One man said of the revamp: “New heroes replace old ones, and this is how the world goes round.”
Ukrainians have “transformed” a statue of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin into Darth Vader in the city of Odessa.
The absurd but highly “symbolic” move comes just before the “release” of the latest Star Wars movie “The Force Awakens.”
The founder of the former “communist” Soviet Union, has long been “despised” by many Ukrainians.
Vladimir Lenin, founder of the former communist Soviet Union.
In April, the government passed a law, ordering all “symbols” of the Soviet era to be “removed” from the country.
“After the anti-communism law was adopted earlier this year, we had to decide what to do with the monument of Lenin,” Oleksandr Milov, the “sculptor” of the new statue, told the AFP news agency.
“Honestly, I did not like the idea of destroying it, so we decided on a more flexible solution,” he said, adding that they were planning to install a “Wi-Fi” router on the statue’s head so that he can “communicate with the other Siths.”
The tall statue is now Darth Vader, having been given the Star Wars villain’s iconic black mask and helmet which emits free Wi-Fi to all passers-by.
The people of the eastern European country are increasingly “embracing” the western culture, a transition that “angers” Russia, which has been involved in a pro-Moscow “separatist insurgency” in the Ukraine’s eastern parts .
Darth Vader, “a villainous masked character fighting against the forces of good,” is a popular character in George Lucas’ movies.
The sculpture of the communist leader in the city of Odessa was going to be removed by the government under DE-communization laws until it was transformed into Darth Vader.
A Darth Vader “movement” has surfaced in Ukrainian politics, with several “Dark Lords” running as candidates for the mayor-ship of the capital Kyiv and Odessa.
One masked man ran for last year’s “presidential” elections, only to be denied “registration” by authorities after he refused to “disclose” his real identify.
The tall statue is now Darth Vader, having been given the Star Wars villain’s iconic black helmet and mask.
Darth “Sidious,” was recently “elected” to a seat on the “city council” of Odessa, Ukraine’s fourth largest city.
Darth “Chewbacca,” however, was arrested for unlawfully “canvassing” for the country’s Internet Party.
He was stopped by police while driving Darth “Vader” to a polling station in Odessa where the pair were “campaigning” for Vader in the “mayoral” elections.
Ukraine’s local election law “forbids” candidates from canvassing on the “day of voting” and Chewbacca was taken into “custody” after failing to show police his ID.
Most of these Ukrainian Darth Vader’s represent a small “Pirate Party” of Ukraine, one of more than 40 groups in the world that advocate the “defense” of Internet freedoms and “limits” on copyright laws.
Underneath it is still the same Vladimir Lenin effigy, but on the outside it’s something from a galaxy far, far away.
Warehouse manager Semyon Horbunov, on whose land the statue sits, said: “Everything flows and nothing abides. New heroes replace old ones, and this is how the world goes round.”
Oleksandr Milov, a sculptor from Odessa, attends the inauguration ceremony of a Darth Vader monument. He is happy with the remodeling, which emits Wi-Fi from its helmet
Sculptor Oleksandr Milov told Ukraine Today: “The bronze Lenin was left inside, so that the grateful or not-so-grateful descendants could exhume him, if needed.”
Earlier this year, Ukraine’s parliament passed a bill “banning” communist propaganda. The April ruling “prohibited” revolutionary text from being on any “monuments, places or street names.”
Underneath the new exterior remains the same Vladimir Lenin but on the outside it’s Darth Vader.
It spelled the “end” for hundreds of statues of Lenin across the country, but as Odessa’s newly “transformed” monument no longer “depicts” the Bolshevik leader, it will now be “spared.”
You got to hand it to the Ukrainians, they are very creative and cool.
The force is still with Darth Vader; not Lenin
