When Ukraine elected an actor who plays a president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as head of state, the world shook its head. The doubts are long gone. During the war Selenskyj matured into a statesman.
It was only 40 seconds. A video selfie. A short message. 40 seconds that probably made Volodymyr Zelenskyj immortal. You didn’t have to understand a word to know: This is someone speaking who wants to convey courage and confidence. Someone who knows exactly how to do it. And someone who also encourages himself. Because he won’t budge; no matter how bad the situation is.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is probably the most unlikely president imaginable. An actor, a comedian, who now leads his people in real life in a war at home – against an overwhelming enemy at that. Against Russia. Sure, there was Ronald Reagan as US President, or Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of California, but they did not face an existential threat on their own land.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the “servant of the people”
Above all, however, they did not anticipate their political office in their acting career. It’s different with Selenskyj. As is well known, he played in the satirical TV series “Servants of the People” (“Sluha narodu”) a history teacher who, disgusted by the omnipresent corruption, campaigns via social media, which he finances through crowdfunding, and is actually elected. In order to bring him the news of the election victory, Selenskyj or his character Wassilyj Holoborodko in the series has to be fetched from the toilet, it says in his undershirt. You can see all this at the moment (German subtitles).
It feels really surreal that the series and reality can’t (anymore) be separated from each other. The coup, which succeeded in the series plot, also succeeded in reality – of course not financed by crowdfunding, but by the Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomojskyj, who holds the majority in the TV station 1+1 – . It began with the registration of the party “Servant of the People” in 2017 by a lawyer from Zelenskyj’s film studio “Studija Kwartal-95” – intentionally or not, the 44-year-old, without running for the presidential elections in 2019, was in the polls a year later Place 2; even before the then incumbent Petro Poroshenko.
On New Year’s Eve 2018, Zelenskyj finally announced his candidacy on the channel 1+1, where his series also ran. He won the first ballot in March and the run-off in April clearly against Poroshenko. The Ukrainians had elected Wassilyi Holoborodko as president; However, they are led by Volodymyr Zelenskyj, as is not only now apparent. The war made him a real leader and folk hero; to an opponent whom Russia’s President Vladimir Putin – it is repeatedly reported – allegedly wants to have hunted down and eliminated.
“That would not be allowed with us”
Zelenskyj was already in contact with real politics as one of the best cabaret artists and satirists in the country. With his troop “Kwartal 95” he apparently even made the authoritarian ex-president Yanukovych laugh, although he usually portrayed him as a provincial idiot and – which was of course not yet suspected at the time – was later to win in the election. After an appearance in front of Poroshenko and the then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, both politicians are said to have been enthusiastic, reports star-Correspondent Betinna Sengling. Zelenskyj likes to tell the anecdote that Medvedev called him after the show and said: “I really liked it, but we don’t allow that kind of thing.” Selenskyj claims to have replied that a member of his troupe even has a Russian passport. “Then it’s good that he’s here,” Medvedev replied.
Today, the former cabaret artist could no longer have such a lively conversation with the Russian President. Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin face each other as bitter enemies. Not even serious talks about a ceasefire are currently possible. Rather, Putin denounces his Ukrainian counterpart as a fascist and Nazi – despite his Jewish origins and despite the fact that three members of Zelenskyj’s family were murdered during the Holocaust. At this point alone, Putin’s justification for his war of aggression against Ukraine seems absurd.
Particularly big provocation for Putin?
It is not known whether it is a particularly strong provocation for the Russian President that such a man, of all people, stands up to him together with his people. It would be conceivable. According to political observers, Putin believes he is on a kind of historic campaign. He is opposed by a man who became known and famous not through power politics, but through his dancing skills in the Ukrainian version of “Let’s dance”. A man who embodied a Russian Olympic champion in a pink suit, and the.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has come a long way from Paddington’s vote to Putin’s adversary. Likewise, from the presidential actor to the president, who surpasses himself in an emergency. His past as an actor helped him a lot. To show that, Zelenskyj only needed a 40-second video. 40 seconds that probably made him immortal.
Source: Stern
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
