Banned by Mark Sleboda. For the most innocuous of comments. For those of you who dont know this guy - he is British and he voluntarily came to Russia to work with Dugin (conservative Eurasian imperialist/traditionalist/circus clown). Im writing in English in order to warn my Anglophone friends - theres a whole network of expats in Russia working on the ideological front defending Putin, frequently as an anti-atlanticist fighting against NATO/EU hegemony. Many of these people pose as leftists. Basically they are paid-for petty ideologists, no better than our own Russian journalists and Kremlin think-tankers. However, many of them, like Sleboda, sincerely believe Dugins theories and willingly support Kremlin propaganda machine. This is propaganda pure and simple - thats why I was banned for modestly questioning Slebodas position on Euromaidan. Different views are not tolerated, because the purpose of propaganda is to overwhelm a person with a stream of repeated buzz-words, not to discover the truth. However, this is not just to warn about the activity of guys like Sleboda. Some political considerations are in order. Apparently, outward propaganda of Putins regime makes him a leftist somehow. There are three key points: 1) Geopolitically, Russia is an alternative to NATO/EU, 2) Politically, Russia is against neoliberalism imposed by the Atlanticist block, 3) Culturally, Russia fights against decadent perversions such as LGBT (again, imposed by the west). In some respects, this is different from what we get here in Russia - inward propaganda doesnt focus on the supposed anti-neoliberalism of Putin, since vey few people here are receptive to such leftist claims. Not so in the west - many people there sincerely believe that Putin is an anti-neoliberal. What I want to do here is to refute all three points of outward Kremlin propaganda. 1) Geopolitically, Russia is weak and only masquerades as an enemy to the west. Theres no regional block against western imperialism, like in Latin America. To be a real counter-power, you need to have an alternative set of values and an alternative model of the future - and Putins Russia is far from any ideological commitments. Its pure opportunism, 2) Politically, Russia is neoliberal through and through. There are neoliberal reforms in the public sector underway, technocratic government of Medvedev plans more privatizations (!), and not a single person in the financial/economic sector of government is an anti-neoliberal, even a modest one. They are all neoliberal experts trained in Chicago-school economics, 3) Culturally, Russia might be against decadent perversions, but such perversions are not what defines the west culturally. LGBT rights are the result of a brave struggle of many generations, not an organic part of Western culture. However, if one can speak of the Western culture at all (and that is very doubtful), one can very cautiously say that consumerism, private sphere of atomized individuals, and degradation of public virtues (in short, Debords Spectacle) is what defines western capitalism. All these things are prevalent here in Russia, even more than in the west itself. Russia is more immersed in the private life, more consumerist than many western countries - and Putin fully supports that. So culturally, theres no opposition to capitals creeping influence, and thats the most important thing. OK, having said all that - should a Western observer be a Russophobe, like la Russophobe frequently writing for conservative US media outlets? No and no. The point is not to attack Russia as such, not to express solidarity with Russian people against government (thats an empty formula used by the likes of John Mccain). The point is to educate yourself about alternative political and social forces here in Russia - social movements, independent unions, leftist groups, and the opposition movement as a whole (in all its complexity, its neoliberal and anti-neoliberal currents). As a leftist, I feel the responsibility to refute the crazy idea that Putin is a leftist somehow. However, I also feel the responsibility to fight against one-sided Russophobia, which basically supports US/EU agenda. Solidarity is very much needed here in Russia, but solidarity coupled with political awareness. Against Putin, against neoliberalism and imperialism, for genuine solidarity of the international left and social movements across the globe - thats what I was trying to explicate here.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 10:02:48 +0000
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