Most Russian cultural figures support the revanchist sentiments that are now being and promoted in the Russian Federation, stated the political pundit Igor Boțan during an IPN debate on the role of culture in times of war.
Speaking about the extent of responsibility of the Russian intelligentsia for the Russian war in Ukraine, the expert gave the example of the VIII Congress of Russian Philosophers held in May. “According to Russian philosophers, pacifism is now a kind of euthanasia of humanity, because only by going through wars and suffering, humanity may be saved. You look at these statements and you can’t believe that this is happening now, at the Congress of Philosophers. Likewise, philosophers argue that Russia must completely detach itself from the West because it has a different mission. If you listen carefully to the explanations that Russian philosophers bring forth, you understand that everything that propaganda does is a kind of digestion of the ideas of these philosophers that are later taken over by propaganda and brought to people’s homes through the media. And we see the final effect in opinion polls in Russia”, the expert said.
According to Igor Boțan, the phenomenon of revanchism, which has an ideological basis, is now intensely promoted in Russia through the media. “If we look closely at the series of articles that have appeared in state agencies, such as RIA Novosti or in other publications, they say that Russia has reached a time when it has to reclaim its territories that it lost after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Communist Bloc. If we put all these things together, we see that the phenomenon we have in the Russian Federation must be called a kind of revanchism, and if so, then things have a very large inertia. This revanchism also has an ideological, philosophical basis, which is developed and promoted by a number of scientists who hold tenures at the most prestigious universities in the Russian Federation. Therefore, if we refer to the role of artists, writers, this role will manifest itself later, after this war will end. We now see that the most courageous representatives of the field of culture have had to leave the country and abroad to express their attitude about what is happening. But most of them have complied and endorse this ‘military operation’ which, in fact a war”, he said.
Igor Boțan also commented on the reaction of Russian officials to calls for reevaluating Russian culture. “When we talk about Dostoevsky, everyone remembers the phrase ‘the tears of one tortured child are not worth the higher harmony’, which the Russian Orthodox Church interprets as ‘Dostoevsky was not against war; on the contrary, he asserts Russia’s missionary role, a role which can also be achieved through wars’. We cannot believe that these things were pronounced by those who are supposed be a kind of flag bearers of peace. It seems to me that the concept of revanchism is best suited to what we see today in Russia’s attitude towards Ukraine and Europe. Currently there is a reaction that seems natural to me to these reinterpretations of the great Russian authors by those who are in power today in Russia. But my attitude remains unchanged about the major achievements of Russian music, science and culture”, the expert underlined.
The debate was the 250th installment of the “Political Culture” Series, run by IPN with the support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
