagstone, flattering some official's vanity? The Belarusian Statistics Committee gives no such data. It's too busy counting social parasites.

Iryna Khalip, exclusively for Charter97.org

* Ella Shchukina, or Ella the Ogre, is the character of the satirical novel by Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov "Twelve Chairs". Ella's vocabulary was limited to 30 words, but they could express almost any of her thoughts. In a figurative sense, "Ella the Ogre" is a vulgar and narrow-minded woman, living at the expense of men for her own pleasure; a person with a limited horizon, living only by consumption, the acquisition of things and dressing competition with other Ellas. The nickname "Ogre" was given to Ella by the authors as a comparison with the cannibals of the Mumbo-Yumbo tribe, whose vocabulary was 300 words. Her image has become a common name used as a characterization of women of this type.

The main meaning of existence was outfits and social life. Apparently, Ella had no rival in her circle, so the competition was conducted with the daughter of an American billionaire Ms. Wonderbild, whom she read about in the fashion magazines.