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   simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Tuesday, 08-Nov-2022 22:22:37 JST simsa04

   • es0mhi
   I'm not happy rolling myself in doom and gloom, but with Russia and its centuries of brutalised treatment of its populace that makes it prone to a glorification of brutality and abuse I cannot see any other prospect. The best example seems to me the glorification of the Stalin era of the past 30 years. Every family suffered under the Stalin terror but at least the suffering brought meaning so that sacrifices cannot be allowed to have been in vain. This pathology in vast parts of the Russian society glorifies brutality and suffering and sees defeat only as temporary. I indeed think that a defeat in the Ukrainian war (should there be one), esp. without any chances of a deep change in society and politcs, will reinforce the authoritarian habits. That is: Russia will continue on its path.
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     es0mhi@tilde.zone's status on Friday, 11-Nov-2022 18:30:49 JST es0mhi

     in reply to

     • fu

     @simsa04 @fu

     The least that can be said is that in Russia there has not been, nor is there any critical analysis of its own history. Instead, it lives on in quasi-mythological narratives that reach far, far back.

     Yes, Putin has made the day of the victory over Nazi Germany a holiday, but the special view of these matters is already burried in the name under which WW2 is addressed in Russia: Вели́кая Оте́чественная война́, what is usually translated to English as "The Great Patriotic War". But the German translation "Großer Vaterländischer Krieg" is more precise: everything is reduced to the defense of the Fatherland (it is a reference to the war against Napoleon, so it goes further back) and the annexation and oppression of all the other states "in the course of this defense" is simply ignored. Which is why then also the collapse of the Soviet Union can be called "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century".

     And with regard to the war in Ukraine this mythical (but basically nonsensical) view of Putin (and many others) plays a role as well. According to which the origin of Russia is to be found in the Kievan Rus' i.e. in Kiev. Therefore, Ukraine cannot possibly separate from Russia and can never be called its own culture or state. (Of course, one may ask why Putin doesn't notice that Ukraine could argue in the same way. Namely, that Russia has no right to exist, because the real Russia has always been in Kiev, in Ukraine. But all this it not rational thinking.)

     All this is appalling nonsense, but even the people on the street continue to talk like this instead of emancipating themselves and starting to think for themselves. (In the sense of a real enlightenment (Kant), not in the sense of the "Querdenker).

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     simsa04 (simsa04@gnusocial.net)'s status on Friday, 11-Nov-2022 18:30:50 JST simsa04

     • fu
     In Russia the past 30 years, yes. Since 2007 even more so when Putin started to use the day of commemoration of the victory over Nazi-Germany as a national holdiday with grand parades and anchor for his state propaganda.
     
     The same can be seen clearly from testimonies from the Yeltsin years, when things fell apart and people glamoured for the Stalin era. And not just for an era that gave meaning and direction to people, but because this meaning, now lost, has been paid for with tremendous sacrifices. If these were in vain, than the meaning would have been void.
     
     I suggest Svetlana Alexievich ("Second-Hand Time") and Masha Gessen ("The Future is History") for more details. Also the various descriptions of the Gulags (e.g., Varlam Shalamov, "Kolyma Tales"), the criminal world (e.g., Mark Galeotti, "The Vory") and the various biographies and reports on Putin.