The official (and only) press published it: next year in the month of April the Party Congress will be held. The only item of business will be the economy. What?
The first announcements that the long-delayed Party Congress would finally be held created many expectations. The president’s remarks destroyed what little hopes had been raised, among some believers. Nothing will change. No one dares to bell the cat, even though the cat is old and sick, everyone is too frightened to approach him because they have to look out for his long, sharp claws.
By the end of the year, the people of my beloved planet are facing the recent increase in the price of fuel, new increases in food prices, new electricity rates, the decline of public transport, the uncertainty of massive layoffs, in short, how to celebrate with renewed vigor another anniversary of the victory.
If we add to all this, the exhaustion, disappointment, hopelessness, I think we will see very little reason to celebrate. And what’s more, the fact is the Party governs the destiny of our planet. And then we add to all of that this announcement that the next official Party Congress will have a single topic.
All this reminds me of an old Soviet joke: Two friends run into each other and one says to the other, “Comrade Ivanovich, why weren’t you at the last Party Congress?” “Caramba!” he answers, “If I’d known it was going to be the last I would have made a great effort to attend!”
November 15, 2010
