UNPREPARED SPEECH

ELECTIONS IN RUSSIA – FOREGONE CONCLUSION?

The aim of today’s class is to evaluate the preliminary results of the federal election, comparing the
views on the country’s affairs from the inside as well as the outside. In practical terms you are to
develop your translation skills. Most of today’s class is to be recorded on the tape and handed in.

1. Translate the given piece into Russian (see below) and continue it by adding the latest data
available about the federal elections. Record your speech on the tape sentence by sentence
leaving enough time space between them for further translation. (In Russian).

“Many voters say it has all been long decided anyway. Apathy and disillusionment could keep many
Russians at home. A recent municipal election in St. Petersburg offers a disturbing precedent: only
29% turned out to vote and of those that did 12% checked the box “against all candidates”.
Time allowance – 2 mns.

2. Play the tape for your partner for him to practice immediate-consecutive translation of your
Russian text. Change parts. Record your translations).
Time allowance – 6 mns.
3. Watch an episode from DW-TV “in depth report” about the possible performance of some
parties on election day.
Having 23 parties to choose from seemed to offer a huge choice for the voters, but in practice
there were few who had a realistic chance of gaining seats from the party lists. There were 4
parties presented on the video including the 2 largest parties in the opinion polls.
Act as an expert. Speak of one of the parties adding the results of the exit polls and comparing
them with what had been expected. Share a few ideas about the reasons for the party’s success or
failure. You are welcome to use the information in the chart whether agreeing or discarding it.

Yabloko – “if they had LDP – “Vladimir Communist party – “it United Russia – “ it has
stood together with Zhirinovsky’s Liberal has always had its 1/5 been given the public
the Union of Right Democratic Party – is a of the votes and is backing of President
Forces, which they puppet party and can’t quite sure to come the Vladimir Putin, to the
discussed and rejected, be perceived seriously” 2nd. Though there is a anger of other parties.
they would have been visible fall of popularity It is expected to top
almost certain to get –they don’t raise the poll.”
seats. As it is, they may younger voters, they
just get in or just miss are growing older and
out.” die. They rely on the
past and protest
against the “now”
regime.”

4. The Kremlin is and has always been the hub of Moscow politics. Today the tradition of
centralized power is as strong as ever. Watch an episode from DW-TV QUADRIGA program
pondering over “PUTIN LAND”. Fill in the grid marking V. Putin’s fortes and “dark sides”.

+ FORTES – DARK SIDES

Concentrate on one side of Putin’s coin and communicate the information to your peer for him/her to
translate it into Russian. Let him/her do the same to you with the reverse side of Putin’s image. Color
the objective information taken from the video with your own attitude to the facts
(8 mns).
Tapescript:
The real winner of the election to Russia’s lower house of parliament will be Vladimir Putin. The president may not be standing
himself but the party lead by members of his inner circle – the United Russia - would ensure Putin’s will is done. Russia has been
run on this system of managed democracy since the collapse of communism in the 1990s with some success. Analysts would never
have predicted 7% economic growth in the 1st half of 2003 and rising industrial output in investment. Russia has become the
reliable international partner. Western leaders now trust the country’s stability. If Putin increases his power in the Duma
Russia’s future will also become more secure. But there is a dark side to the power of Putin. Most of the media is controlled by
the President and his friends and critical broadcasters are shut down. The opposition has been cowed and Putin is urging people
to vote for his party even though that is forbidden by law. The war in Chechnya drives on but its conspicuously absent from the
election campaign. Business leaders with political ambitions like billioner Mikhail Khodorkovsky are arrested unless of course
they are on Putin’s side. If the president can get 2/3 of the Duma on his side Russia will become PUTIN LAND.

5. “Managed democracy” is a nice oxymoron which is becoming so trite that we can’t even
appreciate the joke. What is democracy? What kind of democracy do we have in Russia? How
much and by whom is it governed? Is it a negative or a positive aspect? Recollect the
statements given by our top politicians of the loosing side, also get acquainted with the opinions
given below.
Record your discussion. Time allowance – 15 min
“Keeping administration sweet is a matter of
Group discussion requirements: survival for Russian businesses – and if that means
 Each participant should express his/her opinion or “paying the share”, then so be it. But privately, few
say a statement. Russian business people have serious complaints:
 Each participant is expected to express Russia, whether Tsarist, Soviet or oligarchic, has
agreement or disagreement (surprise, disbelief, always functioned on a system of patronage and
personal concern, etc.) personal relationships. Political “donations”,
whether above board or below, are generally
 Each participant is expected to ask someone a
reckoned to offer pretty good value for money.
question or two.
Everybody’s at it - contrary to what you might read
 The group finishes their talk with a joint brief in the newspapers, telephone hotlines to the seat of
conclusion. power are a fact of life in London and Washington,
Useful Information – study the texts in the boxes not friends it can buy just Moscow. And ambitious
individually before the discussion. tycoons get themselves into trouble in far more
decorous places than Russia. Prague newspaper
Tyden published a list of 20 top Czech businessmen
“Ever since the post-Soviet constitution was
who have run into trouble with the law – a list that
adopted 10 years ago – when the Duma was created
included two of the country’s richest and most
by then-President Boris Yeltsin – the president has
politically active tycoons. Business and politics make
had most of the power in Russia. But it helps him if
uncomfortable – but undeniably frequent –
he has a parliament he gets on with. It is something
bedfellows”. (James Arnold, BBC News Online
that Mr. Yeltsin never had. Confrontation was the
business reporter).
order of the day. Mr. Putin has achieved co-
operation with parliament. And if his people do well
this time – as looks likely – the Duma will be little 6. Record the following information on your
more that a rubber stamping body for presidential tapes. a) While watching single out the
decisions. It would be a mistake to think of the semantic props that are necessary to give the
Russian system as a Western-style democracy that translation, especially those challenging ones.
has developed over centuries. The fact is that
b) Get ready for consecutive and simultaneous
although the Duma votes on issues of social welfare,
translation.
the budget, and so on, real policy decisions are made
in the Kremlin, by the president and his c) Record yourselves while translating. .
administration. It may not sound very democratic to
a Western way of thinking, but it is very Russian.”
(Stephen Dalziel, BBC’s Russian affairs analyst)