Art of da day

Critique and Crisis

Have been musing past few weeks about what happened in UB after the party election. Some pieces just wouldn't come together. Although it was apparent we were repeating after what history already presented us I was puzzled about something that was all along evident. I now recall that I even wrote once essay about such incident. I am talking about Reinhart Koselleck's Critique and Crisis. I find it necessary to mention here this author because when I was a grad student his work was influential in understanding the concepts of revolution and violence. Having lived in post-communist and post-revolutionary state where nothing substantial was given about history of revolution except Leninist ideology, I remember the joy of discovering other concepts by ones like Koselleck and Arendt.
Koselleck's work can be relevant to the events in Mongolia in a sense that he provides essential link between participants of the revolt and its organizers. By comparing eighteenth century secret masonry clubs founded by educated bourgeoisie who unlike aristocracy were deprived of political power Koselleck sheds light into roots of French Revolution and how it subsequently influenced Russian Decemberists. The theory reads that at the moment of intellectual renaissance experienced by educated middle-class but nevertheless not aristocracy, Paris also burgeoned with aggrieved peasants, and urban wage-earners who lived under miserable conditions. Same can be observed with Mongolia where following enrichment of oligarchy certain groups were provided with special opportunity to follow high standard education and thus creating intellectual elite against mass who mostly do not think beyond tomorrow's bread. Now isn't it best example of history how peasants' need for bread actually met with ambitions of wealthy bourgeois intellectuals and together they formed devastating forces of violence to critique and challenge the established power? Wouldn't it be correct to argue that oligarchic power in Mongolia, decadence of politicians and leaders are tantamount to the opulence that once Versailles surrounded itself?

Resource Curse?

Following Sunday election in Mongolia there was major riot against majority holder, Mongolian People's Revolution Party (MPRP) for alleged election fraud. It was discussed that the winner of this term's election would hold a key authority to legislation of the new law on natural resource exploration. The majority party holds it necessary that the resource exploration should be public whereas minority leaders of Mongolian Democratic Party disagree with it by suggesting full privatization.