Taking Responsibility
Independent journalist Ilia Krasilshchik’s op-ed in the New York Times, from roughly a week ago, is an important call to reckoning by a Russian who has actively opposed Putin’s regime for years. Progressive and other activists in the United States, people not only committed to opposing authoritarianism in the Republican Party, broadly speaking, but who speak out against police violence, advocate for racial justice, action on climate change, greater income, housing, and healthcare equality, enhanced access to the electoral franchise, truth in media, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, and more, likewise need to take stock and reckon amongst themselves with how and where they have fallen short.
The United States is likewise an individualistic society, perhaps the epitome of individualistic societies. And, not just an individualistic society, but one where ideas and images of gendered power prevail (more on this in an upcoming post). A few years ago, when the Kremlin sent out photographs of a shirtless Putin on horseback, the message was more Marlboro Man than Cossack. We also saw photographs of a shirtless Putin walking through the brush with a rifle, more Rambo than WWII sniper Vasily Zaitsev, portrayed by Jude Law in the Hollywood film “Stalingrad,” and basking in the Siberia sun with sunglasses, more Terminator than the title character in Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. people — including the opposition and American media ate it up. Putin responded to the inevitable mockery as though it were flattery. As our own would-be dictator, Donald Trump, said, “all press is good press!” (https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/donald-trump-2016-convention-melania-trump-speech-dark-art-of-pr-214083/ ) Putin clearly enjoyed the memes intended as mockery. In one, activists substituted a bear for the horse in a video. His response to American anchor Megyn Kelly? "You know, I have seen 'photos' of me riding a bear. I have not ridden a bear yet, but there are such photos already." ( https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-defends-shirtless-photos-i-see-no-need-to-hide-2018-6). That video, from 2017, has been seen nearly half a million times…on one Youtube channel alone.
Russians continue to protest Putin’s regime, with considerable bravery in the face of great risk, at home and abroad. Still, Putin has managed to stay in power, thanks to systematic corruption, propaganda, and violence only a Kim Jong-un or Donald Trump could admire. Ilia Krasilshchik writes that
"The primary responsibility for this evil lies squarely at the feet of Mr. Putin and his entourage. But for those who opposed the regime, in ways big and small, the responsibility is also ours to bear. How did it happen? What did we do wrong? How do we prevent this from happening again? These are the questions we’re facing. No matter where we are — in Moscow, Tbilisi, Yerevan, Riga, Istanbul, Tel Aviv or New York — and no matter what we do….
Responsibility is the key. There was a lot of good in the country I grew up in, the one that stopped existing two weeks ago. But responsibility was what we lacked. Russia is a very individualistic society, in which people, to quote the cultural historian Andrei Zorin, live with a “Leave me alone” mind-set. We like to isolate ourselves from one another, from the state, from the world. This allowed many of us to build vibrant, hopeful, energetic lives against a grim backdrop of arrests and prison. But in the process, we became insular and lost sight of everyone else’s interests.
We must now put aside our individual concerns and accept our common responsibility for the war. Such an act is, first and foremost, a moral necessity." ( https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/16/opinion/russia-ukraine-putin.html )
Peace and anti-war activism in the U.S. has been informed by our own history of atrocities. American administrations, conservative and liberal alike, have supported anti-democratic coups and governments abroad, conducted or enabled disastrous invasions and proxy wars, and overseen the greatest expansion military power in history. Our military budget is almost three times that of China, whose GDP is the world’s second highest after the U.S., and more than ten times larger than Russia’s. ( https://www.statista.com/statistics/262742/countries-with-the-highest-military-spending/ ) Activist organizations like Code Pink and progressive political organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) began pinning blame for Putin’s war of aggression on the United States and NATO even before the invasion. Code Pink, as if to underscore the American cult of individualism, continues send out fundraising emails on this topic to benefit itself, rather than join in the effort to raise funds for much-need humanitarian and, yes, military relief in Ukraine. Taking issue with with our own government is understandable. This response has been devoid of historical understanding while privileging lofty, if niche, ideals over a more serious commitment to focus on the problem at hand. It illustrates how our progressive movements — and I say this is someone who supports progressive movements — have been too often self-marginalizing, expending precious time, energy, and resources on resistance efforts that, like the video of Putin riding the bear, either fall flat or inadvertently serve the interests of their intended targets. Princeton historian Stephen Kotkin easily dispenses with the anti-NATO argument, in reasoning familiar to any undergraduate student of Russian history:
Stephen Kotkin: I have only the greatest respect for George Kennan, whom I knew, John Mearsheimer is a giant of a scholar but I respectfully disagree. The problem with their argument is that it assumes that had NATO not expanded, Russia wouldn't be exactly the same or very likely close to what it is today. What we have today in Russia is not some deviation from a historical pattern. Way before NATO existed in the 19th century, Russia looked like this. It had an autocrat, it had repression, it had militarism, it had suspicion of foreigners in the West.
