Nothing Personal

By Kost Bondarenko
Director, Gorshenin Institute of Management

During the run-up to elections, it's become quite common to see Ukrainian artists appearing on stage during political rallies.  Candidates scramble to get the most popular celebrities to perform on their behalf, hoping that voters will associate the singer with the candidate.

As with much else in Ukrainian politics, it's not necessarily as it appears.  For performers, the interest is usually a business matter, rather than a personal endorsement.
 
It isn't unusual for popular artists and singers to seek office on the party lists of one or another political force.  The phenomenon saw its start in 1998, when People's Artist of Ukraine Valery Mironenko-Zaklunnaya joined the Communist Party list and popular singer Kuzma and his band, Skryabin, made a propaganda video for the Green Party.  Some may even remember 1989, and the emotional song that Taras Petrynenko performed for the People's Movement of Ukraine.  In 1994, Marichka Burmaka's song, "We go!" ("My ydemo!") became the unofficial anthem of the  New Wave social movement. 

It was in 1998 that songwriters and artists joined campaigns in such numbers as to resemble a factory assembly line: In a country where all spheres of public life are exposed to politicization, art cannot be excluded from politics - especially when candidates promise to reward artists for participating in the campaign.
 
The fact that most stars are involved in political campaigns for the money is not a secret to anyone.  In 2004, singers who actively campaigned for Viktor Yanukovych are traveling Ukraine to work for Yulia Tymoshenko in 2009.  "With Ukraine in the Heart"?  As the saying goes, it's nothing personal, just business.

Just as election season provides the opportunity for homegrown entertainers to earn good money, stars from neighboring nations, primarily Russia, drop in to earn cash as well. 

Sometimes, though, the entertainers seem to forget who's paying the bill:  In 2004, Russian-Bulgarian singer Bedros Kirkorov (father of Philipp Kirkorov) appeared at a concert in support of Viktor Yanukovich.  He raised eyebrows when he suddenly called upon the crowd to vote for Viktor Yushchenko.  Though he realized his mistake and corrected himself, he had clearly forgotten Mr. Yanukovich's name, an oversight that may have limited his future work on the candidate's behalf. 

The involvement of foreign personalities in election concerts and testimonials is at least technically illegal - a law prohibits 'agitation' by foreign nationals on behalf of a candidate - but it's a law that is widely violated without apparent xconsequence.

The Western tradition of stars holding concerts to support a candidate or to benefit a candidate's campaign fund has not appeared in Ukraine, primarily because the political environments are so different.  In the West, candidates represent an ideology, and voters relate to the candidate's position or political party platform.

In Ukraine, candidates are characters in a never-ending political serial, and an election is unlikely to bring meaningful change to the country - at least not at the level of the ordinary citizen.  Politicians in Ukraine are members of a closed caste and tend not to obligate themselves to specific agendas or programs.  Ukraine's voters (including stars) perceive elections not as an opportunity to bring fundamentally new policies to power - they've long been disappointed by this proposition.  Elections are, at best, an opportunity to earn money.  The approach as pragmatic as it is cynical.

Popular entertainers in Ukraine may begin to adopt some of the philanthropy and cause-related enthusiasm shown by their Western counterparts only after our politicians change, rejecting their cynical treatment of the voters.