This is a Russia we know, and it's not a Russia that arrived yesterday or arrived in the 1990s. It's not a response to actions of the West. There are internal processes in Russia that account for where we are today. I would even go farther. I would say that NATO expansion has put us in a better place to deal with this historical pattern in Russia that we're seeing again today. George Kennan was the greatest Russia expert who ever lived, but I just don't think blaming the West is the right analysis for where we are today. (https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/tnyradiohour/segments/stephen-kotkin-dont-blame-west-russias-invasion-ukraine)
Activists Terry Burke and Andrew Berman underscore the problem of progressive response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine:
Those on the U.S. Left who are not joining in solidarity with the Russian and Ukrainian protesters and demanding that Russia end its war on Ukraine, are missing an historic opportunity to join together with millions of people around the world and with the large Ukrainian-American community in a powerful anti-war movement. Unfortunately, many U.S. peace organizations have a history of viewing wars through a U.S.-centric lens, blaming every conflict on the U.S. military, ignoring the malevolent intent of President Vladimir Putin and other dictators. ( https://inthesetimes.com/article/ukraine-russia-russian-invasion-nato-putin-war-peace-protest-protests-activism-kremlin-warfare)
Donald Trump rode his golden escalator into American history nearly seven years ago, mostly to the ridicule of most of the press and certainly of activist communities at the time. ( https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/06/14/donald-trump-campaign-announcement-tower-escalator-oral-history-227148/ ) His election sparked the Women’s March in the U.S., which led to near-simultaneous rallies and marches in support of women’s rights and dignity around the world. Waves of activism, from the #MeToo movement and beyond, energized voters and led to Democratic victories in the 2018 midterm elections and, eventually — although also and perhaps largely thanks to Trump’s mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic — the 2020 general election. Despite all this, Republicans continue on a steady path toward more authoritarian government, and they are winning local elections, passing legislation, and pressing culture war issues, from attacking transgendered athletes to censoring school, to ever greater effect. The panoply of American activist communities needs to reckon with how it has fallen short, not just in coordinating amongst themselves but in communicating unifying, truthful, and accurate messages to inspire lasting change in our politics and foreign affairs. Thomas Edsall’s essay in today’s New York Times speaks to these points:
As the 2022 midterms draw into view, the question arises: To what degree are Democratic difficulties inevitable?
Ruy Teixeira, co-editor of the Liberal Patriot, argues in an email that “the cultural left has managed to associate the Democratic Party with a series of views on crime, immigration, policing, free speech and of course race and gender that are quite far from those of the median voter. That’s a success for the cultural left but the hard reality is that it’s an electoral liability for the Democratic Party.”
Teixeira went on: “The current Democratic brand suffers from multiple deficiencies that make it somewhere between uncompelling and toxic to wide swathes of American voters who might potentially be their allies.” ( https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/23/opinion/democrats-republicans-2022-midterms.html )
A more united and effective resistance movement is only possible through greater cooperation amongst political and social justice activists. Developing less reactive, more accurate, nuanced, and effective messaging begins with a better understanding of where we have fallen short, the courage to acknowledge and articulate those shortcomings, and a commitment to speak even the most uncomfortable truths.